Magento - Passing a session variable to a page called via _redirect() - magento

Question

I have the need to pass a URL to Magento, where it should redirect the User after completing the logout. To store it, I do the following:
$BackTo = Mage::app()->getRequest()->getParam('backto');
if(!empty($BackTo)) {
Mage::getSingleton('core/session')->setBackTo($BackTo);
}
When needed, I retrieve the URL using Mage::getSingleton('core/session')->getBackTo(). The issue is that, while this works well on login, it doesn't work on logout (where it's most needed). I can store the session variable, I can also immediately retrieve it, but, when I am in logout.phtml, where the redirect JavaScript is located, such variable is set to null.
I suspect that the redirect performed by Magento upon logout has something to do with this "disappearing" session variable, but I can't say for sure.
For completeness, here is the relevant code (there's more code than this, but they are mainly auxiliary functions, which don't get called on logout).
Account Controller
class MyPackage_Redirectplugin_AccountController extends Mage_Customer_AccountController {
/**
* #see AccountController:logoutAction()
*/
public function logoutAction() {
$this->_getSession()
->logout()
->setBeforeAuthUrl(Mage::getUrl());
// Store the "back to" URL in a session variable
$this->StoreBackToURL();
$this->_redirect('*/*/logoutSuccess');
}
protected function StoreBackToURL() {
// Store the value of the "backto" argument, if it was passed
$BackTo = Mage::app()->getRequest()->getParam('backto');
if(!empty($BackTo)) {
Mage::getSingleton('core/session')->setBackTo($BackTo);
// At this point I can see the correct value stored in the session variable
}
}
}
Logout.phtml
// The following command returns null
$redirectURL = Mage::getSingleton('core/session')->getBackTo();
Thanks in advance for the help.
Update 12/09/25 - Found a workaround
Since I couldn't find a way to pass a session variable to the logout page opened by redirect, I chose an alternative way: I'm passing it via the URL. Specifically, I implemented a logoutAction() which calls $this->_redirect('*/*/logoutSuccess', array('myvar' => $MyValue));.
In the template, where I have to do the redirect, I simply read such parameter using Mage::helper('core')->urlDecode(Mage::app()->getRequest()->getParam('myvar'));.
I'm aware that there might have been better ways to implement the whole thing, but I needed a bug fix solution and this does the job. Thanks to all people who answered.

Answer 1

The cleanest option which I see (no controller rewrite necessary!) is to observe the dynamically-dispatched controller_action_postdispatch_customer_account_logout event - see the relevant line fromMage_Core_Controller_Varien_Action::postDispatch(). The postDispatch() method is called after the controller action completes.
Example observer method:
public function logoutRedirect($obs)
{
$redirectUrl = Mage::getUrl(/* url args */);
$obs->getControllerAction()->getResponse()->setRedirect($redirectUrl);
}
Doing this will redirect the user to the desired URL directly upon logout meaning that the logoutSuccess page with the JS redirect will not be accessed.
If the desire is to have the logoutSuccess page render as normal, but redirect to a different URL, this can be achieved a couple of ways:
1. By creating a custom template
2. By creating a custom template block class, overriding the getUrl() method to retrieve the URL of your choice, and assigning that as block to render in the content area (by removing or displacing the customer_logout block) in a custom layout XML update file.

Answer 2

just observe this event customer_logout, and when event call method you save the session key on database.
Learn more: http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/5_-_modules_and_development/reference/events
http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/5_-_modules_and_development/0_-_module_development_in_magento/customizing_magento_using_event-observer_method
GL.

Answer 3

Update 12/09/25 - Found a workaround
This workaround has also been posted in the question itself.
Since I couldn't find a way to pass a session variable to the logout page opened by redirect, I chose an alternative way: I'm passing it via the URL. Specifically, I implemented a logoutAction() which calls $this->_redirect('*/*/logoutSuccess', array('myvar' => $MyValue));.
In the template, where I have to do the redirect, I simply read such parameter using Mage::helper('core')->urlDecode(Mage::app()->getRequest()->getParam('myvar'));.
I'm aware that there might have been better ways to implement the whole thing, but I needed a bug fix solution and this does the job. Thanks to all people who answered.