How to try to convert this API query parameter that maybe contains some strange code?

Question

I am working on a WordPress website (but I think that the problem is not strictly related to WordPress but to some string encoding problem).

Basically I have two post in a specific post type named "Notary districts". This post type have a custom field named wpcf-idnotary-district containing a string value representing the ID of an object.

Ok then I have two different POST having different format for the value of this wpcf-idnotary-district field.

I have the following situation:

POST 1: the value of wpcf-idnotary-district field is 123456 POST 2: the value of wpcf-idnotary-district field is CG7drXn9fvA%253D

Then I have an WordPress API retrieving post from this post type by this wpcf-idnotary-district ID value.

Getting the previous POST 1 from my post type using the first value it is not a problem, infact calling my API passing this ID paramether, something like this:

https://www.MYPORTAL.it/wp-json/filter/notary-district?wpcf-idnotary-district=123456

I am obtaining the expected response:

[
    {
        "post_type": "notary-district",
        "ID": 39244,
        "wpcf-idnotary-district": "123456",
        "post_title": "DISTRICT NAME TEST"
    }
]

the problem happen getting the previous POST 2 using this ID, infact calling:

https://www.MYPORTAL.it/wp-json/filter/notary-district?wpcf-idnotary-district=CG7drXn9fvA253D

in this case the JSON response is an empty array:

[]

But, as you can see here it exist a post with this wpcf-idnotary-district field having CG7drXn9fvA%253D as value:

Trying to get this post calling my API give me this issue (an empty list, it doesn't find the post) both calling my API via Postman and by a Java batch application that I am developing.

I suppose that the problem is the % character into the CG7drXn9fvA%253D value, infact if I try to replace this post ID with this CG7drXn9fvA253D value (the previous one without the % character), then trying to search to this new value it works fine. So the problem is this % character.

I suspect that it is converting it in some way. Maybe I can try to pass the converted value as my API parameter but I have no idea about what I can try.

Some idea? How can I try to solve this problem?

Encode your value first, then send it. That's what browsers do! — Ruvee, Sep 18 '21 at 11:13
@Ruvee how to encode? in what format? sending it encoded it should be accetpted by my called API? — AndreaNobili, Sep 18 '21 at 15:08
You could encode it using [javascrip](https://stackoverflow.com/a/12042764/15040627) OR [php](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4744888/how-to-properly-url-encode-a-string-in-php) OR any other language you're working with. And yes, wordpress will pick up on that, if not, you could decode it on the other side of your api (wordpress-side). — Ruvee, Sep 18 '21 at 15:14
@Ruvee I can't modify the WordPress APIs because it was not developed by me (I can only call these APIs). Can you please show me what can I try to encode (API caller side)? what format? — AndreaNobili, Sep 18 '21 at 15:22
You could use `javascript` like so: `let my_value ="CG7drXn9fvA%253D";encodeURI(my_value);`. Or you could use `php` like so: `$my_value ="CG7drXn9fvA%253D";urlencode($my_value);` — Ruvee, Sep 18 '21 at 16:53

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 19 '21 at 19:47

1

CG7drXn9fvA%253D is the url encoded form of CG7drXn9fvA%3D,

% = %25

you can decode this in postman itself.

Just copy the text to any part like body , url etc select the text and right click and select decode.

edited Sep 19 '21 at 19:47

Wai Ha Lee

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answered Sep 19 '21 at 09:28

PDHide

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How to try to convert this API query parameter that maybe contains some strange code?

1 Answers1