Encoding json data for a mailto link

Question

How do I properly encode a mailto link with JSON data in the query parameters so that the link works as expected when some of the JSON data possibly includes spaces?

Here is a simple example:

var data = {
 "Test": "Property with spaces"
};

var mailTo = 'mailto:?body=http://www.google.com/?body=' + JSON.stringify(data);

document.getElementById("link").href = mailTo;

The resulting link in the email after clicking the link looks like this:

Here is a JSBin showing what I am talking about:

https://jsbin.com/vuweyemeji/1/edit?html,js,output

Edit: Adding encodeURI() or encodeURIComponent() doesn't seem to work for me. I tried adding either of those methods around the data object and when I click the mailto link the url still looks the same in outlook.

Answer 1

You need to use encodeURIComponent twice, because you are encoding a parameter inside another parameter.

Your link is using the mailto protocol and using a body parameter which content should be encoded. But, inside that content you are entering a URL which has parameters, so, this parameters should be encoded also.

Try this:

var data = {"Test": "Property with spaces"};
var mailTo = 'mailto:?body=' + encodeURIComponent('http://www.google.com/?body=' + encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(data)));
document.getElementById("link").href = mailTo;

<a id='link'>anchor</a>