Forms authentication: disable redirect to the login page

Question

I have an application that uses ASP.NET Forms Authentication. For the most part, it\'s working great, but I\'m trying to add support for a simple API via an .ashx file. I wa

Answer 1

I know there is already an answer with tick but while trying to solve similar problem I found this (http://blog.inedo.com/2010/10/12/http-418-im-a-teapot-finally-a-%e2%80%9clegitimate%e2%80%9d-use/) as an alternative.

Basically you return your own HTTP status code (e.g. 418) in your code. In my case a WCF data service.

throw new DataServiceException(418, "401 Unauthorized");

Then use a HTTP module to handle it at the EndRequest event to rewrite the code back to 401.

HttpApplication app = (HttpApplication)sender;
if (app.Context.Response.StatusCode == 418)
{
    app.Context.Response.StatusCode = 401;
}

The browser / client will receive the correct content and status code, it works great for me :)

If you are interested to learn more about HTTP status code 418 see this question & answer.