How do I properly encode URLs in ASP.NET?

Question

In my database I have URLs starting with http://SOMEURL and some are just www.SOMEURL.

in my view, ‚if I just put <a href="@Model.URL"> it wont work properly. It adds http://localhost/SOMEURL when I try to browse locally.

How do I handle this BASIC functionality in ASP ?

google.com https://www.google.com

Answer 1

You should check for http prefix manually. URLs will be encoded automatically (e.g. replacing special characters) in ASP.NET MVC.

In Razor View (.cshtml; Anywhere on top of file)

@functions
{
    public string PrefixUrl(string url)
    {
        return url.StartsWith("http") ? url : string.Format("http://{0}", url);
    }
}

I wish we could assume https nowadays but probably, using http is safer.

Then, in View, use:

<div>
    <a href="@PrefixUrl(Model.Url)">Link</a>
</div>