passing a large string through url in codeigniter

Question

how do i pass a large string as a variable in codeigniter? i am trying show the user an article, if the article has more than 800 characters and less than 3044 characters i am showing it in a jquery pop up window, and if the article is more than 3044 charcters i want to pass the article body and title through the url to a controller function. here is what i have tried:

<?php 
if(strlen($home_content[1]['content'])>800 && strlen($home_content[1]['content'])<3044)
{
    $substr=substr($home_content[1]['content'],0,786);
    echo $substr.'<p id="button"><a href="#"><i>read more...</i></a></p>';
}
else if(strlen($home_content[1]['content'])<800)
{
        echo $home_content[1]['content'];
}
else
{
    $substr=substr($home_content[1]['content'],0,786);
    echo $substr.'<br/>';
    echo anchor('site/read_article/'.$home_content[1]['title'].$home_content[1]['content'],'<i>read more...</i>');
}
?>

and this is the url after passing the data: http://192.168.1.111/my_project/site/read_article/title%20mid%20left%3Cp%3Etesttesthave%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lBut%20we%20have%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.testtesthave%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lBut%20we%20have%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.testtesthave%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lBut%20we%20have%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.testtesthave%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lBut%20we%20have%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lifesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.testtesthave%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lBut%20we%20have%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lifesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.testtesthave%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lBut%20we%20have%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3E%C2%A0%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3Etesttesthave%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lBut%20we%20have%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.testtesthave%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lBut%20we%20have%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.testtesthave%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lBut%20we%20have%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.testtesthave%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lBut%20we%20have%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lifesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.testtesthave%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lBut%20we%20have%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lifesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.testtesthave%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lBut%20we%20have%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3Etesttesthave%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lBut%20we%20have%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.testtesthave%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20lBut%20we%20have%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%20reflected%20in%20a%20True%20Mirror,%20can%20come%20to%20life.ife.testtesthave%20already%20arrivesafOnly%20True%20Light,%3C/p%3E.html

and i get this error message:

An Error Was Encountered

The URI you submitted has disallowed characters.

how do i do it correctly? the url looks very messy, how do pass the string and still have a clean url? please help me with it.

Answer 1

Why not pass the article ID instead? You could then access the article through the controller function, count the characters and decide the method of display.

Alternatively, you could use CI's Session Flashdata to pass the article title/body to the next controller and access it that way.

The URI is failing as security is set up to deny specific characters being passed in the URL. This is for your protection, but, although not recommended, could be disabled in the config files if required.