In my application, I redirect an HTTP request and also pass a parameter. Example:
http://localhost:9000/home;signup=error
Is it better to use a ; or shall I use a ? i.e. shall I do http://localhost:9000/home;signup=error or http://localhost:9000/home?signup=error?
Are the above two different from each other semantically?
The ? is a reserved character; I have read that this is both valid and invalid, but I have used it for 'slugs' when templating.
Should you choose to use it, percent-encode the query string using %3F which is not human readable, but will produce the ?. (An encoder is recommended)
Perhaps you will find a more suitable solution for your redirects by adding an .htaccess file to your project.
Related
My URL is http://175.24.2.166/download?a=TOP#0;ONE=1;TWO2.
How should I encode the parameter so that when I print the parameter in the Servlet, I get the value in its entirety? Currently when I print the value by using request.getParameter("a") I get the output as TOP instead of TOP#0;ONE=1;TWO2.
You should encode it like this http://175.24.2.166/download?a=TOP%230%3BONE%3D1%3BTWO2 . There are a lot of the encoders in Java, you can try to use URLEncoder or some online encoders for experements
This is known as the "fragment identifier".
as mentioned in wiki
The fragment identifier introduced by a hash mark # is the optional last part of a URL for a document. It is typically used to identify a portion of that document.
the part after the # is info for the client. Put everything your client needs here.
you need to encode your query string.
you can use encodeURIComponent() function in JavaScript encodes a URI component.This function encodes special characters.
I want to call a JSP with GET parameters within the GET parameter of a parent JSP. The URL for this would be http://server/getMap.jsp?lat=30&lon=-90&name=http://server/getName.jsp?lat1=30&lon1=-90
getName.jsp will return a string that goes in the name parameter of getMap.jsp.
I think the problem here is that &lon1=-90 at the end of the URL will be given to getMap.jsp instead of getName.jsp. Is there a way to distinguish which GET parameter goes to which URL?
One idea I had was to encode the second URL (e.g. = -> %3D and & -> %26) but that didn't work out well. My best idea so far is to allow only one parameter in the second URL, comma-delimited. So I'll have http://server/getMap.jsp?lat=30&lon=-90&name=http://server/getName.jsp?params=30,-90 and leave it up to getName.jsp to parse its variables. This way I leave the & alone.
NOTE - I know I can approach this problem from a completely different angle and avoid nested URLs altogether, but I still wonder (for the sake of knowledge!) if this is possible or if anyone has done it...
This has been done a lot, especially with ad serving technologies and URL redirects
But an encoded URL should just work fine. You need to completely encode it tho. A generator can be found here
So this:
http://server/getMap.jsp?lat=30&lon=-90&name=http://server/getName.jsp?lat1=30&lon1=-90
becomes this: http://server/getMap.jsp?lat=30&lon=-90&name=http%3A%2F%2Fserver%2FgetName.jsp%3Flat1%3D30%26lon1%3D-90
I am sure that jsp has a function for this. Look for "urlencode". Your JSP will see the contents of the GET-Variable "name" as the unencoded string: "http://server/getName.jsp?lat1=30&lon1=-90"
The reason I'm asking is because IIS protects certain ASP.NET folders, like Bin, App_Data, App_Code, etc. Even if the URL does not map to an actual file system folder IIS rejects a URL with a path segment equal to one of the mentioned names.
This means I cannot have a route like this:
{controller}/{action}/{id}
... where id can be any string e.g.
Catalog/Product/Bin
So, instead of disabling this security measure I'm willing to change the route, using a suffix before the id, like these:
{controller}/{action}_{id} // e.g. Catalog/Product_Bin
{controller}/{action}/_{id} // e.g. Catalog/Product/_Bin
But these routes won't work if the id contains the new delimeter, _ in this case, e.g.
// These URL won't work (I get 404 response)
Catalog/Product_Bin_
Catalog/Product/_Bin_
Catalog/Product/__Bin
Why? I don't know, looks like a bug to me. How can I make these routes work, where id can be any string?
Ok, I have a definitive answer. Yes, this is a bug. However, at this point I regret to say we have no plans to fix it for a couple of reasons:
It's a breaking change and could be a very hard to notice one at that.
There's an easy workaround.
What you can do is change the URL to not have the underscore:
{controller}/{action}/_{id}
Then add a route constraint that requires that the ID parameter starts with an underscore character.
Then within your action method you trim off the underscore prefix from the id parameter. You could even write an action filter to do this for you if you liked. Sorry for the inconvenience.
You can use characters that are not allowed for a directory or file name like: *,?,:,",<,>,|.
With ASP.NET MVC if you look at the source they have a hard-coded value for the path separator (/) and to my knowledge cannot be changed.
I am new to ASP.NET MVC. I am getting an error when i use these characters - *#%":?<> - in URL.
My question is - Does ASP.NET MVC handle *#%":?<> characters in the URL?
RFC 1738:
Thus, only alphanumerics, the special
characters "$-_.+!*'(),", and reserved
characters used for their reserved
purposes may be used unencoded within
a URL.
Of the characters you listed, only * " and - can theoretically be used unencoded. In practice, many sites would encode all the characters you listed.
No, it does not work, even when you encode them.
It is a stupid limitation in ASP.NET.
They do work in the querystring part though, just not the path part.
Take a look at this.. While it does not solve the problem, at least you know you are not alone :)
Look over here: http://www.w3schools.com/TAGS/ref_urlencode.asp
If you want the chars to be transferred as plain chars, you have to encode them, as they have a meaning in urls.
Use encode in url parameter.
Example:
javascript - window.location = 'path?parameter=' + encodeURIComponent(value);
Razor - #Url.Action("Action", new { parameter=Uri.EscapeUriString(#value) })"
For example:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/698627/ms-access-properties
The number is part of the URL but is an argument to the web app as opposed to other options like:
http://www.google.com/firefox?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official
where all the args come after the '?'. I have used the second form before and I'm only trying to learn about the first form.
I'm sure I can find what else I need once I known what that's called so I can Google it.
URL Rewriting, generally.
Edit: Here is a good introduction to URL Rewriting.
Variables passed in the form of a URL are called the Query String. In a url like:
http://examples.com?a=b&c=d&e=f
The query string is ?a=b&c=d&e=f
In the Stackoverflow example, it uses URL Rewriting, specifically with MVC Routing to make 'pretty URLs'. There are other ways to do it in other languages. Some make use of Apache's mod_rewrite (example) while others parse the requested URI. In PHP a url like
http://example.com/index.php/test/path/info
can be parsed by reading $_SERVER['PATH_INFO'] which is /text/path/info.
Generally, they are using URL Rewriting to simulate the query string however. In the Stackoverflow example:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/698711/what-is-the-name-for-that-thing-that-lets-part-of-the-url-be-an-argument
The important parts are the questions/698711. You can change the title of the question with impunity but the other two parts you cannot.
It's usually called the 'path info'.
That's just URL mapping. It lets you use pretty URLs instead of a large query string.
I believe the StackOverflow URL works that way because it is using MVC whereas your bottom example is using standard requests.
It is indeed done by URL rewriting.
Usually, web application frameworks do this automatically if you install it correctly on your server.
Check out CakePHP as an example.
It's called a URL parameter and uses the HTTP GET method. As others mentioned, it can be rewritten using URL rewriting so that the URL is easier to read and use. Some search keywords: "SEF URLs", "Apache Rewrite", "pretty URLs".