I would like to take the original URL, truncate the query string parameters, and return a cleaned up version of the URL. I would like it to occur across the whole application, so performing through the global.asax would be ideal. Also, I think a 301 redirect would be in order as well.
ie.
in: www.website.com/default.aspx?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social-media
out: www.website.com/default.aspx
What would be the best way to achieve this?
System.Uri is your friend here. This has many helpful utilities on it, but the one you want is GetLeftPart:
string url = "http://www.website.com/default.aspx?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social-media";
Uri uri = new Uri(url);
Console.WriteLine(uri.GetLeftPart(UriPartial.Path));
This gives the output: http://www.website.com/default.aspx
[The Uri class does require the protocol, http://, to be specified]
GetLeftPart basicallys says "get the left part of the uri up to and including the part I specify". This can be Scheme (just the http:// bit), Authority (the www.website.com part), Path (the /default.aspx) or Query (the querystring).
Assuming you are on an aspx web page, you can then use Response.Redirect(newUrl) to redirect the caller.
Uri.GetLeftPart actually will get the left part of the URL containing (i.e. up through) the specified part. If it only got up to the specified part, it would stop just short of the whole part you wanted.
Here is a simple trick
Dim uri = New Uri(Request.Url.AbsoluteUri)
dim reqURL = uri.GetLeftPart(UriPartial.Path)
Here is a quick way of getting the root path sans the full path and query.
string path = Request.Url.AbsoluteUri.Replace(Request.Url.PathAndQuery,"");
This may look a little better.
string rawUrl = String.Concat(this.GetApplicationUrl(), Request.RawUrl);
if (rawUrl.Contains("/post/"))
{
bool hasQueryStrings = Request.QueryString.Keys.Count > 1;
if (hasQueryStrings)
{
Uri uri = new Uri(rawUrl);
rawUrl = uri.GetLeftPart(UriPartial.Path);
HtmlLink canonical = new HtmlLink();
canonical.Href = rawUrl;
canonical.Attributes["rel"] = "canonical";
Page.Header.Controls.Add(canonical);
}
}
Followed by a function to properly fetch the application URL.
Works perfectly.
I'm guessing that you want to do this because you want your users to see pretty looking URLs. The only way to get the client to "change" the URL in its address bar is to send it to a new location - i.e. you need to redirect them.
Are the query string parameters going to affect the output of your page? If so, you'll have to look at how to maintain state between requests (session variables, cookies, etc.) because your query string parameters will be lost as soon as you redirect to a page without them.
There are a few ways you can do this globally (in order of preference):
IHttpModule is a nice, reusable roll-your-own approach.global.asax as you suggestYou should only use the 301 response code if the resource has indeed moved permanently. Again, this depends on whether your application needs to use the query string parameters. If you use a permanent redirect a browser (that respects the 301 response code) will skip loading a URL like .../default.aspx?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social-media and load .../default.aspx - you'll never even know about the query string parameters.
Finally, you can use POST method requests. This gives you clean URLs and lets you pass parameters in, but will only work with <form> elements or requests you create using JavaScript.
Take a look at the UriBuilder class. You can create one with a url string, and the object will then parse this url and let you access just the elements you desire.
After completing whatever processing you need to do on the query string, just split the url on the question mark:
Dim _CleanUrl as String = Request.Url.AbsoluteUri.Split("?")(0)
Response.Redirect(_CleanUrl)
Granted, my solution is in VB.NET, but I'd imagine that it could be ported over pretty easily. And since we are only looking for the first element of the split, it even "fails" gracefully when there is no querystring.
