How to disable a global filter in ASP.Net MVC selectively - asp.net-mvc

Question

I have set up a global filter for all my controller actions in which I open and close NHibernate sessions. 95% of these action need some database access, but 5% don't. Is there any easy way to disable this global filter for those 5%. I could go the other way round and decorate only the actions that need the database, but that would be far more work.

Answer 1

You could write a marker attribute:
public class SkipMyGlobalActionFilterAttribute : Attribute
{
}
and then in your global action filter test for the presence of this marker on the action:
public class MyGlobalActionFilter : ActionFilterAttribute
{
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
if (filterContext.ActionDescriptor.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(SkipMyGlobalActionFilterAttribute), false).Any())
{
return;
}
// here do whatever you were intending to do
}
}
and then if you want to exclude some action from the global filter simply decorate it with the marker attribute:
[SkipMyGlobalActionFilter]
public ActionResult Index()
{
return View();
}

Answer 2

Though, the accepted answer by Darin Dimitrov is fine and working well but, for me, the simplest and most efficient answer found here.
You just need to add a boolean property to your attribute and check against it, just before your logic begins:
public class DataAccessAttribute: ActionFilterAttribute
{
public bool Disable { get; set; }
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
if (Disable) return;
// Your original logic for your 95% actions goes here.
}
}
Then at your 5% actions just use it like this:
[DataAccessAttribute(Disable=true)]
public ActionResult Index()
{
return View();
}

Answer 3

In AspNetCore, the accepted answer by #darin-dimitrov can be adapted to work as follows:
First, implement IFilterMetadata on the marker attribute:
public class SkipMyGlobalActionFilterAttribute : Attribute, IFilterMetadata
{
}
Then search the Filters property for this attribute on the ActionExecutingContext:
public class MyGlobalActionFilter : IActionFilter
{
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext context)
{
if (context.Filters.OfType<SkipMyGlobalActionFilterAttribute>().Any())
{
return;
}
// etc
}
}

Answer 4

At least nowadays, this is quite easy: to exclude all action filters from an action, just add the OverrideActionFiltersAttribute.
There are similar attributes for other filters: OverrideAuthenticationAttribute, OverrideAuthorizationAttribute and OverrideExceptionAttribute.
See also https://www.strathweb.com/2013/06/overriding-filters-in-asp-net-web-api-vnext/

Answer 5

Create a custom Filter Provider. Write a class which will implement IFilterProvider. This IFilterProvider interface has a method GetFilters which returns Filters which needs to be executed.
public class MyFilterProvider : IFilterProvider
{
private readonly List<Func<ControllerContext, object>> filterconditions = new List<Func<ControllerContext, object>>();
public void Add(Func<ControllerContext, object> mycondition)
{
filterconditions.Add(mycondition);
}
public IEnumerable<Filter> GetFilters(ControllerContext controllerContext, ActionDescriptor actionDescriptor)
{
return from filtercondition in filterconditions
select filtercondition(controllerContext) into ctrlContext
where ctrlContext!= null
select new Filter(ctrlContext, FilterScope.Global);
}
}
=============================================================================
In Global.asax.cs
public static void RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilterCollection filters)
{
MyFilterProvider provider = new MyFilterProvider();
provider.Add(d => d.RouteData.Values["action"].ToString() != "SkipFilterAction1 " ? new NHibernateActionFilter() : null);
FilterProviders.Providers.Add(provider);
}
protected void Application_Start()
{
RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilters.Filters);
}

Answer 6

Well, I think I got it working for ASP.NET Core.
Here's the code:
public override async Task OnActionExecutionAsync(ActionExecutingContext context, ActionExecutionDelegate next)
{
// Prepare the audit
_parameters = context.ActionArguments;
await next();
if (IsExcluded(context))
{
return;
}
var routeData = context.RouteData;
var controllerName = (string)routeData.Values["controller"];
var actionName = (string)routeData.Values["action"];
// Log action data
var auditEntry = new AuditEntry
{
ActionName = actionName,
EntityType = controllerName,
EntityID = GetEntityId(),
PerformedAt = DateTime.Now,
PersonID = context.HttpContext.Session.GetCurrentUser()?.PersonId.ToString()
};
_auditHandler.DbContext.Audits.Add(auditEntry);
await _auditHandler.DbContext.SaveChangesAsync();
}
private bool IsExcluded(ActionContext context)
{
var controllerActionDescriptor = (Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Controllers.ControllerActionDescriptor)context.ActionDescriptor;
return controllerActionDescriptor.ControllerTypeInfo.IsDefined(typeof(ExcludeFromAuditing), false) ||
controllerActionDescriptor.MethodInfo.IsDefined(typeof(ExcludeFromAuditing), false);
}
The relevant code is in the 'IsExcluded' method.

Answer 7

You can change your filter code like this:
public class NHibernateActionFilter : ActionFilterAttribute
{
public IEnumerable<string> ActionsToSkip { get; set; }
public NHibernateActionFilter(params string[] actionsToSkip)
{
ActionsToSkip = actionsToSkip;
}
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
if (null != ActionsToSkip && ActionsToSkip.Any(a =>
String.Compare(a, filterContext.ActionDescriptor.ActionName, true) == 0))
{
return;
}
//here you code
}
}
And use it:
[NHibernateActionFilter(new[] { "SkipFilterAction1 ", "Action2"})]