Pass value from ActionFilterAttribute to controller - asp.net-mvc

I have the following base controller with a string variable
public abstract class BaseController:Controller
{
string encryptedSessionGuid;
}
All other controller derives from base controller and ActionMethod has a custom ActionFilterAttribute CheckQueryString-
public class SampleController : BaseController
{
[CheckQueryString(new string[] {"sid"})]
public ActionResult SampleMethod()
{
return View();
}
}
Here is my custom attribute. It sends query string value to view. But I would like to send it base controller variable encryptedSessionGuid also.
public class CheckQueryString : ActionFilterAttribute
{
string[] keys;
public CheckQueryString(string[] Keys) { keys = Keys; }
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
HttpContext ctx = HttpContext.Current;
foreach (var key in keys)
{
if (ctx.Request.QueryString[key] == null)
{
filterContext.Result = new RedirectResult(BulkSmsApplication.GlobalConfig.BaseUrl);
return;
}
else
{
string value = ctx.Request.QueryString[key];
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(value))
{
filterContext.Result = new RedirectResult(BulkSmsApplication.GlobalConfig.BaseUrl);
return;
}
else
{
var viewBag = filterContext.Controller.ViewData;
viewBag[key] = value;
}
}
}
base.OnActionExecuting(filterContext);
}
}
How can it be done?

Related

Unit testing custom attribute value in OnActionExecuting event

I have following implementation in my base controller from which I am deriving most of my controllers. It accounts for setting the page title, meta description and keywords for each page if the values are not set via decorator on the controller actions.
BaseController
public class BaseController : Controller
{
protected override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
//Page title
var title = filterContext.ActionDescriptor.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(PageTitleAttribute), false);
if (title.Length == 1)
ViewBag.Title = ((PageTitleAttribute)(title[0])).Parameter;
else
ViewBag.Title = "My website title";
//Page keywords
var keywords = filterContext.ActionDescriptor.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(MetaKeywordsAttribute), false);
if (keywords.Length == 1)
ViewBag.MetaKeywords = ((MetaKeywordsAttribute)(keywords[0])).Parameter;
else
ViewBag.MetaKeywords = "targeted SEO keywords";
//Page description
var description = filterContext.ActionDescriptor.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(MetaDescriptionAttribute), false);
if (description.Length == 1)
ViewBag.MetaDescription = ((MetaDescriptionAttribute)(description[0])).Parameter;
else
ViewBag.MetaDescription = "My custom description";
base.OnActionExecuting(filterContext);
}
}
The custom attributes are fairly simple:
public class PageTitleAttribute : Attribute
{
private readonly string _parameter;
public PageTitleAttribute(string parameter)
{
_parameter = parameter;
}
public string Parameter { get { return _parameter; } }
}
public class MetaDescriptionAttribute : Attribute
{
private readonly string _parameter;
public MetaDescriptionAttribute(string parameter)
{
_parameter = parameter;
}
public string Parameter { get { return _parameter; } }
}
public class MetaKeywordsAttribute : Attribute
{
private readonly string _parameter;
public MetaKeywordsAttribute(string parameter)
{
_parameter = parameter;
}
public string Parameter { get { return _parameter; } }
}
And this is how make use of the attributes on appropirate action methods in controller:
public class HomeController : BaseController
{
[PageTitle("My new website")]
[MetaKeywords("Explicitly set keywords")]
[MetaDescription("description goes here")]
public ActionResult Index()
{
return View();
}
public ActionResult Error()
{
return View();
}
}
This all seems to work just fine. Now I would like to create unit test to validate that if the values are not set via attribute on action methods, the default values will be rendered as set from base controller. How can I do that? I have some tests written but I don't think they are targeting the filterContext on the basecontroller. Specifically I am looking for test for Error action method which does not have anything attribute value set. Just for reference this is what I have setup now:
[TestMethod]
public void Attribute_when_set_should_return_attribute_values()
{
var method = typeof(HomeController).GetMethod("Index");
var pageTitle = method.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(PageTitleAttribute), false)
.Cast<PageTitleAttribute>()
.SingleOrDefault();
var keywords = method.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(MetaKeywordsAttribute), false)
.Cast<MetaKeywordsAttribute>()
.SingleOrDefault();
var description = method.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(MetaDescriptionAttribute), false)
.Cast<MetaDescriptionAttribute>()
.SingleOrDefault();
Assert.IsNotNull(pageTitle);
Assert.IsNotNull(keywords);
Assert.IsNotNull(description);
Assert.AreEqual("My new website", pageTitle.Parameter);
Assert.AreEqual("Explicitly set keywords", keywords.Parameter);
Assert.AreEqual("description goes here", description.Parameter);
}

