How to URL encode parameters in ASP .NET MVC

Question

I have the following code in my view:

<%= Html.ActionLink(
           "View item", 
           "Index", 
            "Items", 
            new 
            { 
                itemName = Model.ItemName 
            }, 
            null) %>

I have a problem when the item name contains a sharp (#) or the percent symbol (%).

• When the item name is "name#with#sharp#", the controller receives only the first part of the name until the first sharp (only receives "name").

• When the item name is "name%with%percent" I get an error: HTTP error 400 - Bad request.

I not sure if this is a problem with the URL encoding, because it works with other conflictive chars such as:

;
=
+
,
~
[blank]

Do you know how could I address this issue?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I'm assuming you have a route setup and your url looks something like this:

http://localhost/Items/Index/name%25with%25percent - (this will blow up)

as opposed to this:

http://localhost/Items/Index/?itemName=name%25with%25percent - (query string is ok)

So an option would be to remove the "itemName" property from your route (in your RouteCollection) so that Html.ActionLink will render the Url using itemName as a QueryString parameter.

As @Priyank says, the problem is because the itemName is part of the Url (not a QueryString parameter) and it contain illegal characters.

Answer 2

Since these routedvalues are posted as part of URL string, they will be treated as separate values, separated by # and %. There are couple options for handle your case.

You will have to implement your custom ValueProvider (IValueProvider and especially RouteDataValueProvider) to handle your custom need. One programmer had an issue with character '/' and he hacked it here http://mrpmorris.blogspot.com/2012/08/asp-mvc-encoding-route-values.html

Second is to store values in TempData which persists across two request and use them.

Hope this helps to think in right direction.