Question

I’m trying to implement Redirect After Post for the first time in ASP.NET. Assuming my business objects may take several seconds to a minute to complete, in what order, and what syntax do I use?

For example:

1. User POST’s

2. Server issues Server.Transfer or Response.Redirect

3. Server does something that takes a minute or two Thread.Sleep

What is the best way to handle this type of situation?

Answer 1

In this case, it is probably best to just stick with Response.Redirect() so that the user’s client is issued a redirect, rather than Server.Transfer() which performs a purely server-side redirect to a different context.

Regarding the process which requires the user to wait, you may want to use some sort of asynchronous implementation where the time-consuming operation is placed in a background thread; meanwhile the user, instead of waiting on a blank loading screen, is given Response.Redirect() to a “Processing” page that polls the server for completion of the current operation and updates the user. For added polish, consider implementing something like Facebook’s image uploader which overlays a progress bar in the corner of the screen while the user continues normal use of the website.