How to get the ActionDescription UniqueId from within OnResultExecuted

In ASP.NET MVC, does anyone know a trick to access the ActionDescriptor.UniqueId from within OnResultExecuted? I need to pass information from OnActionExecuting to OnResultExecuted in a way that will work if multiple actions are executed during the one HttpRequest.
For example:
private Dictionary<string,Foo> _foos
{
get { return HttpContext.Current.Items["foos"] as Dictionary<string,Foo>; }
set { HttpContext.Current.Items["foos"] = value; }
}
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext context)
{
var foos = _foos;
foos[context.ActionDescriptor.UniqueId] = new Foo();
_foos = foos;
}
public override void OnResultExecuted(ResultExecutedContext context)
{
var actionUniqueId = ????
var foo = _foos[actionUniqueId]
}
You can custom the FilterAttributeFilterProvider and ActionFilterAttribute to implement it.
First you can create a filter that inherit the ActionFilterAttribute and contains ActionDescriptor property:
public class MyActionFilterAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute
{
public ActionDescriptor ActionDescriptor { get; set; }
public override void OnResultExecuted(ResultExecutedContext filterContext)
{
var actionUniqueId = ActionDescriptor.UniqueId;
//code..
}
}
Then you need create a filter provider inherit the FilterAttributeFilterProvider and override the GetFilters method:
public class MyFilterProvider : FilterAttributeFilterProvider
{
public override IEnumerable<Filter> GetFilters(ControllerContext controllerContext, ActionDescriptor actionDescriptor)
{
if (controllerContext.Controller != null)
{
foreach (FilterAttribute attr in GetControllerAttributes(controllerContext, actionDescriptor))
{
var myAttr = attr as MyActionFilterAttribute;
if (myAttr != null)
{
myAttr.ActionDescriptor = actionDescriptor;
}
yield return new Filter(attr, FilterScope.Controller, order: null);
}
foreach (FilterAttribute attr in GetActionAttributes(controllerContext, actionDescriptor))
{
var myAttr = attr as MyActionFilterAttribute;
if (myAttr != null)
{
myAttr.ActionDescriptor = actionDescriptor;
}
yield return new Filter(attr, FilterScope.Action, order: null);
}
}
}
}
You can see at the GetFilters method, We set the ActionDescriptor property if the filter type is MyActionFilterAttribute.
Finally, At Global.asax, you need use MyFilterProvider instance to replace the FilterAttributeFilterProvider instance in Providers collection:
public class MvcApplication : System.Web.HttpApplication
{
protected void Application_Start()
{
//replace the FilterAttributeFilterProvider in providers collection
for (int i = 0; i < FilterProviders.Providers.Count; i++)
{
if (FilterProviders.Providers[i] is FilterAttributeFilterProvider)
{
FilterProviders.Providers[i] = new MyFilterProvider();
break;
}
}
//other global init code...
}
}

Execute action in other controller on 404

I'm trying to return a action "PageNotFound" that resides in my "Error"-controller.
public class BaseController : Controller
{
public BaseController()
{
}
public BaseController(IContentRepository contentRep, ILocalizedRepository localRep)
{
this._localRep = localRep;
this._contentRep = contentRep;
}
protected new HttpNotFoundResult HttpNotFound(string statusDescription = null)
{
return new HttpNotFoundResult(statusDescription);
}
protected HttpUnauthorizedResult HttpUnauthorized(string statusDescription = null)
{
return new HttpUnauthorizedResult(statusDescription);
}
protected class HttpNotFoundResult : HttpStatusCodeResult
{
public HttpNotFoundResult() : this(null) { }
public HttpNotFoundResult(string statusDescription) : base(404, statusDescription) { }
}
protected class HttpUnauthorizedResult : HttpStatusCodeResult
{
public HttpUnauthorizedResult(string statusDescription) : base(401, statusDescription) { }
}
protected class HttpStatusCodeResult : ViewResult
{
public int StatusCode { get; private set; }
public string StatusDescription { get; private set; }
public HttpStatusCodeResult(int statusCode) : this(statusCode, null) { }
public HttpStatusCodeResult(int statusCode, string statusDescription)
{
this.StatusCode = statusCode;
this.StatusDescription = statusDescription;
}
public override void ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context)
{
if (context == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("context");
}
context.HttpContext.Response.StatusCode = this.StatusCode;
if (this.StatusDescription != null)
{
context.HttpContext.Response.StatusDescription = this.StatusDescription;
}
this.ViewName = "PageNotFound"; // CONTROLLER MISSING
this.ViewBag.Message = context.HttpContext.Response.StatusDescription;
base.ExecuteResult(context);
}
}
How can I modify it so it returns the "PageNotFound" action in the "Error"- controller?
A ViewResult is supposed to directly render a view (optionally passing a model and a layout). There's no controller involved in this process.
If you want to go through a controller you need to perform redirect, i.e. use RedirectToRouteResult instead of ViewResult.
In your example you are using this custom ViewResult directly inside some other controller. So that will be the controller that will render the error view.
I dont understand why you want to make a redirect. I would return 404
return HttpStatusCode(404);
And then use the approach described here: ASP.NET MVC 404 Error Handling to render the correct view. Benefit: your url is still the same, much easier for error handling and for the browser history.
Have you tried
return RedirectToAction("PageNotFound", "ControllerName");

