Is there a URL builder that supports request parameter concatenation as well? - asp.net

Question

I want to achieve something like the following:
UrlBuilder ub = new UrlBuilder("http://www.google.com/search");
ub.Parameters.Add("q","request");
ub.Parameters.Add("sourceid","ie8");
string uri = ub.ToString(); //http://www.google.com/search?q=request&sourceid=ie8
Is there anything in .NET, or I will have to create my own?

Answer 1

Nothing exists that I know of. Here's something simple which does what you want. Usage would be:
UrlBuilder ub = new UrlBuilder("www.google.com/search")
.AddQuery("q", "request")
.AddQuery("sourceid", "ie8");
string url=ub.ToString();
==
Code is:
public class UrlBuilder
{
private string _authority;
private string _host;
private int? _port;
private Dictionary<string, object> _query = new Dictionary<string, object>();
public UrlBuilder(string host)
: this("http", host, null)
{
}
public UrlBuilder(string authority, string host)
: this(authority, host, null)
{
}
public UrlBuilder(string authority, string host, int? port)
{
this._authority = authority;
this._host = host;
this._port = port;
}
public UrlBuilder AddQuery(string key, object value)
{
this._query.Add(key, value);
return this;
}
public override string ToString()
{
string url = _authority + "://" + _host;
if (_port.HasValue)
{
url += ":" + _port.ToString();
}
return AppendQuery(url);
}
private string AppendQuery(string url)
{
if (_query.Count == 0)
{
return url;
}
url += "?";
bool isNotFirst = false;
foreach (var key in this._query.Keys)
{
if (isNotFirst)
{
url += "&";
}
url += HttpUtility.UrlEncode(key) + "=" + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(this._query[key].ToString());
isNotFirst = true;
}
return url;
}
}
}

Answer 2

Does the UriBuilder class help?
It doesn't have any method to add querystring parameters. Look at Query property to set values.
EDIT: See UriTemplate class.

