Question

I am designing a new dynamic site from a static site. I have the route all sorted but I have a question on my Action method.

Below is the code but when testing and looking at the headers that Firebug reports, if I take out the Response.End it is a 302 redirect I assume because I set the 301 but then call another action which makes it a 302, but if I put in the Response.End I get a 301.

I am guessing that adding the Response.RedirectLocation is actually doing the 301 redirect so do I therefore change my return value to EmptyResult or null even though that line of code will never get executed just so the app compiles?

public ActionResult MoveOld(string id)
{
    string pagename = String.Empty;

    if(id == "2")
    {
      pagename = WebPage.SingleOrDefault(x => x.ID == 5).URL;
    }

    Response.StatusCode = 301;
    Response.StatusDescription = "301 Moved Permanently";
    Response.RedirectLocation = pagename;
    Response.End();

    return RedirectToAction("Details", new { pageName = pagename });
}

Answer 1

I echo Levi’s comments. This is not the job of the controller. I have tended to use this custom ActionResult for 301’s. Below is a modified version with more options.

For ASP.NET MVC v2+, use RedirectResult.

public class PermanentRedirectResult : ActionResult
{
  public string Url { get; set; }

  public PermanentRedirectResult(string url)
  {
    Url = url;
  }

  public PermanentRedirectResult(RequestContext context, string actionName, string controllerName)
  {
    UrlHelper urlHelper = new UrlHelper(context);
    string url = urlHelper.Action(actionName, controllerName);

    Url = url;
  }

  public PermanentRedirectResult(RequestContext context, string actionName, string controllerName, object values)
  {
    UrlHelper urlHelper = new UrlHelper(context);
    string url = urlHelper.Action(actionName, controllerName, values);

    Url = url;
  }

  public PermanentRedirectResult(RequestContext context, string actionName, string controllerName, RouteValueDictionary values)
  {
    UrlHelper urlHelper = new UrlHelper(context);
    string url = urlHelper.Action(actionName, controllerName, values);

    Url = url;
  }

  public override void ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context)
  {
    if (context == null)
    {
      throw new ArgumentNullException("context");
    }
    context.HttpContext.Response.StatusCode = 301;
    context.HttpContext.Response.RedirectLocation = Url;
    context.HttpContext.Response.End();
  }
}

Usage in the action

//Just passing a url that is already known
return new PermanentRedirectResult(url);

//*or*

//Redirect to a different controller/action
return new PermanentRedirectResult(ControllerContext.RequestContext, "ActionName", "ControllerName");