Can I move common code from a method into a base controller with MVC4?

I have the following method in five controllers:
public ActionResult Index(string page, string title) {
var vm = new BaseViewModel();
vm.Role = GetRoleNumber(User);
vm.MenuItems = contentService.GetMenuItems("00", vm.Role);
vm.Menu = pageService.GetMenu(vm.MenuItems, Request.FilePath);
// difference code here for each controller
}
All my controllers inherit from a controller called BaseController.
Is there a way I could move this code into my base controller and call it? If so then what would be the best way to implement this?
This is an exact candidate for the Repository Pattern.
You could create all of these in your Repository class and call that method in each ActionResult method
public void Repository : IRepository
{
public GetMyBaseViewModel()
{
//..implementation here
}
}
public interface IRepository
{
BaseViewModel GetMyBaseViewModel();
}
....
and in your controllers :
...
public class HomeController : Controller
{
//private repository member
private readonly IRepository _repository;
//controller constructors
//injecting the repository here
public HomeController() : this(new Repository())
{
}
public HomeController(IRepository repository)
{
_repository = repository;
}
//methods that call the repository for the vm data context
public ActionResult Index()
{
var vm = _repository.GetMyBaseViewModel();
return View();
}
}
You could make an abstract ActionResult method in your base controller:
protected BaseViewModel vm;
public ActionResult Index(string page, string title) {
vm = new BaseViewModel();
vm.Role = GetRoleNumber(User);
vm.MenuItems = contentService.GetMenuItems("00", vm.Role);
vm.Menu = pageService.GetMenu(vm.MenuItems, Request.FilePath);
try
{
return IndexSupplemental();
}
catch(NotImplementedException ex)
{
// Log and move on; the abstract method is not implemented.
}
return View();
}
protected abstract ActionResult IndexSupplemental();
Then every controller would have to implement this abstract method.
You can move it to a method in your base controller and call it when you need it.
public class BaseController : Controller
{
protected BaseViewModel _viewModel;
public void InitializeViewModel() {
vm = new BaseViewModel();
vm.Role = GetRoleNumber(User);
vm.MenuItems = contentService.GetMenuItems("00", vm.Role);
vm.Menu = pageService.GetMenu(vm.MenuItems, Request.FilePath);
}
}
An example:
public class MyController : BaseController
{
public ActionResult Index(string page, string title)
{
InitializeViewModel();
DoSomething(_viewModel);
}
}
In my projects most of my actions will return a viewmodel that inherits from the BaseViewModel but there are exceptions to this. So what I did was something like this in ControllerBase:
protected override void OnActionExecuted(ActionExecutedContext filterContext)
{
base.OnActionExecuted(filterContext);
var authData = GetUserData();
if (authData != null)
{
var result = filterContext.Result as ViewResult;
if (result != null)
{
var vm = result.Model as ViewModelBase;
if (vm != null)
{
vm.UserId = authData.UserID;
vm.UserName = User.Identity.Name;
}
}
}
}
What you could do otherwise, as I expect your ViewModel to be of different types, is to create a method similar to this in ControllerBase:
NOTE This does not do what you want. I'm just showing a technique for creating a new instance of a derived class with some initialization code.
protected T Command<T>() where T : BaseCommand, new()
{
var command = new T();
command.IP = Request.UserHostAddress;
if (User != null && User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
{
var authData = GetUserData();
if (authData != null)
{
command.UserId = authData.UserID;
}
}
return command;
}
Which would be used as
var command = Command<CreateUserCommand>();

How to create ASP.NET MVC controller accepting unlimited amount of parameters from query string

