C# – Server.Transfer in Global.asax

asp.netcglobal-asaxnetserver.transfer

I have a custom error handler in the global.asax's Application_Error method, when an error occurs I use the following code to transfer user to the error page:

Server.Transfer("/Error/");

However without specifying the actual page name the code above breaks with "Error executing child request for /Error/" exception.

So if I use Server.Transfer("/Error/Default.aspx") it works fine with no problems.

Also using Response.Redirect("/Error/") works fine too, however we want to keep using Server.Transfer to retain URL displayed in the address bar when the error page is displayed so users can simply refresh the page to retry accessing the original offending URL.

Would be grateful if anyone can comment on how to get the Server.Transfer method working without specifying the actual aspx page name.

Many thanks.

Best Answer

Server.Transfer needs the actual, virtual path to a resource that will give the output needed. It does not go through IIS to find out what the website's default document(s) are, so it has no clue what you mean by "/Error/" unless that is an actual file name.

Response.Redirect works because that is sending a 'moved' result to the browser with that relative URL (/Error/) and when the browser makes the new request for /Error/, IIS handles it first, and applies the default document settings.

Related Solutions

Server.Transfer Vs. Response.Redirect

Response.Redirect simply sends a message (HTTP 302) down to the browser.

Server.Transfer happens without the browser knowing anything, the browser request a page, but the server returns the content of another.

C# – Display custom error page when file upload exceeds allowed size in ASP.NET MVC

When running under IIS7 and upwards there is another parameter:

<system.webServer>
  <security>
    <requestFiltering>
      <requestLimits maxAllowedContentLength="10485760" />
    </requestFiltering>
  </security>
</system.webServer>

The default setting is slightly less than 30 MB.

For uploaded files with size between maxRequestLength and maxAllowedContentLength IIS7 will throw an HttpException with HTTP code 500 and message text Maximum request length exceeded. When this exception is thrown, IIS7 kills the connection immediately. So an HttpModule that redirects on this error will only work if the HttpException is handled and cleared (using Server.ClearError()) in Application_Error() in global.asax.cs.

For uploaded files with size bigger than maxAllowedContentLength IIS7 will display a detailed error page with error code 404 and subStatusCode 13. The error page can be found in C:\inetpub\custerr\en-US\404-13.htm

For redirects on this error on IIS7 I recommend redirecting on httpErrors instead. To redirect to a different action set a smaller value for maxAllowedContentLength than maxRequestLength in web.config and also add the following to web.config:

<system.webServer>
  <httpErrors errorMode="Custom" existingResponse="Replace"> 
    <remove statusCode="404" subStatusCode="13" /> 
    <error statusCode="404" subStatusCode="13" prefixLanguageFilePath=""
       path="http://yoursite.com/Error/UploadTooLarge" responseMode="Redirect" /> 
  </httpErrors>
</system.webServer>

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Server.Transfer Vs. Response.Redirect

C# – Display custom error page when file upload exceeds allowed size in ASP.NET MVC

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