Question

Is there any easy way to distinguish between an ASP.NET MVC controller action being hit “directly” due to a client web browser request, and being hit by virtue of a Controller.RedirectToAction call or a RedirectToRoute result?

Answer 1

Alternatively, put a value in TempData

public class SomeController : Controller
{
    public ActionResult SomeAction()
    {
        // ... do stuff ...
        TempData["SomeKey"] = "SomeController.SomeAction";
        return RedirectToAction("SomeOtherAction", "SomeOtherController");
    }
}

public class SomeOtherController : Controller
{
    public ActionResult SomeOtherAction()
    {
        if (TempData.ContainsKey("SomeKey"))
        {
            // ... do stuff ...
        }
        // etc...
    }
}

(From Craig Stuntz)