URL Rewriting with URLRewriter.Net

URL Rewriting has lots of benefits, listing its main benefits

  • SEO Friendly URL
  • Secured URL
  • No need to change bookmark with change in site structure.

Before URL Rewriting my URL looks like
http://localhost:2661/URLRewrite2/DynamicPage.aspx?MyTitleId=1

After URL Rewriting URL is changed to

http://localhost:2661/URLRewrite2/Article/Asp-Net-website-paths-1.aspx

Step-by-Step Explanation

Step 1: Download Binary Files for URLRewriter.Net

Step 2: Add Reference to Binary Files, Right click project "Add Reference" and add binary files.

Step 3: Update Web.Config File to make URLRewriter.Net works.

<configuration>
<configSections>
<section name="rewriter"
requirePermission="false"
type="Intelligencia.UrlRewriter.Configuration.RewriterConfigurationSectionHandler, Intelligencia.UrlRewriter" />
</configSections>
<system.web>
<httpModules>
<add name="UrlRewriter" type="Intelligencia.UrlRewriter.RewriterHttpModule, Intelligencia.UrlRewriter" />
</httpModules>
</system.web>
<system.webServer>
<modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true">
<add name="UrlRewriter" type="Intelligencia.UrlRewriter.RewriterHttpModule" />
</modules>
<validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false" />
</system.webServer>
<rewriter>
<rewrite url="~/Article/(.+)-(.+).aspx" to="~/DynamicPage.aspx?MyTitleId=$2"/>
</rewriter>
</configuration>

Step 4: Adding Function to Generate SEO Friendly URL from given Title

public static string GenerateURL(object Title, object strId)
{
string strTitle = Title.ToString();
#region Generate SEO Friendly URL based on Title
//Trim Start and End Spaces.
strTitle = strTitle.Trim();
//Trim "-" Hyphen
strTitle = strTitle.Trim('-');
strTitle = strTitle.ToLower();
char[] chars = @"$%#@!*?;:~`+=()[]{}|\'<>,/^&"".".ToCharArray();
strTitle = strTitle.Replace("c#", "C-Sharp");
strTitle = strTitle.Replace("vb.net", "VB-Net");
strTitle = strTitle.Replace("asp.net", "Asp-Net");
//Replace . with - hyphen
strTitle = strTitle.Replace(".", "-");
//Replace Special-Characters
for (int i = 0; i < chars.Length; i++)
{
string strChar = chars.GetValue(i).ToString();
if (strTitle.Contains(strChar))
{
strTitle = strTitle.Replace(strChar, string.Empty);
}
}
//Replace all spaces with one "-" hyphen
strTitle = strTitle.Replace(" ", "-");
//Replace multiple "-" hyphen with single "-" hyphen.
strTitle = strTitle.Replace("--", "-");
strTitle = strTitle.Replace("---", "-");
strTitle = strTitle.Replace("----", "-");
strTitle = strTitle.Replace("-----", "-");
strTitle = strTitle.Replace("----", "-");
strTitle = strTitle.Replace("---", "-");
strTitle = strTitle.Replace("--", "-");
//Run the code again...
//Trim Start and End Spaces.
strTitle = strTitle.Trim();
//Trim "-" Hyphen
strTitle = strTitle.Trim('-');
#endregion
//Append ID at the end of SEO Friendly URL
strTitle = "~/Article/" + strTitle + "-" + strId + ".aspx";
return strTitle;
}

Step 5: Changing DataBinder.Eval Function in .Aspx Page to reflect changes in URL of Grid.
Note: Learn more about DataBinder.Eval Function

<%#GenerateURL(DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem,"Title"),DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem,"Id"))%>

Sources :

  1. http://dotnetguts.blogspot.com/2008/07/url-rewriting-with-urlrewriternet.html
  2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression
  3. http://urlrewriter.net/index.php/support/configuration