How do I allow HTML tags to be submitted in a textbox in asp.net?
First, I want to let everyone know that I am using an aspx engine not a Razor engine.
I have a table within a form. One of my textbox contains html tags like
</br>Phone: </br> 814-888-9999 </br> Email: </br> [email protected].
When I go to build it it it gives me an error that says:
A potentially dangerous Request.Form value was detected from the client (QuestionAnswer="...ics Phone:<br/>814-888-9999<br...").
I tried the validation request="false" but it did not work.
I am sorry I didn't add my html code for you to look at so far. I am pulling some question up where I can edit it, if need be.
<%@ Page Title="" Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/Views/Shared/Site.Master" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage<dynamic>" %>
<asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="TitleContent" runat="server">
EditFreqQuestionsUser
</asp:Content>
<asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContent" runat="server">
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function () {
$("#freqQuestionsUserUpdateButton").click(function () {
$("#updateFreqQuestionsUser").submit();
});
});
</script>
<h2>Edit Freq Questions User </h2>
<%Administrator.AdminProductionServices.FreqQuestionsUser freqQuestionsUser = ViewBag.freqQuestionsUser != null ? ViewBag.freqQuestionsUser : new Administrator.AdminProductionServices.FreqQuestionsUser(); %>
<%List<string> UserRoleList = Session["UserRoles"] != null ? (List<string>)Session["UserRoles"] : new List<string>(); %>
<form id="updateFreqQuestionsUser" action="<%=Url.Action("SaveFreqQuestionsUser","Prod")%>" method="post" onsubmit+>
<table>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" class="tableHeader">Freq Questions User Details <input type ="hidden" value="<%=freqQuestionsUser.freqQuestionsUserId%>" name="freqQuestionsUserId"/> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="label">Question Description:</td>
<td class="content">
<input type="text" maxlength="2000" name="QuestionDescription" value=" <%=freqQuestionsUser.questionDescription%>" />
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="label">QuestionAnswer:</td>
<td class="content">
<input type="text" maxlength="2000" name="QuestionAnswer" value="<%=freqQuestionsUser.questionAnswer%>" />
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3" class="tableFooter">
<br />
<a id="freqQuestionsUserUpdateButton" href="#" class="regularButton">Save</a>
<a href="javascript:history.back()" class="regularButton">Cancel</a>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
</asp:Content>
Answer
before the page is submitted you need to html encode the textbox's value, with window.escape(...)
If you need the un-escaped text on the server side then use HttpUtility.UrlDecode(...) method.
very quick sample:
<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="WebForm1.aspx.cs" Inherits="SO.WebForm1" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
<title></title>
<script>
function makeSafe() {
document.getElementById('TextBox1').value = window.escape(document.getElementById('TextBox1').value);
};
function makeDangerous() {
document.getElementById('TextBox1').value = window.unescape(document.getElementById('TextBox1').value);
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<form id="form1" runat="server" onsubmit="makeSafe();">
<div>
<asp:TextBox ID="TextBox1" runat="server" TextMode="MultiLine" Rows="10" ClientIDMode="Static"></asp:TextBox>
</div>
<asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" Text="Button" />
</form>
<script>
makeDangerous();
</script>
</body>
</html>
Make these changes to your code:
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function () {
makeDangerous();
$("#freqQuestionsUserUpdateButton").click(function () {
makeSafe();
$("#updateFreqQuestionsUser").submit();
});
});
// Adding an ID attribute to the inputs you want to validate is simplest
// Better would be to use document.getElementsByTagName and filter the array on NAME
// or use a JQUERY select....
function makeSafe() {
document.getElementById('QuestionAnswer').value = window.escape(document.getElementById('QuestionAnswer').value);
};
// In this case adding the HTML back to a textbox should be 'safe'
// You should be very wary though when you use it as actual HTML
// You MUST take steps to ensure the HTML is safe.
function makeDangerous() {
document.getElementById('QuestionAnswer').value = window.unescape(document.getElementById('QuestionAnswer').value);
}
</script>