How to hide a rewrited URL in web browser

[Tirsdag]

Hi all,

I used mod_rewrite to redirect a static URL to a dynamic URL:

http://www.example.com/xyz
to http://www.example.com/getLoginPage.html?id=xyz

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^([A-Za-z0-9]+) http://www.example.com/getLoginPage.html?id=$1 [L]

But I want that it shows only http://www.example.com/xyz in web browser after rewriting.

How can I do?
Thanx

[edited by: encyclo at 1:33 pm (utc) on Sep. 21, 2007]
[edit reason] switched to example.com [/edit]

[phranque]

welcome to WebmasterWorld, Tirsdag!

use the R flag to force an external redirect:

RewriteRule ^([A-Za-z0-9]+) http://www.example.com/getLoginPage.html?id=$1 [R,L]

also you should examplify your links to prevent them from being clickable...

[phranque]

sorry - i misread your original post.
i think your problem is when you supply the full url it implies an external redirect and you want an internal rewrite.
almost opposite of what i first thought.
try this instead:

RewriteRule ^([A-Za-z0-9]+) getLoginPage.html?id=$1 [L]

[jdMorgan]

> i think your problem is when you supply the full url it implies an external redirect and you want an internal rewrite.

Correct. This is the documented behaviour.

Also, you can use the [NC] flag to make the grouped-character compare case-insensitive:

RewriteRule ^([a-z0-9]+)$ /getLoginPage.html?id=$1 [NC,L]

Jim

[g1smd]

If you want to see static URLs, then that is what you have to have in the links on the page.

When the link is clicked, the rewrite takes that URL request and silently gets the content from the corresponding internal dynamic filepath, without exposing what that filepath actually is.

[Tirsdag]

Hi,

It works!
Thank you all of you!

[Tirsdag]

Hi again,

Now I am facing another problem.

How can I detect if there exists a question mark (?) in a URL? If so the sub-string after this question mark in the URL will be removed.

For example,if I get a URL like www.company.com/getStartPage.html?customerId=1&sectionId=2 then I want that it show only www.company.com/getStartPage.html on web browser.

Thank in advanced
Tirsdag

[g1smd]

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} \?.*\ HTTP/ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.com/$1? [R=301,L]

The ? clears the query string.

Make sure that you don't create any redirection chain if you have multiple interacting redirect rules.

[edited by: g1smd at 12:24 pm (utc) on Sep. 21, 2007]

[vincevincevince]

The? clears the query string.

In my experience, the? is not required - the query string is not appended anyway. Although - I might be wrong!

[g1smd]

The query string is reappended unless you explicitly clear it.

[Tirsdag]

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} \?.*\ HTTP/ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ [domain.com...] [R=301,L]
The? clears the query string.

Make sure that you don't create any redirection chain if you have multiple interacting redirect rules.

Thank g1smd, but it does not work!

So let me explain more clearly.

First I want to redirect
www.company.com/xyz to www.company.com/getLoginPage.html?id=xyz
but I want also that it still shows www.company.com/xyz on the web browser after the redirecting.

After xyz has logged in, the URL in the web browser will appear like
www.company.com/getStartpage.html?id=xyz&section=1&blah=2
Now I want that it shows only www.company.com/getStartpage.html in the web browser.

Please help me!

[g1smd]

>> First I want to redirect www.company.com/xyz/ to www.company.com/getLoginPage.html?id=xyz but I want also that it still shows www.company.com/xyz on the web browser after the redirecting. <<

Terminology. What you require is NOT a redirect. You require a REWRITE. The two things are different. There have been several dozen code examples for that posted so far this month in this forum.

>> After xyz has logged in, the URL in the web browser will appear like www.company.com/getStartpage.html?id=xyz&section=1&blah=2.
Now I want that it shows only www.company.com/getStartpage.html in the web browser. <<

That again, is another simple REWRITE. The URL that you see is the URL that appears on the page, the link that is clicked.

The rewrite looks at the requested URL, translates it, and silently fetches the content from the dynamic internal filepath, without exposing what that filepath is.

[Tirsdag]

Hi g1smd,

Terminology. What you require is NOT a redirect. You require a REWRITE. The two things are different. There have been several dozen code examples for that posted so far this month in this forum.

Thank you for your reply, I am new here, that is why I have some stupid questions in this forum :)

I got a solution for the first one:

RewriteRule ^([a-z0-9]+)$ /getLoginPage.html?id=$1 [NC,L]

For the second problem I did what you recommented

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} \?.*\ HTTP/ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ www.domain.com/$1? [R=301,L]

but unluckly it did not work.