Spring MVC 3, forwarding not working when using Ajax

Question

I have very interesting problem. I am making log in page for my web app and I am sending login request via AJAX. If success I want to forward user to another page.

It seems that his is what happens. I send Ajax request, controller forwards me to need view (I see log in debug mode) but I stay on the same page, since I assume the page is waiting for AJAX response and for that reason forwarding does not happen.

I think this is also wrong way to approach this but since I am new to this don't know better. How can I log in and and forward user to next page.

Thank you.

Here is my code:

JS Code:

    Page.authenticate = function() {
        $.ajax({
              url: "/login/authenticate/" + $('#username').val() + "/" + $('#password').val(),
              type: "GET",
              success: function(poi){
                 // alert("nesto");
              }
           });

        return true;
    }

Controller Class:

@Controller
public class LoginPageController {

private Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(this.getClass());

@Autowired
private UserManagement userManagement; 

@RequestMapping(value="/login/authenticate/{username}/{password}", method=RequestMethod.GET)
public String authenticate(@PathVariable("username") String userName, @PathVariable("password") String password, Model model) {

if (userManagement.authenticateUser(userName, password)) {
        String forward = "forward:/login/success";
        return forward;
    } else {
        model.addAttribute("errorMessage", "Invalid Username/Password, please try again!");
        return "/";
    }

}

}

Answer 1

You need to response within @ResponseBody Annotation if you are using AJAX.

    @RequestMapping(value="/login/authenticate/{username}/{password}", method=RequestMethod.GET)
    public String authenticate(@PathVariable("username") String userName, @PathVariable("password") String password, Model model) {

    if (userManagement.authenticateUser(userName, password)) {
            String forward = "forward:/login/success";
            return forward;
        } else {
            String forward = "forward:/login/error?message=Invalid Username/Password, please try again!";
            return forward;
        }

    }

     @RequestMapping(value="/login/success", method=RequestMethod.GET)
      @Responsebody
      public String handleMySuccessRedirect() {
         return "Logged In successfully"
              } 

 @RequestMapping(value="/login/error", method=RequestMethod.GET)
  @Responsebody
  public String handleMyExceptionOnRedirect(@RequestParamter("message") String message) {
     return message;
          } 

Update:

 @RequestMapping(value="/login/authenticate/{username}/{password}", method=RequestMethod.GET)
@ResponseBody
    public String authenticate(@PathVariable("username") String userName, @PathVariable("password") String password, Model model) {

    if (userManagement.authenticateUser(userName, password)) {
            String response = "Logged Successfully";
            return response;
        } else {
            String response = "Invalid Username/Password, please try again!";
            return response;
        }

    }

Answer 2

There are a couple of things you can do here:

1. Don't return a view from your controller, instead return json, based on the response in json, set the location appropriately - window.location = 'home.action' - here is an example using ext-js

2. Let the login page perform a full fledged post, not an AJAX post.