How do you UrlEncode without using System.Web?

Question

I am trying to write a windows client application that calls a web site for data. To keep the install to a minimum I am trying only use dlls in the .NET Framework Client Profile. Trouble is that I need to UrlEncode some parameters, is there an easy way to do this without importing System.Web.dll which is not part of the Client Pofile?

Answer 1

System.Uri.EscapeUriString() can be problematic with certain characters, for me it was a number / pound '#' sign in the string.

If that is an issue for you, try:

System.Uri.EscapeDataString() //Works excellent with individual values

Here is a SO question answer that explains the difference:

What's the difference between EscapeUriString and EscapeDataString?

and recommends to use Uri.EscapeDataString() in any aspect.

Answer 2

There's a client profile usable version, System.Net.WebUtility class, present in client profile System.dll. Here's the MSDN Link:

WebUtility

Answer 3

Here's an example of sending a POST request that properly encodes parameters using application/x-www-form-urlencoded content type:

using (var client = new WebClient())
{
    var values = new NameValueCollection
    {
        { "param1", "value1" },
        { "param2", "value2" },
    };
    var result = client.UploadValues("http://foo.com", values);
}

Answer 4

In .Net 4.5+ use WebUtility

Just for formatting I'm submitting this as an answer.

Couldn't find any good examples comparing them so:

string testString = "http://test# space 123/text?var=val&another=two";
Console.WriteLine("UrlEncode:         " + System.Web.HttpUtility.UrlEncode(testString));
Console.WriteLine("EscapeUriString:   " + Uri.EscapeUriString(testString));
Console.WriteLine("EscapeDataString:  " + Uri.EscapeDataString(testString));
Console.WriteLine("EscapeDataReplace: " + Uri.EscapeDataString(testString).Replace("%20", "+"));

Console.WriteLine("HtmlEncode:        " + System.Web.HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(testString));
Console.WriteLine("UrlPathEncode:     " + System.Web.HttpUtility.UrlPathEncode(testString));

//.Net 4.0+
Console.WriteLine("WebUtility.HtmlEncode: " + WebUtility.HtmlEncode(testString));
//.Net 4.5+
Console.WriteLine("WebUtility.UrlEncode:  " + WebUtility.UrlEncode(testString));

Outputs:

UrlEncode:         http%3a%2f%2ftest%23+space+123%2ftext%3fvar%3dval%26another%3dtwo
EscapeUriString:   http://test#%20space%20123/text?var=val&another=two
EscapeDataString:  http%3A%2F%2Ftest%23%20space%20123%2Ftext%3Fvar%3Dval%26another%3Dtwo
EscapeDataReplace: http%3A%2F%2Ftest%23+space+123%2Ftext%3Fvar%3Dval%26another%3Dtwo

HtmlEncode:        http://test# space 123/text?var=val&another=two
UrlPathEncode:     http://test#%20space%20123/text?var=val&another=two

//.Net 4.0+
WebUtility.HtmlEncode: http://test# space 123/text?var=val&another=two
//.Net 4.5+
WebUtility.UrlEncode:  http%3A%2F%2Ftest%23+space+123%2Ftext%3Fvar%3Dval%26another%3Dtwo

In .Net 4.5+ use WebUtility.UrlEncode

This appears to replicate HttpUtility.UrlEncode (pre-v4.0) for the more common characters:
Uri.EscapeDataString(testString).Replace("%20", "+").Replace("'", "%27").Replace("~", "%7E")
Note: EscapeUriString will keep a valid uri string, which causes it to use as many plaintext characters as possible.

See this answer for a Table Comparing the various Encodings:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/11236038/555798

Line Breaks All of them listed here (other than HttpUtility.HtmlEncode) will convert "\n\r" into %0a%0d or %0A%0D

Please feel free to edit this and add new characters to my test string, or leave them in the comments and I'll edit it.

Answer 5

System.Net.WebUtility.HtmlDecode

Answer 6

You can use

Uri.EscapeUriString (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.uri.escapeuristring.aspx)