URL/Hyperlink errors %25

The same thing is happening here. All non alphanumeric characters are having 25 inserted. This is really unacceptable.

I really don't know why your link is in this non-standard format.

in a more standard one would be:

%2d would be replaced by -
%2e would be replaced by .
%40 wouldbe replaced by @

and it would work flawlessly.

May you explain by which means you got such oddly built link?

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mercredi 13 août 2008 21:20:11)

When it meet the % character, Pages replaces it by the %25 string because % is a reserved character in its internal coding. It means than the two trailing characters are the hexadecimal value of the described character (25 is the hexadecimal value for the character %).

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mercredi 13 août 2008 21:41:22)

Thanks

Now that I know the way you get such link, I will be able to file a report asking to Apple Engineers if they may get rid of this annoying behavior.

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE vendredi 15 août 2008 15:50:49)

Done:

tracking number for this issue is Bug ID# 6152296.

When we ask a service like Paypal for allowing us to work with them, we receive a link of this shape:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xclick&business=darron%40djones%2ecom&item_name=album&amount=999%2e99&no_shippin g=0&no_note=1&currencycode=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%2d8

As you may see, it's an "expanded" version of

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xclick&business=darron@djones.com&item_name=album&amount=999.99&no_shipping=0&no _note=1&currencycode=USD&lc=US&bn=PP-BuyNowBF&charset=UTF-8

+don't worry, it's the forum's parser which plays the fool with the 'standard' link. I have no free time to search the offending tag+

The problem is that if we store the link as it is sent by Paypal in Pages, when sending it, the program replaces the embedded characters "%" by "%25" which is its way to store the percent char.

The result is this link:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xclick&business=darron%2540djones%252ecom&item_name=album&amount=999%252e99&no_s hipping=0&no_note=1&currencycode=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%252dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%252d8

which of course fails.

Is it a way to get rid of that?

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE vendredi 15 août 2008 16:35:57)

As a workaround, I wrote a script which remove the offending "%xy" strings in the URLs.

It's available for free on my iDisk:
<http://idisk.me.com/koenigyvan-Public?view=web>

Download

for iWork:for_Pages:normalizeURL.zip

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE dimanche 17 août 2008 12:55:19)

Can you explain how to use the script you created? I'm having the same problems with Dropbox and the added "25".

Oops. I posted it quickly as a response to a question and forgot to type some explanations.

It's now done and I added a piece of code: now it pastes the cleaned URL in a Pages document at the selected insertion point.

<http://idisk.me.com/koenigyvan-Public?view=web>

Download
for iWork:for_Pages:normalizeURL.zip

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE jeudi 13 novembre 2008 21:12:51)

I'm sorry, but I've never used a script before, so I could really use some specific instructions. Where do I paste it? When do I paste it? How exactly do I use it? Thanks.

The late version (described yesterdays) states:

+--(SCRIPT normalize_URL]+
(*
+Save the script as an Application Bundle: normalize_URL.app+

+Move the newly created application into the folder:+
+<startup Volume>:Users:<yourAccount>:Library:Scripts:Applications:Pages:+
+Maybe you would have to create the folder Pages and even the folder Applications by yourself.+

+Copy the odd URL to the clipboard+
+Click in a Pages document where you want to paste the cleaned URL+

+Go to+
+menu Scripts > normalize_URL+

+It will put in the clipboard a 'clean' URL then paste it where is the cursor.+

This forum is not dedicated to teaching the use of AppleScripts.

Click on the Desktop
Select "Help > Help Mac"
Search for "AppleScript"

Read the entries entitled:

About AppleScript
About the Script menu
Writing AppleScripts and viewing dictionaries in Script Editor

Yvan KOENIG