How can I change the name of the "ReturnUrl" parameter used by ASP.NET MVC?

Question

ReturnUrl is kind of ugly. I'd like to use redirect instead. How can I specify the name of the parameter that should be used for forms authentication redirect URLs in conjunction with the [Authorize] attribute? Or do I have to create an IAuthorizationFilter implementation? :(

Example:

[Authorize]
public class Tools : Controller
{
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        return View();
    }
}

When a user who is not logged in visits http://example.com/tools, I'd like them to be redirected to http://example.com/account/logon?redirect=%2ftools, instead of the default http://example.com/Account/LogOn?ReturnUrl=%2ftools

For the /account/logon part, I can modify my routes in Global.asax and change

<authentication mode="Forms">
  <forms loginUrl="~/account/logon" timeout="2880" />
</authentication>

in web.config. But I don't know how to change the ReturnUrl parameter.

Answer 1

The question and answers here seems to relate to the old form authentications stuff. On newer versions of MVC, e.g. MVC 5 (with Identity 2.0), you would do something like this in the Startup.Auth.cs:

app.UseCookieAuthentication(new CookieAuthenticationOptions
        {
            AuthenticationType = DefaultAuthenticationTypes.ApplicationCookie,
            LoginPath = new PathString("/account/login"),
            Provider = new CookieAuthenticationProvider
            {
                // Enables the application to validate the security stamp when the user logs in.
                // This is a security feature which is used when you change a password or add an external login to your account.  
                OnValidateIdentity = SecurityStampValidator.OnValidateIdentity<ApplicationUserManager, ApplicationUser>(
                    validateInterval: TimeSpan.FromMinutes(30),
                    regenerateIdentity: (manager, user) => user.GenerateUserIdentityAsync(manager))
            },
            ReturnUrlParameter = "redirect"
        });

The important part is of course ReturnUrlParameter = "redirect" (can be anything). The rest might be different for your project.

Answer 2

Add this key to the appSettings section of your web.config

<add key="aspnet:FormsAuthReturnUrlVar" value="redirect" />

Answer 3

Not the BEST solution around, but it works...

<rule name="FormsAuthentication" stopProcessing="true">
  <match url="^account/log(i|o)n$" />
  <conditions>
    <add input="{QUERY_STRING}" pattern="^ReturnUrl=([^=&amp;]+)$" />
  </conditions>
  <action type="Redirect" url="account/logon?redirect={C:1}" appendQueryString="false" />
</rule>