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I have a website that contains links in different places, each link takes the user to a specific document.
Those links are hard-coded, which makes every update to the site very difficult.
Recently the documents were updated and we would like to update each old link with the corresponding new one.

For example

(http://www.domain.com/OnlineDoc/default.aspx#ItemID=3551)

needs to be updated to

(http://domain.docfactory.com/#!doc/Toolkits/Item1-Administration-Doc)

Each item document is determined using the ItemID.

What I'm trying to do is programmatically redirect each old link to it's corresponding new one.

I've tried to use the URL Rewrite module but it seems like it's ignoring everything after the "#", that is important because it determines which document we need to direct to.

My questions are:

  1. Would the URL Rewrite module work? (having a fragment with "#")

  2. If not, would the Http module work?

I'm trying to find a way to easily update the links, without going to each web app HTML and do it manually.

Serpiton
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Salman Ahmed
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  • The fragment isn't sent to the server. It's accessible only to the browser. So you need a solution which involves the client-side. But you can use the URL Rewrite Module in combination with client-side scripting in OnlineDoc/default.aspx that puts the fragment in the path or query part of the URL using a temporary client-side redirect. This makes the document item ID visible to the URL Rewrite Module, which can perform a permanent server-side redirect to the correct URL. The experience for users could be a bit unexpected though. – bzlm Jul 22 '14 at 19:10
  • @bzlm Thank you so much, I will try it out. can you just explain how the experience could be unexpected? – Salman Ahmed Jul 22 '14 at 19:42
  • @bzlm it worked out well and my boss liked it!!! We gonna test it for couple days. Thank you again for suggesting this solution. – Salman Ahmed Jul 22 '14 at 21:04
  • Glad it worked. I've converted it into a proper answer - if it helped you, it could help others. – bzlm Jul 23 '14 at 16:31

1 Answers1

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The fragment isn't sent to the server. It's accessible only to the browser. So you need a solution which involves the client-side.

But you can use the URL Rewrite Module in combination with client-side scripting in OnlineDoc/default.aspx that puts the fragment in the path or query part of the URL using a temporary client-side redirect. This makes the document item ID visible to the URL Rewrite Module, which can perform a permanent server-side redirect to the correct URL.

To clarify:

  1. User requests /OnlineDoc/default.aspx#ItemID=123
  2. Client-side scripting on this page issues a "temporary client-side redirect" (in actuality, just an automatic navigation) to /OnlineDoc/default.aspx?ItemID=123
  3. User automatically requests /OnlineDoc/default.aspx?ItemID=123
  4. URL Rewrite Module intercepts requests, and responds with a permanent redirect to docfactory.com/#!doc/Toolkits/Item1-Administration-Doc
  5. User automatically requests docfactory.com/#!doc/Toolkits/Item1-Administration-Doc

The first redirect is temporary because you cannot make permanent redirects with client-side scripting. The second redirect is permanent because the new URL should always replace the old one.

The overall experience for users using this method could be a bit unexpected though, since users going to OnlineDoc will get redirected up to twice before they reach the intended document. Most users probably won't notice the second redirect, but the first will likely be noticable, if only slightly.

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bzlm
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