Convert a Dictionary to string of url parameters?

c# asp.net-mvc dictionary webforms
lko picture lko · May 7, 2014 · Viewed 35.6k times · Source

Is there a way to convert a Dictionary in code into a url parameter string?

e.g. 

// An example list of parameters
Dictionary<string, object> parameters ...;
foreach (Item in List)
{
    parameters.Add(Item.Name, Item.Value);
}

string url = "http://www.somesite.com?" + parameters.XX.ToString();

Inside MVC HtmlHelpers you can generate URLs with the UrlHelper (or Url in controllers) but in Web Forms code-behind the this HtmlHelper is not available.

string url = UrlHelper.GenerateUrl("Default", "Action", "Controller", 
    new RouteValueDictionary(parameters), htmlHelper.RouteCollection , 
    htmlHelper.ViewContext.RequestContext, true);

How could this be done in C# Web Forms code-behind (in an MVC/Web Forms app) without the MVC helper?

Answer

Mike Perrenoud picture Mike Perrenoud · May 7, 2014

One approach would be:

var url = string.Format("http://www.yoursite.com?{0}",
    HttpUtility.UrlEncode(string.Join("&",
        parameters.Select(kvp =>
            string.Format("{0}={1}", kvp.Key, kvp.Value)))));

You could also use string interpolation as introduced in C#6:

var url = $"http://www.yoursite.com?{HttpUtility.UrlEncode(string.Join("&", parameters.Select(kvp => $"{kvp.Key}={kvp.Value}")))}";

And you could get rid of the UrlEncode if you don't need it, I just added it for completeness.

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