topic Re: URL path generated in PDF with '#' symbol is incomplete in SAS Programming

URL path generated in PDF with '#' symbol is incomplete

Soundappan — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 23:22:45 GMT

Hi I am trying to create a PDF hyperlink using t.format_cell method. But one the URL path contains '#' symbol and because of it the hyperlink generated becomes invalid. And the URL generated do not contain the text/path after '#' symbol.

In the example below, the actual File path is 'file:///test/file/path/Information #51801.msg' but in PDF generated it is 'file:///test/file/path/Information '

Code:

%let file_name ='Additional Information';
%let url_path = 'file:///test/file/path/Information #51801.msg';

proc template;
	define style work.sample;
	parent=styles.pearl;

style TableBase/
     cellpadding=2pt
     verticalalign=top
    ;

style TextUnderline from Body  /
     borderbottomcolor=black
     borderbottomwidth=1pt
     textindent=10
     height=20pt
     fontsize=8pt
    ; 
	end;
run;
%put %STR(NOTE: Build the report ... );

ods escapechar='~';
%let outpath=/sas_data/pdf_location;
ods pdf 
  file="&outpath./output_file.pdf"   
  ;

ods trace on/ label;
data _null_;
declare odsout t();

 t.table_start( name: 'Attachments', style: 'TableBase', overrides: 'width=190mm');

   t.row_start();
      t.format_cell(Text: "" );
      t.format_cell(text: &file_name
          , style: 'TextUnderline'
          , url: &url_path, overrides:"color=blue" 
          ,overrides:'');
  t.row_end();
 t.table_end();
run;
ods pdf close;

Re: URL path generated in PDF with '#' symbol is incomplete

jimbarbour — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 23:42:10 GMT

I think the problem is the embedded blank not the # sign. Try getting rid of the embedded blank.

Jim

Re: URL path generated in PDF with '#' symbol is incomplete

Soundappan — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 10:00:46 GMT

Hi Jim,

Thanks for responding. No it did not work, the black space is getting parsed without issue, but when it comes to '#' symbol, it get cutoff.

Actual URL Path - 'file:///test/file/path/Information doc#51801.msg'

URL in PDF - 'file:///test/file/path/Information doc'

URL generated in PDF,

Thanks,

Soundappan

Re: URL path generated in PDF with '#' symbol is incomplete

Kurt_Bremser — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 10:13:27 GMT

From the wikipedia article for URL/URI:

An optional fragment component preceded by a hash (#). The fragment contains a fragment identifier providing direction to a secondary resource, such as a section heading in an article identified by the remainder of the URI. When the primary resource is an HTML document, the fragment is often an id attribute of a specific element, and web browsers will scroll this element into view.

As you can see, the hash sign has a special meaning in URI's and must not be used for anything else.

(When you define an anchor in a HTML page, the # syntax is used to place the browser directly there)

Bottom line: don't use special characters in filenames, unless you want to run into trouble later.

Re: URL path generated in PDF with '#' symbol is incomplete

jimbarbour — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 14:21:45 GMT

@Soundappan wrote:

Thanks for responding. No it did not work, the black space is getting parsed without issue, but when it comes to '#' symbol, it get cutoff.

Actual URL Path - 'file:///test/file/path/Information doc#51801.msg'

URL in PDF - 'file:///test/file/path/Information doc'

Interesting. Well, I think @Kurt_Bremser's admonition to not use a "#" symbol because it has special meaning is probably sound.

Jim