Friendly URL

Note! When using friendly URLs you may bypass restrictions set up in Internet Information Server (IIS).

Example
You have a friendly URL “www.mysite.com/vote” which maps to the actual URL “www.mysite.com/templates/vote.aspx?id=96”.

Note: For performance issues, it is important that the Friendly URL module is placed before the External URL module.

Post back handling will only work when JavaScript is enabled in the Web browser as Friendly URL uses JavaScript to rewrite the action tag in the form.

The Web control FriendlyUrlRegistration adds a <base href="..."... /> tag to the HTML so that all server-controlled links (example  ~/ ) work for the page.

Bookmarks (anchors) in HTML are limited for friendly URLs in .NET 1.1 in that all coded bookmarks must have a complete URL.

For example, <a href=’#top’ /> must be rewritten to <a href="/EPiServerSample/#top">. This is done most easily with <a href=’<%=EPiServer.Util.FriendlyUrlModule.CurrentUrl %>/#top’ />

Functionality

The friendly URL functionality is built on each page having a URL Segment property. This generates the friendly URL for a page, together with its parents, up to the start page.

1. A Web browser asks for a friendly URL.
   For example, /Inspiration/.
2. A URL rewrite is done by FriendlyUrlModule to the physical address of the page.
   For example, /templates/Page.aspx?id=71.

1. A Web browser accesses the site with an old link.
   For example, /templates/Page.aspx?id=71.
2. In the OnInit method in PageBase, a permanent redirect is done to the friendly URL.
   For example, /Inspiration/.
3. A URL rewrite is done by FriendlyUrlModule to the physical address of the page.
   For example, /templates/Page.aspx?id=71

If you want pages that are accessed with the old syntax of the links to be handled in a different way, override the ValidateFriendlyUrl method on your page.

Handling Post Backs

In order for post backs to work for URLs that end in "/", a final "Post.aspx" is added with a JavaScript that is created by the Web control FriendlyUrlRegistration. If EPsFriendlyUrlExtension is set, map the extension to ASP.NET in Internet Information Services (IIS) for everything to work correctly.

When a page is created, the Web control FriendlyUrlRegistration must be placed on the page. This control adds a JavaScript to the page, which changes the action attribute of the first form post to the page that will handle the post back.

In .NET 1.1 sites, a <base href="..."... /> tag is also added so that all server-controlled links are rendered correctly for the Web page.

When a page is created in a .NET 2.0 site, the client path is set to the post back path and a JavaScript is added to change the post back to go to the friendly URL. The <base href="..."... /> tag is not added to the page.

All links in EPiServer CMS are stored on the old form and replaced when the content is rendered. This is done internally for the properties of XHTML string and ‘Long String’ by adding a sub Web control of the type LongStringFriendlyUrlRender. This replaces:

• links with a friendly URL link in <a> and <area> tags;
• anchors with a relative reference to the current page with an anchor relative to the Web site's root, e.g. #top is replaced with /EPiServerSample/test/#top.

Page Name in Web Address (URL Segment)

The URL segment is stored on the page and can be edited in Edit mode under the Advanced Information tab. The "Page name in Web address" field sets the URL segment for that page. All pages have a URL segment that creates the Friendly URL together with the page's parent.

For example, in the following structure the visitor will be able to access page 2 with the friendly URL /start_page/page1/page2.

<start page>         with URL segment start_page
      <page 1>               with URL segment page1
            <page 2>               with URL segment page2

Each language branch has its own URL segment that is placed at the beginning of the friendly URL when globalization is enabled, e.g. /en/start_page.

When pages that support globalization, but do not have a starting language branch, are accessed, a normal fallback is done according to the fallback settings for that page.

When a page is created or changed, a page validation event is triggered and executes the event handler OnValidateURLSegment. This creates a new empty URL segment for pages, by calling the public virtual method EPiServer.Global.CreatePageURLSegment.

To replace the functionality for automatic creation of URL segments, override the function CreatePageURLSegment in your Global.asax.cs file.

Use the tool available in Admin mode to rebuild URL segments for your Web site. The tool, which is found under Rebuild Web Addresses in Admin mode, rebuilds all URL segments that do not have a value (or for pages with the "Rebuild all pages name in Web addresses" check box selected) by invoking the method Global.CreatePageURLSegment or its overridden functionality for all pages.

Remark:

This tool will rebuild the URLs to the pages, which in turn makes links based on the old URL segments invalid. This means that if the page is bookmarked or indexed by a search engine with the old URL segment, it will stop working.

Linking

PageData.LinkURL has been changed so that links are generated at runtime if EnableAutomaticURL is enabled. This will generate a friendly URL, if friendly URL is turned on. LinkURL generates a friendly URL by accessing DetermineAutomaticURL with the page's language selection. To generate a link to the page for another language selection, use DetermineAutomaticURL with the branch language to link to.

PageData.StaticLinkURL is still the static link URL with the normal syntax.

In EPiServer.PageBase the query parameters id and epslanguage are removed from the URL, because it is already in the URL.

Templates Requiring Customization

The following templates require customization in order to work with the friendly URL functionality in EPiServer 4.61.

Replace:
<a href="#" onclick="javascript:readPage();"

With:
<a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="readPage();"

/templates/NewsGroup.aspx

Replace:
src="NewsGroupTree.aspx?id=<%=CurrentPageLink%>"

With:
src="<%=Configuration.RootDir%>templates/NewsGroupTree.aspx?id=<%=CurrentPageLink%>"

/templates/NewsGroupItem.aspx

Replace:
<td background="../images/bar_background.gif"

With:
<td background="<%=Configuration.RootDir%>images/bar_background.gif"

/templates/NewsGroupView.aspx

Replace:
Response.Write("NewsGroupIntro.aspx");

With:
Response.Write(Configuration.RootDir + "templates/NewsGroupIntro.aspx");

File Listing

Replace:
<a href="#" onclick="<%#Container.ToggleOpenScript%>;"

With:
<a href="javascript:<%#Container.ToggleOpenScript%>;"

Tweaking Friendly URLs