building url with StringBuilder

[John A Grandy]

I am using a StringBuilder to build a link tag (based on categoryId and
categoryName , which are populated elsewhere ) :

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder() ;
sb.Append("<a href=\"http://www.mywebsite.c om/mypage.aspx?cat egory=");
sb.Append(categ oryId);
sb.Append("&fil ter=price\">");
sb.Append(categ oryName);
sb.Append("</a>");
html += sb.ToString();

Does the embedded "&" character need special handling? Should I replace "&"
with "&amp;" ? Or some other encoding ?

[Mythran]

"John A Grandy" <johnagrandy-at-yahoo-dot-com> wrote in message
news:el******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP05.phx.gbl...

I am using a StringBuilder to build a link tag (based on categoryId and
categoryName , which are populated elsewhere ) :

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder() ;
sb.Append("<a href=\"http://www.mywebsite.c om/mypage.aspx?cat egory=");
sb.Append(categ oryId);
sb.Append("&fil ter=price\">");
sb.Append(categ oryName);
sb.Append("</a>");
html += sb.ToString();

Does the embedded "&" character need special handling? Should I replace
"&" with "&amp;" ? Or some other encoding ?

If this code is inside a method in a Page or web control, you can use the
method "UrlEncode" , so ...

=============== =============

string urlFormat =
"http://www.mywebsite.c om/mypage.aspx?cat egory={0}&filte r=price";
string tagFormat = "<a href=\"{0}\">{1 }</a>";
string url = Server.UrlEncod e(string.Format (urlFormat, categoryId));
html += string.Format(t agFormat, url, categoryName);

=============== =============

Also, using a StringBuilder for something like this is a bit of overkill
IMHO.

HTH ;)

Mythran

[John A Grandy]

Hi Mythran, and thanks for the response.

Your method seems to work ... but I don't think that encoding the entire url
is necessary. It seems wasteful to unnecessarily substitute so many
characters. Which characters really need to be encoded ?

Here are the results of my test:

string categoryId = "100";
string categoryName = "toys & games";
string urlFormat =
"http://www.mywebsite.c om/mypage.aspx?cat egory={0}&filte r=price";
string tagFormat = "<a href=\"{0}\">{1 }</a>";
string url = Server.UrlEncod e(string.Format (urlFormat, categoryId));
string html = string.Format(t agFormat, url, categoryName);

html = <a
href="http%3a%2 f%2fwww.mywebsi te.com%2fmypage .aspx%3fcategor y%3d100%26filte r%3dprice">toys
& games</a>
"Mythran" <ki********@hot mail.comREMOVET RAIL> wrote in message
news:%2******** *******@TK2MSFT NGP02.phx.gbl.. .

"John A Grandy" <johnagrandy-at-yahoo-dot-com> wrote in message
news:el******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP05.phx.gbl...

I am using a StringBuilder to build a link tag (based on categoryId and
categoryNam e , which are populated elsewhere ) :

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder() ;
sb.Append("<a href=\"http://www.mywebsite.c om/mypage.aspx?cat egory=");
sb.Append(categ oryId);
sb.Append("&fil ter=price\">");
sb.Append(categ oryName);
sb.Append("</a>");
html += sb.ToString();

Does the embedded "&" character need special handling? Should I replace
"&" with "&amp;" ? Or some other encoding ?

If this code is inside a method in a Page or web control, you can use the
method "UrlEncode" , so ...

=============== =============

string urlFormat =
"http://www.mywebsite.c om/mypage.aspx?cat egory={0}&filte r=price";
string tagFormat = "<a href=\"{0}\">{1 }</a>";
string url = Server.UrlEncod e(string.Format (urlFormat, categoryId));
html += string.Format(t agFormat, url, categoryName);

=============== =============

Also, using a StringBuilder for something like this is a bit of overkill
IMHO.

HTH ;)

Mythran

[Mythran]

"John A Grandy" <johnagrandy-at-yahoo-dot-com> wrote in message
news:u9******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP02.phx.gbl...

Hi Mythran, and thanks for the response.

Your method seems to work ... but I don't think that encoding the entire
url is necessary. It seems wasteful to unnecessarily substitute so many
characters. Which characters really need to be encoded ?

Here are the results of my test:

string categoryId = "100";
string categoryName = "toys & games";
string urlFormat =
"http://www.mywebsite.c om/mypage.aspx?cat egory={0}&filte r=price";
string tagFormat = "<a href=\"{0}\">{1 }</a>";
string url = Server.UrlEncod e(string.Format (urlFormat, categoryId));
string html = string.Format(t agFormat, url, categoryName);

html = <a
href="http%3a%2 f%2fwww.mywebsi te.com%2fmypage .aspx%3fcategor y%3d100%26filte r%3dprice">toys
& games</a>

Oops :P

string url = string.Format(u rlFormat, Server.UrlEncod e(categoryId));

Basically, the goal is to encode any data in the querystring. So, you would
encode ... you should also encode categoryName as html using
Server.HtmlEnco de, so that if this comes from a database, users can't enter
script (IE: <script language...) in categoryName...

HTH :)

Mythran