Include array in QueryString?

Question

Our webform (ProcessStudent.aspx) is designed to receive three parameters in the QueryString: Name, Grade, Class. Page_Load retrieves these three parameters and sends it to a method SaveStudent (ie. SaveStudent(name, grade, class);).

I need to process several three-parameter combinations for one page. I basically copied/pasted ProcessStudent.aspx, but I need to modify the way I read the parameters. I can change the URL structure, but everything else needs to stay the same.

So my initial thought was to include these combinations in the URL; for example, each value would be separated by a char and each combination by another char. Something like this, which I would then parse :

ProcessStudent.aspx?Students=Joe|5|Science,Bob|6|Math,Mary|5|English

Would something like this work? Is there a better way?

Answer 1

Yes it would work. As far as better... You could post a json string, which would be much cleaner. I personally would use a rest service with just JSON(or XML if you like).

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

The thing you'll need to watch out for is that the query string has a length limit in some browsers (https://stackoverflow.com/a/812962/97382) so depending how many you mean by "several" and which browser(s) you're using you could run into those limitations.

You would be better off to POST the data as you do not run into the size limitations.