Vb + Custom Url String UTF-8

Question

I have an url to scrape some products. But the url have a strange symbol :

https://www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/catalog_items?utf8=✓&q=daredevil+sideshow&commit=Go

When i put it on my vb net code i have :

https://www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/catalog_items?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=daredevil+sideshow&commit=Go

And i cant find my products

1 try :

Dim s1 = $"https://www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/catalog_items?utf8=✓&q={productsearch}+{brandsearch}&commit=Go"

Result is :

https://www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/catalog_items?utf8=✓&q=+&commit=Go

2 try :

Dim s1 = $"https://www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/catalog_items?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q={productsearch}+{brandsearch}&commit=Go"

Result is :

https://www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/catalog_items?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=+&commit=Go

This is my current code:

        'find product
        Dim productsearch = TextBox4.Text 'Product name
        Dim brandsearch = ComboBox1.Text 'Branch Product
        Dim s1 = $"https://www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/catalog_items?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q={productsearch}+{brandsearch}&commit=Go" 'Url Search with Strings
        TextBox5.Text = s1 'Result
        'find product

I need Return Like :

https://www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/catalog_items?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=daredevil+sideshow&commit=Go

or

https://www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/catalog_items?utf8=✓&q=daredevil+sideshow&commit=Go

Why i have that ?

URLs do not support un-encoded Unicode characters, only ASCII characters. So ✓ cannot appear un-encoded in a URL, it must be charset-encoded to bytes and then those bytes url-encoded in %HH hex format. %E2%9C%93 is the url-encoded UTF-8 form of ✓. In a browser UI, you can type in ✓ and it will be encoded to %E2%9C%93 when transmitted to the web server. This is a common trick sites use to detect if a browser supports Unicode characters. — Remy Lebeau
– Remy Lebeau, Commented Oct 9, 2019 at 23:35

Manada · Accepted Answer · 2019-10-09 12:36:36Z

1

Done

'Dim encoded = HttpUtility.UrlPathEncode("http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/白雜訊")
    Dim productsearch = TextBox4.Text 'Product name
    Dim brandsearch = ComboBox1.Text 'Branch Product
    'Dim s1 = $"https://www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/catalog_items?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q={productsearch}+{brandsearch}&commit=Go" 'Url Search with Strings
    Dim s1 = HttpUtility.UrlPathEncode($"https://www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/catalog_items?utf8=✓&q={productsearch}+{brandsearch}&commit=Go") 'Url Search with Strings
    TextBox5.Text = s1 'Result
    'find product

answered Oct 9, 2019 at 12:36

Manada

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