[FIXED] How to set next_url in Middleware?

Issue

I'm writing a custom piece of Middleware for my Django project that will redirect every page request to an age gate if the user has not yet confirmed they are old enough to enter the page. I want the age gate page to redirect to their originally requested page when they have confirmed the age gate. My middleware right now looks as follows:

from django.shortcuts import redirect

    class AgeGateMiddleware:
        EXCLUDED_URLS = ['/preview/agegate'] 
    
        def __init__(self, get_response):
            self.get_response = get_response
    
        def __call__(self, request):
            if not request.session.get('agegate') and request.path not in self.EXCLUDED_URLS:
                request.session['next_url'] = request.path
                return redirect('/preview/agegate')
    
            response = self.get_response(request)
            return response

And my age gate view looks like this:

def age_gate_view(request):

    #Load the original page after checking age gate.
    next_url = request.session['next_url']

    #Register users IP for age gate.
    x_forwarded_for = request.META.get('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR')
    if x_forwarded_for:
        ip = x_forwarded_for.split(',')[0]
    else:
        ip = request.META.get('REMOTE_ADDR')

    try:
        ip =ip
    except:
        ip = 'none'

    form = AgeGateForm({'ip':ip})
    
    #Store age gate response
    if request.method == 'POST':
        form = AgeGateForm(request.POST or None,  {'ip':ip})
        if form.is_valid():
            form.save()
            request.session['agegate'] = 'welcome'
            return redirect(next_url)
    
    context = {
        'form':form,
    }

    return render(request,'Academy/agegate.html', context)

Right now the Middleware works as intended: It redirects to the age gate if this has not yet been confirmed. However: The next_url does not seem to work as it keeps redirecting towards projectpage/favicon.ico and not the original requested page. What am i doing wrong?

Solution

It looks like you are encountering an issue with the next_url not being set correctly or not working as expected. The problem might be related to the fact that the favicon.ico request is also being intercepted by your middleware, leading to an incorrect redirection.

One way to address this issue is to exclude static files, including the favicon, from being processed by your middleware. You can modify your AgeGateMiddleware to skip certain paths, such as those for static files. Here's an updated version of your middleware with a check for static files: from django.shortcuts import redirect from django.urls import is_valid_path

class AgeGateMiddleware: EXCLUDED_URLS = ['/preview/agegate']

def __init__(self, get_response):
    self.get_response = get_response

def is_static_file(self, path):
    # Check if the path is for a static file
    return path.startswith('/static/') or path.startswith('/media/')

def __call__(self, request):
    if not request.session.get('agegate') and request.path not in self.EXCLUDED_URLS:
        # Check if the request path is a valid path (not a static file)
        if not self.is_static_file(request.path) and is_valid_path(request.path):
            request.session['next_url'] = request.path
            return redirect('/preview/agegate')

    response = self.get_response(request)
    return response

In this modified middleware:

I added a is_static_file method to check if a given path corresponds to a static file. You can adjust the paths in this method based on your project's setup. I added a check for is_static_file(request.path) before setting request.session['next_url']. By excluding static files from the redirection logic, you should have a more accurate next_url set when redirecting to the age gate, and it should work as intended.

Answered By - Jean Daniel Nsas