NameValueCollection to URL Query?

Question

I know i can do this

var nv = HttpUtility.ParseQueryString(req.RawUrl);

But is there a way to convert this back to a url?

v         


        

Answer 1

This did the trick for me:

public ActionResult SetLanguage(string language = "fr_FR")
        {            
            Request.UrlReferrer.TryReadQueryAs(out RouteValueDictionary parameters);            
            parameters["language"] = language;            
            return RedirectToAction("Index", parameters);            
        }

Answer 2

string q = String.Join("&",
             nvc.AllKeys.Select(a => a + "=" + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(nvc[a])));

Answer 3

In AspNet Core 2.0 you can use QueryHelpers AddQueryString method.

Answer 4

Because a NameValueCollection can have multiple values for the same key, if you are concerned with the format of the querystring (since it will be returned as comma-separated values rather than "array notation") you may consider the following.

Example

var nvc = new NameValueCollection();
nvc.Add("key1", "val1");
nvc.Add("key2", "val2");
nvc.Add("empty", null);
nvc.Add("key2", "val2b");

Turn into: key1=val1&key2[]=val2&empty&key2[]=val2b rather than key1=val1&key2=val2,val2b&empty.

Code

string qs = string.Join("&", 
    // "loop" the keys
    nvc.AllKeys.SelectMany(k => {
        // "loop" the values
        var values = nvc.GetValues(k);
        if(values == null) return new[]{ k };
        return nvc.GetValues(k).Select( (v,i) => 
            // 'gracefully' handle formatting
            // when there's 1 or more values
            string.Format(
                values.Length > 1
                    // pick your array format: k[i]=v or k[]=v, etc
                    ? "{0}[]={1}"
                    : "{0}={1}"
                , k, HttpUtility.UrlEncode(v), i)
        );
    })
);

or if you don't like Linq so much...

string qs = nvc.ToQueryString(); // using...

public static class UrlExtensions {
    public static string ToQueryString(this NameValueCollection nvc) {
        return string.Join("&", nvc.GetUrlList());
    }

    public static IEnumerable<string> GetUrlList(this NameValueCollection nvc) {
        foreach(var k in nvc.AllKeys) {
            var values = nvc.GetValues(k);
            if(values == null)  { yield return k; continue; }
            for(int i = 0; i < values.Length; i++) {
                yield return
                // 'gracefully' handle formatting
                // when there's 1 or more values
                string.Format(
                    values.Length > 1
                        // pick your array format: k[i]=v or k[]=v, etc
                        ? "{0}[]={1}"
                        : "{0}={1}"
                    , k, HttpUtility.UrlEncode(values[i]), i);
            }
        }
    }
}

As has been pointed out in comments already, with the exception of this answer most of the other answers address the scenario (Request.QueryString is an HttpValueCollection, "not" a NameValueCollection) rather than the literal question.

Update: addressed null value issue from comment.

Answer 5

Make an extension method that uses a couple of loops. I prefer this solution because it's readable (no linq), doesn't require System.Web.HttpUtility, and it handles duplicate keys.

public static string ToQueryString(this NameValueCollection nvc)
{
    if (nvc == null) return string.Empty;

    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

    foreach (string key in nvc.Keys)
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(key)) continue;

        string[] values = nvc.GetValues(key);
        if (values == null) continue;

        foreach (string value in values)
        {
            sb.Append(sb.Length == 0 ? "?" : "&");
            sb.AppendFormat("{0}={1}", Uri.EscapeDataString(key), Uri.EscapeDataString(value));
        }
    }

    return sb.ToString();
}

Example

var queryParams = new NameValueCollection()
{
    { "order_id", "0000" },
    { "item_id", "1111" },
    { "item_id", "2222" },
    { null, "skip entry with null key" },
    { "needs escaping", "special chars ? = &" },
    { "skip entry with null value", null }
};

Console.WriteLine(queryParams.ToQueryString());

Output

?order_id=0000&item_id=1111&item_id=2222&needs%20escaping=special%20chars%20%3F%20%3D%20%26

Answer 6

I always use UriBuilder to convert an url with a querystring back to a valid and properly encoded url.

var url = "http://my-link.com?foo=bar";

var uriBuilder = new UriBuilder(url);
var query = HttpUtility.ParseQueryString(uriBuilder.Query);
query.Add("yep", "foo&bar");

uriBuilder.Query = query.ToString();
var result = uriBuilder.ToString();

// http://my-link.com:80/?foo=bar&yep=foo%26bar