Answer 3

I developed my own, that's more suitable for my needs, thanks for your code:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Collections.Specialized;
namespace Utils
{
public class ParameterCollectionBuilder : NameValueCollection
{
#region NameValueCollection Implementation
public ParameterCollectionBuilder() : base() { }
public ParameterCollectionBuilder(string uri)
{
Init(uri);
}
public ParameterCollectionBuilder(Uri uri) : this(uri.OriginalString) { }
public ParameterCollectionBuilder(NameValueCollection baseCollection)
{
foreach (string key in baseCollection.Keys) this[key] = baseCollection[key];
Init(ToString());
}
/// <summary>
///
/// </summary>
/// <param name="baseCollection"></param>
/// <param name="uri"></param>
/// <remarks>Note: any existing params in the uri will override the params in the collection.</remarks>
public ParameterCollectionBuilder(NameValueCollection baseCollection, string uri)
{
foreach (string key in baseCollection.Keys) this[key] = baseCollection[key];
Init(uri);
}
/// <summary>
///
/// </summary>
/// <param name="baseCollection"></param>
/// <param name="uri"></param>
/// <remarks>Note: any existing params in the uri will override the params in the collection.</remarks>
public ParameterCollectionBuilder(NameValueCollection baseCollection, Uri uri) : this(baseCollection, uri.OriginalString) { }
public override string ToString()
{
return Prefix + Query + Suffix;
}
/// <summary>
///
/// </summary>
/// <param name="name"></param>
/// <param name="value"></param>
/// <remarks>Overides existing values.</remarks>
public new void Add(string name, object value)
{
Set(name, GetString(value));
}
/// <summary>
/// Add an array of key-value pairs separated by colon char ':'.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="names">Invalid items will be ignored.</param>
public void AddRange(string[] names)
{
rangeFlag = true;
for (int i = 0; i < names.Length; i++)
{
string item = names[i];
item = item.Replace("?", "");
item = item.Replace("&", "");
item = item.Replace("=", ":");
string[] pair = item.Split(':');
if (pair.Length == 2) Set(pair[0], pair[1]);
}
InitUri(FullString);
rangeFlag = false;
}
public void AppendQueryString(string query)
{
Add(BuildCollection(query));
}
public void RemoveRange(string[] keys)
{
rangeFlag = true;
foreach (string key in keys)
{
Remove(key);
}
InitUri(FullString);
rangeFlag = false;
}
bool rangeFlag = false;
public new void Set(string name, object value)
{
base.Set(name, GetString(value));
if (!rangeFlag && Uri != null) InitUri(FullString);
}
public override void Remove(string name)
{
base.Remove(name);
if (!rangeFlag && Uri != null) InitUri(FullString);
}
public override void Clear()
{
base.Clear();
if (Uri != null) InitUri(FullString);
}
#endregion NameValueCollection Implementation
static string ParseQuery(string uri)
{
string query = "";
if (!uri.Contains('=')) return query;
int
start = 0,
end = uri.Length;
if (uri.Contains('?')) start = uri.IndexOf('?');
if (uri.Contains(':')) end = uri.LastIndexOf(':');
query = uri.Substring(start, (start < end ? end : uri.Length) - start);
return query;
}
void Init(string uri)
{
if (Uri == null)
{
InitUri(uri);
}
OriginalQuery = ParseQuery(uri);
int qIndex = string.IsNullOrEmpty(OriginalQuery) ? uri.Length : uri.IndexOf(OriginalQuery);
Prefix = uri.Substring(0, qIndex);
Suffix = uri.Substring(qIndex + OriginalQuery.Length);
Merge(OriginalQuery);
}
void Merge(string query)
{
NameValueCollection col = BuildCollection(query);
foreach (string key in col.Keys)
{
string value = col[key];
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(value)) this[key] = value;
}
}
void InitUri(string uri)
{
try
{
Uri = new Uri(uri);
}
catch { }
}
static string GetString(object value)
{
return value is string ? value as string : value.ToString();
}
static NameValueCollection BuildCollection(string query)
{
NameValueCollection collection = new NameValueCollection();
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(query) || !query.Contains('=')) return new NameValueCollection();
//Prepare string
query = query.ToLower();
if (!query.StartsWith("?"))
{
if (query.Contains('?')) query = query.Substring(query.IndexOf('?'));
}
query = query.Replace("?", "");
foreach (string pair in query.Split('&'))
{
string[] separated = pair.Split('=');
if (separated.Length == 2) collection[separated[0]] = separated[1];
}
return collection;
}
static string BuildQuery(NameValueCollection parameters)
{
string query = "";
Char separator = '?';
bool first = true;
foreach (string key in parameters.Keys)
{
query += string.Format("{0}{1}={2}", separator, key, parameters[key]);
if (first)
{
first = false;
separator = '&';
}
}
return query;
}
#region Properties
public Uri Uri { get; private set; }
public string Prefix { get; private set; }
public string OriginalQuery { get; private set; }
public string Suffix { get; private set; }
public string OriginalString
{
get
{
return Prefix + OriginalQuery + Suffix;
}
}
public string Query
{
get
{
return BuildQuery(this);
}
}
public string FullString
{
get
{
return ToString();
}
}
#endregion Properties
}
}

Answer 4

I would recommend you take a look at this article on CodeProject.
The author has extended the System.UriBuilder class and added a QueryString property that behaves in much the same way as the HttpRequest.QueryString property.
Using this class your example would become:
UrlBuilder ub = new UrlBuilder("http://www.google.com/search");
ub.QueryString.Add("q", "request");
ub.QueryString.Add("sourceid", "ie8");
string uri = ub.ToString(); //http://www.google.com/search?q=request&sourceid=ie8
It doesn't have a fluent interface like Josh's solution but could be easily extended to include one.

Answer 5

With Flurl [disclosure: I'm the author], your example would look like this:
string uri = "http://www.google.com/search"
.SetQueryParams(new { q = "request", sourceid = "ie8" });
The basic URL builder is available via NuGet:
PM> Install-Package Flurl
There's also a new companion lib that extends Flurl with fluent, testable HTTP:
PM> Install-Package Flurl.Http