How do you use an Ampersand in an HTTPCookie in VB.NET?

Question

I have a cookie saved to the user as follows...

Dim searchCookie As HttpCookie = New HttpCookie(\"SearchCriteria\")
searchCookie.Item(\"SearchText\") = FullSearc         


        

Answer 1

D'oh! I'm such a dork...

Dim searchCookie As HttpCookie = New HttpCookie("SearchCriteria")
searchCookie.Item("SearchText") = HttpContext.Current.Server.UrlEncode(FullSearchCriteria.SearchText)
searchCookie.Item("SearchType") = HttpContext.Current.Server.UrlEncode(FullSearchCriteria.SearchType)

Answer 2

The cookie values need to be encoded. I'm no VB expert, but it looks like this is done with the method

System.Web.HttpUtility.UrlEncode

Answer 3

You can use the URLEncode method.

Something like:

imports HttpContext.Current
...
Dim searchCookie As HttpCookie = New HttpCookie("SearchCriteria")
searchCookie.Item("SearchText") = Server.UrlEncode(FullSearchCriteria.SearchText)
searchCookie.Item("SearchType") = Server.UrlEncode(FullSearchCriteria.SearchType)

This is essential as only certain characters are allowed in cookies with characters such as ampersands breaking them.