valadating a url

NicheExposed · 11-05-2009, 12:12 PM

Thanks for everyone who helped me with the first problem but I have one more. I need to validate that a url is typed into the text box before a user clicks on the button to send the url to the webbrowser control.

basically I need it to do this....

When a user types in the complete url http://www.yoursite.com and then hits the go button it will take them to the url. But if they type in anything but a valid url I want it to display a message box and preventing them from visiting a page. If anyone types in anything but a valid url the program will crash. How do I validate that it is a valid url and not garbage.

Thanks

jwlnewsome · 11-05-2009, 02:01 PM

Hi, try pinging the url before you preform the action. There are a few php scripts out there that can ping addresses to see if there is a response. I would personally cURL the url to see if i get anything back other than a 404 error

NicheExposed · 11-05-2009, 02:17 PM

i am working in vb.net writing an exe program. I am using a webbrowser control, text box and a button.

warmlikecoffee · 11-05-2009, 05:28 PM

You can do something like this:

If Texbox1.Text.Substring(0,7) = "hxxp://" Or Textbox1.Text.Substring(0, 4) = "wwvv." Then
MessageBox.Show("This is a URL")
End If

The code checks the first letters of your Textbox1, if it begins with hxxp:// or wwvv. then it is deemed as a valid URL.

If you need more help just let me know, I can help when I have free time.

EDIT:
Change the xx to tt and vv to w, the forum wouldn't let me post a link due to my post count.

Mike P Smith · 11-05-2009, 06:02 PM

If you really want a challenge (and earn your geek stripes) try using "Regular Expressions" - I think there are libraries available for VB.NET if that is your platform.

That can validate a URL rather well with just one statement.

--
Mike Smith
No sig, no shirt, no sale.

Johnathan · 11-05-2009, 08:48 PM

Although I`m not too familiar with vb.net, I`m assuming its similar to VB6. Simply navigate to the URL, and if nothing is there, then you know its not valid. I.e., webbrowser1.navigate \"whatever.com\" then check the \'location\' attribute, etc.

NicheExposed · 11-06-2009, 04:04 PM

I ended up calling a programming friend of mine who gave me the code. I had to create a function. here is the code if anyone else needs it.

PrivateFunction UrlIsValid(ByVal url AsString) AsBoolean
Dim is_valid AsBoolean = False
If url.ToLower().StartsWith("www.") Then url = _
"http://" & url
Dim web_response As HttpWebResponse = Nothing
Try
Dim web_request As HttpWebRequest = _
HttpWebRequest.Create(url)
web_response = _
DirectCast(web_request.GetResponse(), _
HttpWebResponse)
ReturnTrue
Catch ex As Exception
ReturnFalse
Finally
IfNot (web_response IsNothing) Then _
web_response.Close()
EndTry
EndFunction

mywebwork · 11-06-2009, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NicheExposed

If anyone types in anything but a valid url the program will crash.

Just a thought, you might consider writing an Error Handler as well - having the program crash if it receives a bad URL is not particularly user-friendly!

Keep in mind that the user may enter a valid URL by clicking on an invalid hyperlink within a web page. That bad URL will probably make it past your URL format check.

Beat of luck with your project...

Bill

NicheExposed · 11-06-2009, 05:39 PM

when someone clicks on a link in a web page that is bad will just return a page can not be displated error. That has nothing to do with the coding problem within the software.

AndyBlackSEO · 11-06-2009, 05:50 PM

For php you would use regex (regular expression) to determine whether a url is in a valid format. You could then go one further by using cURL to grab the contents of the page and verify that a valid live webpage exists at the end of it. I'm creating this functionality for my latest product and it works perfectly.

What platform are you wanting to code this in? web app or a windows application?

Gimme4Free · 11-06-2009, 09:01 PM

CURL:

PHP Code:

  function url_exists()
    {
    VAR1   = curl_init();
    if (false === VAR1)
        {
        return false;
        }
    curl_setopt(VAR1, CURLOPT_HEADER, true);
    curl_setopt(VAR1, CURLOPT_FAILONERROR, true);
    curl_setopt(VAR1, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, Array("User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.15) Gecko/20080623 Firefox/2.0.0.15") );
    curl_setopt(VAR1, CURLOPT_NOBODY, true);
    curl_setopt(VAR1, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
    VAR2  = curl_exec(VAR1);
    curl_close(VAR1);  
    if (preg_match('/200 OK/i',substr_replace(VAR2,'',30))) {
        return true;
    }else{
        return false;
        }
    }

Replace VAR1 with $ something and VAR2 with $ something else (WF wont let me post up proper variables)

sanjid112 · 11-07-2009, 03:46 AM

You can try this regex.

