Redirect in Master Page Before Content Page Load

Question

I have code in my ASP.NET master Page_Init event page that checks if a user is authorized to be on the content page, and if not redirects them to the login page. This code works fine as far as the check itself. However, I have discovered that the content Page_Load event still fires after the above redirect. This is causing a problem on pages that assume the user is logged in and certain variables are set.

This is the master page code (simplified)

    Protected Sub Page_Init(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Init
...
            If Access_Level > User_Level_ID Then
                Response.Redirect("~/login.aspx", False)
            End If

    End Sub

The above test works fine, and the redirect line is executed, but doesn't take effect before the code below is fired and executes.

This is the content page code

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
    Dim Rec_IDs As New List(Of String)
    Rec_IDs = Session("Rec_IDs")
    lblCount.Text = String.Format("You have {0} records in your cart", CType(Rec_IDs.Count, String)) 'this gives an error if Session("Rec_IDs") is null
End Sub

I realize I can put code in each of my content pages to check if a user is logged in / authorized, but I wanted to control it all from one location if possible.

Am I doing something wrong? I've read so many pages that say the master page is the place to do the check.

Thanks. :-)

Solution 1

    Protected Sub Page_Init(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Init
...
            If Access_Level > User_Level_ID Then
                Response.Redirect("~/login.aspx", True)
            End If

    End Sub

Using Response.Redirect("~/login.aspx", True) will terminate the current page processing & redirect to desired page.

Though it is recommended to use "Response.Redirect("~/login.aspx", False)" but this will not terminate page execution. It will redirect after current page processing end.

Solution 2

It does so because the 2nd argument in your Response.Redirect is set to false - which means you're not ending the execution of the rest of the page.

If you set it to true, page execution ends (prevents the Page_Load of the content page/s from firing. EDIT: as well as any other subsequent Master page events for that matter)

Response.Redirect("~/login.aspx", True)

Check what it does to all your pages though....e.g. your login.aspx page shouldn't have the same master page the way the code is written above...

Comments

[Tom Collins]

Works like a charm. Thank you very much. I marked your answer as accepted because you beat the other guy by 2 minutes. :-)

[Tom Collins]

Works great, thank you very much. Btw, login does have the same master page, but code I didn't include above allows anyone to access it, and a few other pages. Thanks for the heads up though.