how to get url variable using jquery/javascript?

Question

I would like to get URL request variables from a link and pass them to a CFC component. I already have working code (jQuery, AJAX, CFC) that will handle everything, but I just need to grab #URL.whatever# from a particular link.

Within Coldfusion code I can easily do so with #URL.whatever# but have no idea how to get it from the client side. Also, does it matter if I have been using IIS URL rewrite? I am currently rewriting www.website.com/page.cfm?category=cat1 to www.website.com/page/cat1.

in both cases Coldfusion can access the request variable with #URL.category#, there is absolutely no difference. So how can I do this with JavaScript/jQuery, it shouldn't be complicated, right?

You'll need to write it yourself if you want this. JavaScript has no way of knowing that the 2nd folder you have maps to category when it is a subfolder of page. — scottheckel, Oct 23 '12 at 19:33
possible duplicate of [Get URL parameter with jQuery](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1403888/get-url-parameter-with-jquery) — lonesomeday, Oct 23 '12 at 22:00

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 23 '12 at 19:31

0

Well, we'll need more details to suggest how to get a reference to the link, but something like this should work:

HTML

<a id="mylink" href="www.website.com/page.cfm?category=cat1">Website.com</a>

JS

var href = document.getElementById( 'mylink' ).href;

answered Oct 23 '12 at 19:31

Kevin Boucher

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score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 24 '12 at 15:40

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Right, what you want to use is function to parse the window.location.href variable.

var URL_PARAM = getUrlVars()["category"];

Or, if the URL to your page was www.website.com/page.cfm?category=cat1&anotherparam=12345

var URL_PARAM1 = getUrlVars()["category"];
var URL_PARAM2 = getUrlVars()["anotherparam"];

I can't say for sure how it would operate with URL rewrites.

URLVars:

function getUrlVars() {
    var vars = {};
    var parts =window.location.href.replace(/[?&]+([^=&]+)=([^&]*)/gi, function(m,key,value) {
        vars[ decodeURIComponent(key)] = decodeURIComponent(value);
    });
    return vars;
}

edited Oct 24 '12 at 15:40

Ruan Mendes

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answered Oct 23 '12 at 19:31

Blaise Swanwick

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Yeah sorry bout that, forgot i have it in my main js file. Edited original post. – Blaise Swanwick Oct 23 '12 at 19:35
I've just tested your code, it works great, though only when URL rewrite is not set – user1751287 Oct 24 '12 at 11:47
You're using `decodeURIComponent` wrong, you have to call it on each name and value, not on the entire url string – Ruan Mendes Oct 24 '12 at 15:37
@user1751287 Obviously this doesn't work when you're rewriting the url so that you don't have url encoded name pairs. – Ruan Mendes Oct 24 '12 at 15:39

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

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This question proposes a method to get the variables, I find it slightly easier to understand than Blaise's regular expression. It also properly unencodes values from the URL Get Querystring with Dojo

function getUrlParams() {

  var paramMap = {};
  if (location.search.length == 0) {
    return paramMap;
  }
  var parts = location.search.substring(1).split("&");

  for (var i = 0; i < parts.length; i ++) {
    var component = parts[i].split("=");
    paramMap [decodeURIComponent(component[0])] = decodeURIComponent(component[1]);
  }
  return paramMap;
}

var params = getUrlParams();
console.log(params.myParam);

edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

Community

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answered Oct 23 '12 at 19:46

Ruan Mendes

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I've just tested your code, it does the trick :) also how can I manually set category to All if (location.search.length == 0) maybe something like this var paramMap=All; is this correct – user1751287 Oct 24 '12 at 11:48
@user1751287 No, this is code for retrieving, not for setting url parameters, that would be a completely different question – Ruan Mendes Oct 24 '12 at 15:39
to clarify when page does not contain URL parameter (www.website.com/page.cfm) I would like to set it to All. is this possible? – user1751287 Oct 24 '12 at 15:39
because if its empty it returns category=undefined – user1751287 Oct 24 '12 at 15:41
can I not retrieve it if its empty? – user1751287 Oct 24 '12 at 15:48

how to get url variable using jquery/javascript?

3 Answers3