Simple Method to Rewrite the URL

Re-write URLs without creating a module or using ISAPI filters.

Added on 3 Jun 2008

General Solutions:

Solution Summary:

Rewrite URLs in the Application_BeginRequest event in the Global.asax file.

Solution Details:

The code that follows takes a URL, finds the page type and ID in the URL and rewrites the URL to serve up a page that takes Querystrings as parameters.

The original URL would looks something like this: http://www.site.com/List/Dotnet/102938/Rewrite_URL_Method.aspx

The following method would extraxt the ID (102938 in the above URL) and the type (if it is either "LIst" or "Details") and serve up the appropriate page -- in this case "content_list.aspx".

Note that the "Dotnet" directory and the "Rewrite_URL_Method.aspx" page referenced in the above URL are completely ignored as there is neither such a directory or page by those names.

Sub Application_BeginRequest(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
     Dim stripped As String
     Dim strReqURL As String
     Dim strCustomPath As String

     strReqURL = Request.Path
     strReqURL = strReqURL.ToLower()

     Dim bList As Boolean = (strReqURL.IndexOf("/list/") > -1)
     Dim bDetails As Boolean = (strReqURL.IndexOf("/details/") > -1

     If bList Or bDetails Then

          Dim key As Int32 = 0
          Dim file As String = "~/content/"
          stripped = strReqURL.Substring(0, strReqURL.LastIndexOf("/"))

               If stripped.LastIndexOf("/") > -1 Then
                    stripped = stripped.Substring(stripped.LastIndexOf("/") + 1)
                    If IsNumeric(stripped) Then
                         key = stripped
                    End If
               End If

               If bList Then
                    file &= "content_list.aspx"
               ElseIf bDetails Then
                    file &= "content_details.aspx"
               End If

Context.RewritePath(file & "?id=" & key)

End If

End Sub

An alternative to having the ID in the URL would be to query a database. You can provide a "filename" and search a database based on this faux filename assuming, of course, that these names are unique.

Other more complex samples for Rewriting URLs are readilly found on the Internet, usually involving creation of a module.

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Added on 3 Jun 2008

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