Show Menu Link to Logged In Users ASP.NET MVC 5

Question

So I am brand new to the whole ASP.NET MVC 5 thing and I am creating my first mini application. I need to show the profile link only after a user has logged in. I have a profile controller and the link will redirect the user to the profile controller. Here is the code I have but unfortunately it is not working.

I am using the built-in ASPNet.Identity. I have only modified it to require an email address during signup. Here is the sample code I am using.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Security.Claims;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Mvc;
using Microsoft.AspNet.Identity;
using Microsoft.AspNet.Identity.EntityFramework;
using Microsoft.Owin.Security;
using artisan.Models;


namespace artisan.Controllers
{
    [Authorize]
    public class AccountController : Controller
    {
        public AccountController()
            : this(new UserManager<ApplicationUser>(new UserStore<ApplicationUser>(new ApplicationDbContext())))
        {
        }

        public AccountController(UserManager<ApplicationUser> userManager)
        {
            UserManager = userManager;
        }

        public UserManager<ApplicationUser> UserManager { get; private set; }

        public ActionResult Profile()
        {
            return View();
        }

        //
        // GET: /Account/Login
        [AllowAnonymous]
        public ActionResult Login(string returnUrl)
        {
            ViewBag.ReturnUrl = returnUrl;
            return View();

Answer 1

So you are saying, after a user successfully logs in, you want to redirect them to some action located in another controller called ProfileController ?

If that's what you're after than it's pretty simple. After you authenticated the user in your login method you simply throw a return RedirectToAction("Index", "Profile"); in there and you should be good to go. Here is an example that does just that. It's a little more convoluted but I commented everything so you can understand. There are more than a couple redirects in there for different reasons.

[AllowAnonymous]
    [HttpPost]
    public async Task<ActionResult> Login(Models.AccountViewModel vm, string returnUrl)
    {
        //first make sure they filled in all mandatory fields
        if (ModelState.IsValid)
        {
            //try to find the user by the credentials they provided
            var user = await UserManager.FindAsync(vm.LoginModel.Username, vm.LoginModel.Password);
            //if user is null then they entered wrong credentials
            if (user != null)
            {
                //if user has confirmed their email already
                if (user.EmailConfirmed == true)
                {
                    //attempt to sign in the user
                    await SignInAsync(user, vm.LoginModel.RememberMe);

                    //if the return url is empty then they clicked directly on login instead of trying to access
                    //an unauthorized area of the site which redirected them to the login.
                    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(returnUrl))
                        return RedirectToLocal(returnUrl);

                    //returnUrl was empty so user went to log in first
                    else
                    {
                        //lets check and see which roles this user is in so we can direct him to the right page
                        var rolesForUser = UserManager.GetRoles(user.Id);
                        //users can be in multiple roles but the first role dictates what they see after they sign in
                        switch (rolesForUser.First())
                        {
                            case "Normal_User":
                                return RedirectToAction("Feed", "Account");
                            default:
                                //user is not in any roles send him to the default screen

                                break;
                        }
                    }
                }

                    //user has not confirmed their email address redirect to email confirmation
                else
                {
                    //resend confirmation
                    await SendConfirmationEmail(user.Id);

                    //redirect user to unconfirmed email account view
                    return RedirectToAction("UnconfirmedAccount", "Account", new { Email = user.Email, UserId = user.Id });
                }

            }
            else
            {
                //add errors to the view letting the user know they entered wrong credentials. Code will fall through and return
                //the view below with these errors
                ModelState.AddModelError("", "Invalid username or password.");
            }

        }

        // If we got this far then validation failed
        return View(vm);
    }