MVC controller.redirect doesn't redirect - asp.net-mvc

Question

I'm passing a string to Redirect but the controller is not sending the browser to the appropriate location.
The string is: "/Admin/SystemSecurity/_PermissionDetail/1"
The code is:
public ActionResult RedirectToLocal(string returnUrl)
{
if (Url.IsLocalUrl(returnUrl))
{
// Code get's here, but seems to go to /Submission/Index
return Redirect(returnUrl);
}
return RedirectToAction("Index", "Submission");
}
In this case, the method that calls RedirectToLocal is _Login in the SubmissionController:
[ChildActionOnly]
public ActionResult _Login(string returnUrl)
{
if (Request.Cookies["UserName"] != null && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(Request.Cookies["UserName"].Value))
{
var loginModel = new Login { Email = Request.Cookies["UserName"].Value, ReturnUrl = returnUrl};
return PartialView(loginModel);
}
return PartialView();
}
[HttpPost]
[AllowAnonymous]
[ValidateAntiForgeryToken]
public async Task<ActionResult> _Login(Login model, string returnUrl)
{
var isLoggedIn = UserLogin(model.Email, model.Password);
if (!isLoggedIn)
{
TempData["ErrorMessage"] = "Invalid email address or password.";
return RedirectToAction("Index", new { returnUrl = returnUrl });
}
// I make the call here, the values is correct here.
return RedirectToLocal(returnUrl);
}
Here's the Index method, also in SubmissionController:
public ActionResult Index(string message, string returnUrl)
{
IsAuthenticated();
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(message) )
AddMessage(message);
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty((string)TempData["ErrorMessage"]))
{
AddError((string)TempData["ErrorMessage"]);
}
ViewBag.ReturnUrl = returnUrl;
return View();
}
After the POST _Login RedirectToLocal, the main Index method gets called again. Not sure who/what calls it. Probably something simple I'm missing.
For clarification I'm posting more of my View data here:
/Submission/Index:
#{
Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Home.cshtml";
}
<div>
<p>...</p>
</div>
/Shared/_Home
#using PublicationSystem.ViewModels
#{
ViewBag.Title = "_Home";
Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";
}
<div class="container-fluid home-banner">
<!--Content from Index Page -------------------------------------->
<div class="clearfix"></div>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-sm-4 col-md-3 col-lg-3">
<div class="left-side-blue">
...
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-sm-8 col-md-9 col-lg-9">
#{ Html.RenderPartial("_ErrorMessages"); }
#if (!ViewBag.IsAuthenticated)
{
Html.RenderAction("_Login", new { returnUrl = ViewBag.ReturnUrl });
}
else
{
<div class="hp-nav-boxes">...</div>
}
</div>
</div>
</div>
...
</div>
/Shared/_Login:
#model PublicationSystem.ViewModels.Login
<div class="login-box">
<div class="row">
#using (Html.BeginForm("_Login", "Submission", new { returnUrl = ViewBag.ReturnUrl }, FormMethod.Post, new { #class = "col-sm-6 col-md-4 col-lg-4 pull-right custm-login ipadsm4" }))
{
#Html.AntiForgeryToken()
<div class="form-group">
#Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.Email, new { #class = "form-control", #placeholder = "Email" })
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.Email, "", new { #class = "text-danger" })
</div>
<div class="form-group">
#Html.PasswordFor(m => m.Password, new { #class = "form-control", #placeholder = "Password" })
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.Password, "", new {#class = "text-danger"})
</div>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-default pull-right">
Login <span aria-hidden="true" class="glyphicon glyphicon-play"></span>
</button>
<div class="clearfix"></div>
}
</div>
The login logic works and the user can get logged in. It's just this redirect that's messing up.

Answer 1

You're calling _Login a partial, but partials don't have associated actions. It might be a child action, but you can't post to child actions. As result, _Login is just a standard action, and unless you post to it directly via something like:
#using (Html.BeginForm("_Login"))
{
...
}
And then submit that form on the resulting page, the action will never be hit.
Assuming you're actually doing it that way already, and just confused about the terminology, then the next place to look is at the inconsistency in return URL variables. Your action accepts returnUrl as a param, but you're only using that if the user is not logged in, where you redirect to Index with that return URL. However, if the user is logged in, then you're calling RedirectToLocal with model.ReturnUrl instead.