Converting HTML special characters in ASP.NET

Question

I am binding to a DropDownList as follows;

Sub bindGalleries(ByVal catID As Integer)
    ddlGalleries.DataSource = Galleries.GetGalleries(catID)
    ddlGalleries.DataTextField = "GalleryName"
    ddlGalleries.DataValueField = "GalleryID"
    ddlGalleries.DataBind()
End Sub

One of the items in the list is: 'Kültür & Sanat', which is displayed just right in the dropdownlist. But when I look at the source of the page, it is: Kültür & Sanat

How can I get the source to be exactly the same as the original string?

Note: my meta tag is: in master page..

i'm not positive, but won't it always display it as & in the source no matter what you do — peroija, Jul 05 '12 at 01:34

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 05 '12 at 01:38

2

This should give you what you need:

Server.HtmlDecode("K&#252;lt&#252;r &amp; Sanat");

Write a method to "sanitize" the items in the DDL and store them in an array. Then just bind to the array.

You can populate the DDL in a similar fashion.

answered Jul 05 '12 at 01:38

IrishChieftain

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 05 '12 at 01:11

0

You may be able to use backslashes to escape

answered Jul 05 '12 at 01:11

Prince

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score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 04 '14 at 15:02

0

The reason why you see those characters is because those characters are being htmlencoded upon saving into your source.

i.e.

YourSource = server.htmlEncode(value)

or

YourSource = server.urlEncode

You can save it to its original form by using server.htmlDecode or by omitting the server.htmlEncode.

edited Feb 04 '14 at 15:02

AlexB

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answered Jul 05 '12 at 01:37

Pinoy2015

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No, actually the values are saved just fine, when rendered to the page as html, they look fine too. But when I look at the source they are encoded. I am getting the value with javascript and sending it to a http handler. By the time it reaches the handler, the characters are now little question marks in diamond shapes. So somehow, either I need to decode them during binding? or how do I decode the diamond shapes when they reach to my ashx file? – Subliminal Hash Jul 05 '12 at 01:39
Try using jquery to retrieve the value of the dropdown like the method shown in the link? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1147359/how-to-decode-html-entities-using-jquery – Pinoy2015 Jul 05 '12 at 01:58
Do you know how can I prevent the page to be rendered like that in the first place? – Subliminal Hash Jul 05 '12 at 02:03

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 05 '12 at 01:51

0

Try to put the proper charset in the heading portion of your page.

Example:

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-16"/>

answered Jul 05 '12 at 01:51

Pinoy2015

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this didn't work. somehow, I need to prevent rendering of those special characters... – Subliminal Hash Jul 05 '12 at 08:00

Converting HTML special characters in ASP.NET

4 Answers4