Fixing an Apostrophe URL Bug

[A.T.]

Posting an URL with an apostrophe, like:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler's_identity

creates a broken link, because the apostrophe is not properly escaped in the internally generated URL:

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&key=6afc78eea2339e9c047ab6748b0d37e7&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.physicsforums.com%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D690460&v=1&libId=812d4dfe-4823-41b6-96f6-4bf0b020e903&out=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FEuler[B][COLOR="red"]'[/COLOR][/B]s_identity&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.physicsforums.com%2Fforumdisplay.php%3Ff%3D111&title=Beautiful%20Equations&txt=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FEuler's_identity&jsonp=vglnk_jsonp_13680463957848[/QUOTE]

Correct URL should be:

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&key=6afc78eea2339e9c047ab6748b0d37e7&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.physicsforums.com%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D690460&v=1&libId=812d4dfe-4823-41b6-96f6-4bf0b020e903&out=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FEuler[B][COLOR="Red"]%27[/COLOR][/B]s_identity&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.physicsforums.com%2Fforumdisplay.php%3Ff%3D111&title=Beautiful%20Equations&txt=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FEuler's_identity&jsonp=vglnk_jsonp_13680461919027[/QUOTE]

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Thanks for the report, I will forward it to support!

 

[Fredrik]

But the link works.

Edit: By the way, a similar thing happens when you search the forum for "Poincaré" for example. The search results will be links like this: https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=689398&highlight=poincar%E9

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=689398&highlight=poincar%E9

If you click it, you will get a 406 Not Acceptable. So what I always do is to right-click, open link in new tab, and then delete the & and everything to the right of it from the URL.

Edit 2: I'm using Firefox.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

But the link works.

hmmm it's just a white page for me

 

[A.T.]

Works on Firefox
Bugs on Chorme

Other special characters might be affected too.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Viglink support says

The character encoding is handled by your browser's URL bar, it is not unique to the VigLink API. Some browsers will automatically escape/encode all characters in URLs, others will only do some and not others.

 

[A.T.]

It looks like a Chrome bug:

1) Click the link -> white page
2) Open in new tab -> page displays OK

 

[mfb]

I am wondering why that detour via viglink.com is used at all. And why it appears to be present for Chrome only.Edit: Why does Chrome need an additional website to track clicks? I think the browser does that anyway? :D

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I am wondering why that detour via viglink.com is used at all. And why it appears to be present for Chrome only.

Click tracking

 

[A.T.]

I am wondering why that detour via viglink.com is used at all.

Big Brother

And why it appears to be present for Chrome only.

Because Google product users don't mind being spied on. But it's still annoying if those detours break something. Now at least I know a workaround.

 

[PAllen]

I am wondering why that detour via viglink.com is used at all. And why it appears to be present for Chrome only.Edit: Why does Chrome need an additional website to track clicks? I think the browser does that anyway? :D

Why do you think vigilink usage only occurs for chrome? I see it referenced when PF is used by firefox (and I use software that shows what url's are accessed during navigation).

 

[dlgoff]

I see it referenced when PF is used by firefox (and I use software that shows what url's are accessed during navigation).

Same here and I have no problem with it as I want PF to grow and prosper.

 

[mfb]

Why do you think vigilink usage only occurs for chrome? I see it referenced when PF is used by firefox (and I use software that shows what url's are accessed during navigation).

This is what the forum sends to my firefox:

<div id="post_message_4376188">

Posting an URL with an apostrophe, like:<br />
<br />
<a href="[PLAIN]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler&#[b][/b]39;s_identity"[/PLAIN]  target="_blank">[PLAIN]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler's_identity</a><br[/PLAIN]  />
<br />
[...]

It is the converted BB-Code, and nothing else. It is up to the browser to interpret ', and firefox can do that.

 

[PAllen]

This is what the forum sends to my firefox:

<div id="post_message_4376188">

Posting an URL with an apostrophe, like:<br />
<br />
<a href="[PLAIN]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler&#[b][/b]39;s_identity"[/PLAIN]  target="_blank">[PLAIN]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler's_identity</a><br[/PLAIN]  />
<br />
[...]

It is the converted BB-Code, and nothing else. It is up to the browser to interpret ', and firefox can do that.

I wasn't talking about what happens with this url, but the general use of viglink by PF, which I assume is benign (and good for PF). Code like the following gets executed during navigation around PF:

var vglnk = { api_url: '//api.viglink.com/api',
key: '6afc78eea2339e9c047ab6748b0d37e7' };

(function(d, t) {
var s = d.createElement(t); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.async = true;
s.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? vglnk.api_url :
'//cdn.viglink.com/api') + '/vglnk.js';
var r = d.getElementsByTagName(t)[0]; r.parentNode.insertBefore(s, r);
}(document, 'script'));