CODE-one linear ($urlregex):

PHP Code:

     = "^(https?|ftp)://([a-z0-9+!*(),;?&=.-]+(:[a-z0-9+!*(),;?&=.-]+)?@)?[a-z0-9+-]+(.[a-z0-9+-]+)*(:[0-9]{2,5})?(/([a-z0-9+-].?)+)*/?(?[a-z+&.-][a-z0-9;:@/&%=+.-]*)?(#[a-z_.-][a-z0-9+.-]*)?$"; 
if (eregi(, )) {echo "good";} else {echo "bad";}

(OPTIONAL: Read more for some explanations

it will validates all this type of url ($url)

PHP Code:

  // valid urls 
 = "https://user:pass@www.somewhere.com:8080/login.php?do=login&style=%23#pagetop"; 
 = "http://user@www.somewhere.com/#pagetop"; 
 = "https://somewhere.com/index.html"; 
 = "ftp://user:****@somewhere.com:21/"; 
 = "http://somewhere.com/index.html/";  //this is valid!!

The CODE-broken into section for easy editing and understanding ($urlregex):

PHP Code:

  // SCHEME 
 = "^(https?|ftp)://"; 

// USER AND PASS (optional) 
 .= "([a-z0-9+!*(),;?&=.-]+(:[a-z0-9+!*(),;?&=.-]+)?@)?"; 

// HOSTNAME OR IP 
 .= "[a-z0-9+-]+(.[a-z0-9+-]+)*";  // http://x = allowed (ex. http://localhost, http://routerlogin) 
// .= "[a-z0-9+-]+(.[a-z0-9+-]+)+";  // http://x.x = minimum 
// .= "([a-z0-9+-]+.)*[a-z0-9+-]{2,3}";  // http://x.xx(x) = minimum 
//use only one of the above 

// PORT (optional) 
 .= "(:[0-9]{2,5})?"; 
// PATH  (optional) 
 .= "(/([a-z0-9+-].?)+)*/?"; 
// GET Query (optional) 
 .= "(?[a-z+&.-][a-z0-9;:@/&%=+.-]*)?"; 
// ANCHOR (optional) 
 .= "(#[a-z_.-][a-z0-9+.-]*)?$"; 

// check 
if (eregi(, )) {echo "good";} else {echo "bad";}

All the lines can be safely removed (except for the hostname) if you do not want allowing some URL segment (if you don't want getqueries in your urls, just comment the respective $urlregex .= ....) - but do not reorder them.
the "(optional)" states that the part MAY exist, but url will be valid even if it doesn't contain the part (see the valid urls above).

syntax:

Code:

<http[s]|ftp> :// [user[:pass]@] hostname [port] [/path] [?getquery] [anchor]

take into account allowed safe characters
assumption .. (double dot) is never allowed in hostname or path.

-Malik

PS. please tell me if it is wrong to paste the code here. and wait for some feedbacks

Mike P Smith · 11-07-2009, 07:26 PM

Nice post, sanjid112.

For VB.NET, using sanjid112's regex, this is what you need:

If Not Regex.IsMatch(myURL, "^(https?|ftp)://([a-z0-9+!*(),;?&=.-]+(:[a-z0-9+!*(),;?&=.-]+)?@)?[a-z0-9+-]+(.[a-z0-9+-]+)*(:[0-9]{2,5})?(/([a-z0-9+-].?)+)*/?(?[a-z+&.-][a-z0-9;:@/&%=+.-]*)?(#[a-z_.-][a-z0-9+.-]*)?$")Then
' write your error code
' here.
Else
' write your success code here
End If

--
Mike Smith
No advertising in my Sig. What am I thinking?

