Beginner's question - How do you redirect a user to another page

[RobG]

Hi there,

I have a form and when the user clicks the submit button, I want the handler
for that on the server side to redirect ("post") the form to a URL at
another site (not my own). It should appear to the user's browser as if the
form's "action" attribute were set to that site to begin with (so the start
page at that site will have access to the hidden fields on the form - it's
expecting them). Thanks in advance.

[Mark Rae [MVP]]

Re: Beginner's question - How do you redirect a user to another page

"RobG" <no_spam@_nospa m.comwrote in message
news:ebI9rDIeIH A.6092@TK2MSFTN GP06.phx.gbl...

I have a form and when the user clicks the submit button, I want the
handler for that on the server side to redirect ("post") the form to a URL
at another site (not my own). It should appear to the user's browser as if
the form's "action" attribute were set to that site to begin with (so the
start page at that site will have access to the hidden fields on the
form - it's expecting them).

The simplest way would be to use an HTML form instead of an ASP.NET form
e.g.

<form method="post" action="http://www.theotherweb site.com">

</form>

Of course, that will mean that you can't use any webcontrols at all but,
since you're not posting back, I'm guessing that probably won't matter too
much...


--
Mark Rae
ASP.NET MVP

http://www.markrae.net

[RobG]

Re: Beginner's question - How do you redirect a user to another page

>I have a form and when the user clicks the submit button, I want the

>handler for that on the server side to redirect ("post") the form to a
>URL at another site (not my own). It should appear to the user's browser
>as if the form's "action" attribute were set to that site to begin with
>(so the start page at that site will have access to the hidden fields on
>the form - it's expecting them).

>
The simplest way would be to use an HTML form instead of an ASP.NET form
e.g.
>
<form method="post" action="http://www.theotherweb site.com">
>
</form>
>
Of course, that will mean that you can't use any webcontrols at all but,
since you're not posting back, I'm guessing that probably won't matter too
much...

Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately, I need the submit button handler to
set a hidden field based on the value of one of the form's controls (ideally
I'd like to dynamically create his hidden field on-the-fly - not sure how
though). Once set, it can then post to the real the URL but again, it should
appear as if the user went directly there to begin with. Do you know how to
pull this off? Thanks again.

[RobG]

Re: Beginner's question - How do you redirect a user to another page

... dynamically create his hidden field ...

s/this/his

[Mark Rae [MVP]]

Re: Beginner's question - How do you redirect a user to another page

"RobG" <no_spam@_nospa m.comwrote in message
news:%23u8s2VIe IHA.4464@TK2MSF TNGP02.phx.gbl. ..

Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately, I need the submit button handler
to set a hidden field based on the value of one of the form's controls

Is there a reason that can't you use JavaScript for that...?


--
Mark Rae
ASP.NET MVP

http://www.markrae.net

[RobG]

Re: Beginner's question - How do you redirect a user to another page

Hmm - OK...

>
In which case, I can only think of the following:
>
1) Keep your existing page which does the postback to encrypt the data
>
2) Add an <asp:Literalcon trol to the page
>
3) As part of the postback, use a StringBuilder to create the entire text
of an HTML form and add that to the Literal control
>
4) Finally, inject a piece of JavaScript to submit the dynamically created
form
>
This is pretty messy, but it's not unheard of... E.g. this is the way
people typically integrate PayPal into their ASP.NET apps...

Thanks very much. I'll be looking into this immediately. Note that I also
just came across the following which looks promising:

http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/desaijm/ASP.NetPostURL11282005005516AM/ASP.NetPostURL.aspx

I have yet to look at it in detail but the author states (as you yourself do
indirectly) that ASP.NET provides no clean way to do this. That comes as a
surprise to me but so long as it can be done somehow (even using unwieldy
techniques) I'm grateful. Thanks again.

[RobG]

Re: Beginner's question - How do you redirect a user to another page

This is the updated link on the author's site:

http://www.jigar.net/articles/viewhtmlcontent78.aspx

[Mark Rae [MVP]]

Re: Beginner's question - How do you redirect a user to another page

"RobG" <no_spam@_nospa m.comwrote in message
news:exVLTyIeIH A.5280@TK2MSFTN GP02.phx.gbl...

This is the updated link on the author's site:
>
http://www.jigar.net/articles/viewhtmlcontent78.aspx

That's pretty much what I was suggesting, though I think the author is
perhaps being a little too clever for his own good...

Specifically, I try to avoid writing directly to the Response stream because
you can't always guarantee where things go... Having said that, the first
thing that the author's code does is to clear the Response stream, so this
is probably OK...


--
Mark Rae
ASP.NET MVP

http://www.markrae.net

[Cowboy \(Gregory A. Beamer\)]

Re: Beginner's question - How do you redirect a user to another page

You can set the form tag to point anywhere you like, as Mark has pointed
out.

One potential issue, however, is the browser may alert the user of your
action, as you are working cross site. In addition, if the form at the other
side can be set up to not allow what you are attempting (you have this
worked out already with the guys on the other side?).

--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP, MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA

*************** *************** *************** ****
| Think outside the box!
|
*************** *************** *************** ****
"RobG" <no_spam@_nospa m.comwrote in message
news:ebI9rDIeIH A.6092@TK2MSFTN GP06.phx.gbl...

Hi there,
>
I have a form and when the user clicks the submit button, I want the
handler for that on the server side to redirect ("post") the form to a URL
at another site (not my own). It should appear to the user's browser as if
the form's "action" attribute were set to that site to begin with (so the
start page at that site will have access to the hidden fields on the
form - it's expecting them). Thanks in advance.
>