Network share paths in URLs

[hespora]

Hi there,


reference: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21338988

I'm using the technique outlined in Option 2 there to link to files on my network. That works fine as long as my share paths do not contain spaces, but once they do, Cognos seems to double-encode them. E.g.:

Code Select Expand

\\server\folder1\folder2\file.ext
Works just fine as an URL object, however

Code Select Expand

\\server\folder1\folder2\fi le.ext
gets turned into a link of

Code Select Expand

file://server/folder1/folder2/fi%2520le.ext
Note the %2520 - a space should be converted to %20 instead.

What's going on there, and how can I fix that?

[hespora]

Nobody..? Feels like I'm always trying to do things in Cognos that nobody ever tried before... :)

[bdbits]

Something of a guess here - perhaps the space is encoded to %20 immediately, then encoded again when converting to file:// so the % becomes a %25.

What if you enter the link as "file://server/folder1/folder2/fi le.ext" instead of \\server\...? Or perhaps "file://server/folder1/folder2/fi%20le.ext" as you may need to completely encode a file:// yourself. I know sometimes when specifying file:// in various software I needed three slashes, e.g. "file:///server/folder1/...". A final thing to check is if you paste the URL you want to use in your browser address bar, will it attempt to access the file?

file:// links have often been annoying to work with in my experience. If you toy around with it long enough it will probably eventually work.

[hespora]

I had thought so too, but for one, the IBM source specifically states to specify in UNC format - thus backslashes, and two, when specifying with forward slashes (doesn't matter if using file: or not), submission throws a DPR-ERR-2079, saying the firewall refused that request.

Pasting the URL manually works fine. As in:
- I'm specifying a unc encoded path with a space
- the URL object converts that into a file:// link with %2520
- Right click on that, copy link
- new tab in browser, paste
- before hitting enter, remove the "25", then hit enter
- the exact network share i want is opened. 

[dougp]

Using 11.0.7:
I can't create a URL, but I can copy and edit one.  Pointing to a UNC path with spaces in a folder name and in the file name works fine.

Using 11.0.12:
I can create a URL that points to a UNC path with spaces in a folder name and in the file name and it works fine.

I don't remember that limitation in 10.2.1, but I generally don't use spaces in folder and file names.