11-05-2009, 12:12 PM	#1
NicheExposed HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 152 Thanks: 1 Thanked 50 Times in 13 Posts	valadating a url Thanks for everyone who helped me with the first problem but I have one more. I need to validate that a url is typed into the text box before a user clicks on the button to send the url to the webbrowser control. basically I need it to do this.... When a user types in the complete url http://www.yoursite.com and then hits the go button it will take them to the url. But if they type in anything but a valid url I want it to display a message box and preventing them from visiting a page. If anyone types in anything but a valid url the program will crash. How do I validate that it is a valid url and not garbage. Thanks

11-05-2009, 02:01 PM	#2
jwlnewsome Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: UK Posts: 51 Thanks: 0 Thanked 7 Times in 7 Posts	Re: valadating a url Hi, try pinging the url before you preform the action. There are a few php scripts out there that can ping addresses to see if there is a response. I would personally cURL the url to see if i get anything back other than a 404 error

11-05-2009, 02:17 PM	#3
NicheExposed HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 152 Thanks: 1 Thanked 50 Times in 13 Posts	Re: valadating a url i am working in vb.net writing an exe program. I am using a webbrowser control, text box and a button.

11-05-2009, 05:28 PM	#4
warmlikecoffee Warrior Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 16 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: valadating a url You can do something like this: If Texbox1.Text.Substring(0,7) = "hxxp://" Or Textbox1.Text.Substring(0, 4) = "wwvv." Then MessageBox.Show("This is a URL") End If The code checks the first letters of your Textbox1, if it begins with hxxp:// or wwvv. then it is deemed as a valid URL. If you need more help just let me know, I can help when I have free time. EDIT: Change the xx to tt and vv to w, the forum wouldn't let me post a link due to my post count.

11-05-2009, 06:02 PM	#5
Mike P Smith Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Charlotte, NC, USA Posts: 30 Thanks: 2 Thanked 4 Times in 3 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: valadating a url If you really want a challenge (and earn your geek stripes) try using "Regular Expressions" - I think there are libraries available for VB.NET if that is your platform. That can validate a URL rather well with just one statement. -- Mike Smith No sig, no shirt, no sale.

11-05-2009, 08:48 PM	#6
Johnathan Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 822 Thanks: 257 Thanked 74 Times in 64 Posts	Re: valadating a url Although I`m not too familiar with vb.net, I`m assuming its similar to VB6. Simply navigate to the URL, and if nothing is there, then you know its not valid. I.e., webbrowser1.navigate \"whatever.com\" then check the \'location\' attribute, etc.

11-06-2009, 04:04 PM	#7
NicheExposed HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 152 Thanks: 1 Thanked 50 Times in 13 Posts	Re: valadating a url I ended up calling a programming friend of mine who gave me the code. I had to create a function. here is the code if anyone else needs it. PrivateFunction UrlIsValid(ByVal url AsString) AsBoolean Dim is_valid AsBoolean = False If url.ToLower().StartsWith("www.") Then url = _ "http://" & url Dim web_response As HttpWebResponse = Nothing Try Dim web_request As HttpWebRequest = _ HttpWebRequest.Create(url) web_response = _ DirectCast(web_request.GetResponse(), _ HttpWebResponse) ReturnTrue Catch ex As Exception ReturnFalse Finally IfNot (web_response IsNothing) Then _ web_response.Close() EndTry EndFunction

11-06-2009, 05:39 PM	#9
NicheExposed HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 152 Thanks: 1 Thanked 50 Times in 13 Posts	Re: valadating a url when someone clicks on a link in a web page that is bad will just return a page can not be displated error. That has nothing to do with the coding problem within the software.

11-06-2009, 05:50 PM	#10
AndyBlackSEO article-writer-pro.com War Room Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: , , United Kingdom. Posts: 1,330 Thanks: 23 Thanked 124 Times in 106 Posts	Re: valadating a url For php you would use regex (regular expression) to determine whether a url is in a valid format. You could then go one further by using cURL to grab the contents of the page and verify that a valid live webpage exists at the end of it. I'm creating this functionality for my latest product and it works perfectly. What platform are you wanting to code this in? web app or a windows application?
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11-06-2009, 09:01 PM	#11
Gimme4Free Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 77 Thanks: 10 Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts	Re: valadating a url CURL: PHP Code: function url_exists() { VAR1 = curl_init(); if (false === VAR1) { return false; } curl_setopt(VAR1, CURLOPT_HEADER, true); curl_setopt(VAR1, CURLOPT_FAILONERROR, true); curl_setopt(VAR1, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, Array("User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.15) Gecko/20080623 Firefox/2.0.0.15") ); curl_setopt(VAR1, CURLOPT_NOBODY, true); curl_setopt(VAR1, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true); VAR2 = curl_exec(VAR1); curl_close(VAR1); if (preg_match('/200 OK/i',substr_replace(VAR2,'',30))) { return true; }else{ return false; } } Replace VAR1 with $ something and VAR2 with $ something else (WF wont let me post up proper variables)

