ServerVariables[“UNENCODED_URL”] is empty when I try to access it in my MVC Action

Question

I'm writing a catch-all action method for a 404 page that takes the requested URL, extracts the wordy bits with a regex (\w+)* and sends those bits, space-separated, to the search engine to generate a list of suggested pages.

The problem is, ServerVariables["UNENCODED_URL"] appears to be unavailable here in the Action method. Other server variables are available, however.

I could use ServerVariables["URL"] in conjunction with ServerVariables["QUERY_STRING"], both of which are available. But in some situations this leaves out parts of the URL that might contain valid info regarding the user's intention.

For example, if the mal-formed URL is

/test/007/words/something-with-a-dot.xyz/these-words-are-neglected/?stuff-in-querystring

Then the "URL" and "QUERY_STRING" are found as "/test/007/words/something-with-a-dot.xyz" and "stuff-in-querystring"

"URL" ignores rather bluntly everything after what looks like a file extension. So it doesn't suffice.

So what's up with UNENCODED_URL?
And how can I get its equivalent?

Answer 1

Have you tried the HTTP_URL variable? Looks like it returns the raw, encoded URL, for example, "/vdir/default.asp?querystring" - from MSDN.

Source

Also - if you are in a controller's action method, you could(should?) use the HttpContext in place of the SERVER[someProperty]. Something like:

var Url = HttpContext.Request.RawUrl;

which returns the full URL of the current request.