Do path parameters get to have / in their values?
Let’s say you have a link shortener service and want to allow users to define shortcuts like /mypath/:rest where rest is appended to example.com/
Now you’re in a very interesting position when it comes to resolving URLs.
Curious to hear folks with experience in this
, is encoded as %2C
/ is encoded as %2F
For instance, in query parameters, spaces are encoded as '+'. But what if '+' is also a valid character in your domain? You then need to disambiguate i.e between "name?foo+bar" meaning "foo bar" or "foo+bar". Which one is the user actually referring to?
In our case, we ended up needing users to send the name in the body, and now we have to manage multiple encoding protocols (url, queryparam, the body...).
A user might have entities named "foo bar", "foo%20bar", and "foo%2520bar". Sometimes, mistakes happened because users forgot to double encode or they used the wrong protocol. As this names were used in URL, query parameters, and the body, and each has its own.
As I mentioned, with clear constraints and rules, we can accomplish anything we need, it can get complex. My takeaway from this project is to limit the valid characters and make it simple for everyone.
Don't ask how I know.