Explicitly treat link as an absolute link?

Question

I have a control on one of my page which takes some user input (URL) and allows the user to test the link.

<asp:HyperLink ID="HyperLink1" runat="server" NavigateUrl='<%# Eval("URL") %>' Target="_blank">Click here to test link</asp:HyperLink>

The problem is if the user puts in the URL "google.com", then the link will be treated as "http://localhost/google.com". I have to put "http://www.google.com" for it to go to the right place.

Is it possible to treat the link like it is an absolute link in all cases?

Answer 1

Try this...

NavigateUrl='<%# Eval("URL", "http://{0}") %>'

Edit: if you want to add check whether it already contain http:// then it should be like..

NavigateUrl=<%# Eval("URL").ToString().Contains("http://") == true ? Eval("URL") :
 "http://" + Eval("URL")  %>