Example of URL
http_//host/url/unlimited/index?first=value1&second=value2...&anyvalidname=somevalue
I want to have one action accepting unknown in advance amount of params with unknown names. Something like this:
public class UnlimitedController : Controller
{
public ActionResult Index(object queryParams)
{
}
//or even better
public ActionResult Index(Dictionary<string, object> queryParams)
{
}
}
You could create a custom model binder that will convert the querystrings into dictionary.
Custom Model Binder
public class CustomModelBinder: IModelBinder
{
public object BindModel(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext)
{
var querystrings = controllerContext.HttpContext.Request.QueryString;
return querystrings.Cast<string>()
.Select(s => new { Key = s, Value = querystrings[s] })
.ToDictionary(p => p.Key, p => p.Value);
}
}
Action
public ActionResult Index([ModelBinder(typeof(CustomModelBinder))]
Dictionary<string, string> queryParams)
{
}
In HomeController.cs
public ActionResult Test()
{
Dictionary<string, string> data = new Dictionary<string, string>();
foreach (string index in Request.QueryString.AllKeys)
{
data.Add(index, Request.QueryString[index]);
}
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
foreach (var element in data)
{
sb.Append(element.Key + ": " + element.Value + "<br />");
}
ViewBag.Data = sb.ToString();
return View();
}
In Test.cshtml
<h2>Test</h2>
#Html.Raw(ViewBag.Data)
Webpage, http://localhost:35268/Home/Test?var1=1&var2=2, shows:
var1: 1
var2: 2
why dont you keep everything you want inside a single query string parameter and get it on server side as string
then parse the string urself and get what ever you want
something like this
http://example.com?a=someVar&b=var1_value1__var2_value2__var3_value3
then at server side just split the string and get the variables and all the values
if you dont want this then what you can do is that
just call the controller through the url and manually get into the Request.QueryString[] collection and you will get all the variables and there values there
Your controller code could be like
public ActionResult MultipleParam(int a, int b, int c)
{
ViewData["Output"] = a + b + c;
return View();
}
Global.asax.cs
public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
{
routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");
routes.MapRoute(
"Parameter",
"{controller}/{action}/{a}/{b}/{c}",
new { controller = "Home", action = "MultipleParam", a = 0, b = 0, c = 0 }
);
}
If the route is {controller}/{action}/{id}/{page}, then /Home/MultipleParam/101/1?showComments=true, then the retrieval mechanism would be:
public ActionResult MultipleParam(string id /* = "101" */, int page /* = 1 */, bool showComments /* = true */) { }
Another possible solution is to create custom Route
public class ParamsEnabledRoute : RouteBase
{
private Route route;
public ParamsEnabledRoute(string url)
{
route = new Route(url, new MvcRouteHandler());
}
public override RouteData GetRouteData(HttpContextBase context)
{
var data = route.GetRouteData(context);
if (data != null)
{
var paramName = (string)data.Values["paramname"] ?? "parameters";
var parameters = context.Request.QueryString.AllKeys.ToDictionary(key => key, key => context.Request.QueryString[key]);
data.Values.Add(paramName, parameters);
return data;
}
return null;
}
public override VirtualPathData GetVirtualPath(RequestContext context, RouteValueDictionary rvd)
{
return route.GetVirtualPath(context, rvd);
}
}
Usage:
public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
{
routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");
routes.Add(new ParamsEnabledRoute("ParamsEnabled/{controller}/{action}/{paramname}"));
}
Controller:
public class HomeController : Controller
{
public ActionResult Test(Dictionary<string, string> parameters)
{
}
}
URL:
http://localhost/ParamsEnabled/Home/Test/parameteres?param1=value1&param2=value2
Route attribute:
public class RouteDataValueAttribute : ActionMethodSelectorAttribute
{
private readonly RouteDataValueAttributeEnum type;
public RouteDataValueAttribute(string valueName)
: this(valueName, RouteDataValueAttributeEnum.Required)
{
}
public RouteDataValueAttribute(string valueName, RouteDataValueAttributeEnum type)
{
this.type = type;
ValueName = valueName;
}
public override bool IsValidForRequest(ControllerContext controllerContext, MethodInfo methodInfo)
{
if (type == RouteDataValueAttributeEnum.Forbidden)
{
return controllerContext.RouteData.Values[ValueName] == null;
}
if (type == RouteDataValueAttributeEnum.Required)
{
return controllerContext.RouteData.Values[ValueName] != null;
}
return false;
}
public string ValueName { get; private set; }
}
public enum RouteDataValueAttributeEnum
{
Required,
Forbidden
}
Just use HttpContext to gather your query string.
using System.Web;
public class UnlimitedController : Controller
{
public ActionResult Index(object queryParams)
{
}
//or even better
public ActionResult Index()
{
NameValueCollection queryString = HttpContext.Request.QueryString;
// Access queryString in the same manner you would any Collection, including a Dictionary.
}
}
The question asked "How to create ASP.NET MVC controller accepting unlimited amount of parameters from query string"? Any controller will accept unlimited amount of parameters as a NamedValueCollection.

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