asp.net mvc ajax post - redirecttoaction not worki

Question

I used the following code in one of my controller;

            if (Request.IsAjaxRequest()) {
            return RedirectToAction("PreviewAndSendEmail");
        }

I debugged it and it comes to return line and but redirect didn't occur. Is it possible to do that inside Ajax.BeginForm ? Here is the razor code;

    using(Ajax.BeginForm( new AjaxOptions { LoadingElementId = "loading" })) { 

    <b>Choose E-mail Template : </b>@Html.DropDownList("emailtemps")<br /><br />

    <input type="submit" value="Preview & Send" />

    <span id="loading" style="display: none;">
        <img title="loading..." alt="load" src="@Url.Content("~/Content/App_Icons/gifs/loading.gif")"
    </span>

}

Answer 1

Why don't you call the PreviewAndSendMailEmail directly? Since you don't need the redirection itself (change in url,etc), there is no need to use it.

Answer 2

You can't redirect in an AJAX action from the server. If you want your browser to redirect in an AJAX action you need to do it from javascript. Obviously using AJAX to redirect is absolutely useless. If you intend to redirect use a normal Html.Begin form and don't bother with AJAX.