11-07-2009, 03:46 AM	#12
sanjid112 Banned War Room Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 183 Thanks: 4 Thanked 21 Times in 19 Posts	Re: valadating a url You can try this regex. CODE-one linear ($urlregex): PHP Code: `= "^(https?\|ftp)://([a-z0-9+!(),;?&=.-]+(:[a-z0-9+!(),;?&=.-]+)?@)?[a-z0-9+-]+(.[a-z0-9+-]+)(:[0-9]{2,5})?(/([a-z0-9+-].?)+)/?(?[a-z+&.-][a-z0-9;:@/&%=+.-])?(#[a-z_.-][a-z0-9+.-])?$"; if (eregi(, )) {echo "good";} else {echo "bad";}` (OPTIONAL: Read more for some explanations it will validates all this type of url ($url) PHP Code: `// valid urls = "https://user:pass@www.somewhere.com:8080/login.php?do=login&style=%23#pagetop"; = "http://user@www.somewhere.com/#pagetop"; = "https://somewhere.com/index.html"; = "ftp://user:***@somewhere.com:21/"; = "http://somewhere.com/index.html/"; //this is valid!!` The CODE-broken into section for easy editing and understanding ($urlregex): PHP Code: // SCHEME = "^(https?\|ftp)://"; // USER AND PASS (optional) .= "([a-z0-9+!(),;?&=.-]+(:[a-z0-9+!(),;?&=.-]+)?@)?"; // HOSTNAME OR IP .= "[a-z0-9+-]+(.[a-z0-9+-]+)"; // http://x = allowed (ex. http://localhost, http://routerlogin) // .= "[a-z0-9+-]+(.[a-z0-9+-]+)+"; // http://x.x = minimum // .= "([a-z0-9+-]+.)[a-z0-9+-]{2,3}"; // http://x.xx(x) = minimum //use only one of the above // PORT (optional) .= "(:[0-9]{2,5})?"; // PATH (optional) .= "(/([a-z0-9+-].?)+)/?"; // GET Query (optional) .= "(?[a-z+&.-][a-z0-9;:@/&%=+.-])?"; // ANCHOR (optional) .= "(#[a-z_.-][a-z0-9+.-])?$"; // check if (eregi(, )) {echo "good";} else {echo "bad";} All the lines can be safely removed (except for the hostname) if you do not want allowing some URL segment (if you don't want getqueries in your urls, just comment the respective $urlregex .= ....) - but do not reorder them. the "(optional)" states that the part MAY exist, but url will be valid even if it doesn't contain the part (see the valid urls above). syntax: Code: <http[s]\|ftp> :// [user[:pass]@] hostname [port] [/path] [?getquery] [anchor] take into account allowed safe characters assumption .. (double dot) is never allowed in hostname or path. -Malik PS. please tell me if it is wrong to paste the code here. and wait for some feedbacks
	Last edited by sanjid112; 11-07-2009 at 03:47 AM. Reason: adding PS

11-07-2009, 07:26 PM	#13
Mike P Smith Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Charlotte, NC, USA Posts: 30 Thanks: 2 Thanked 4 Times in 3 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: valadating a url Nice post, sanjid112. For VB.NET, using sanjid112's regex, this is what you need: If Not Regex.IsMatch(myURL, "^(https?\|ftp)://([a-z0-9+!(),;?&=.-]+(:[a-z0-9+!(),;?&=.-]+)?@)?[a-z0-9+-]+(.[a-z0-9+-]+)(:[0-9]{2,5})?(/([a-z0-9+-].?)+)/?(?[a-z+&.-][a-z0-9;:@/&%=+.-])?(#[a-z_.-][a-z0-9+.-])?$")Then ' write your error code ' here. Else ' write your success code here End If -- Mike Smith No advertising in my Sig. What am I thinking?