Develop Reference

Data import via Management API successful, but data for custom dimensions does not show

I am trying to import data for custom dimension in Google Analytics through the .NET client library. In Google Analytics, when I view the uploads for a data set from Admin > Data Import > Manage Uploads, it says my uploads are successful, but the data for the custom dimension doesn't seem to show up in my report. Right now, I am just using my custom dimension to set the category for an article.
Here is how I am uploading through the .Net client library.
string accountId = "***";
string webPropertyId = "***";
string customDataSourceId = "***";
string contentType = "application/octet-stream";
IUploadProgress progress;
using (var dataStream = CreateArticleCsvStream(articles))
{
var fs = File.Create("test.csv");
dataStream.CopyTo(fs);
fs.Close();
progress = service.Management.Uploads.UploadData(accountId, webPropertyId, customDataSourceId, dataStream, contentType).Upload();
}
if (progress.Status == UploadStatus.Failed)
{
throw progress.Exception;
}
Here is the output for test.csv
ga:pagePath,ga:dimension1
/path/to/page/,"MyCategory"
When I download the file from the data set, I get the same file as the test.csv file, it just has a random filename that gets assisgned to it.
I found this other question similar to mine, but there was no solution posted. Any help would be appreciated.
I have also waited over 24 hours, but still nothing.

It took a few days of trial and error but I finally found the solution.
First thing to check is that your Website's URL is correct under Admin > View Settings. We had ours set up like my.domain.com/path/to/site when it should have just been my.domain.com. (We are using SharePoint, which is why path/to/site was appended to the site URL)
Second thing to check is that your key/pagePath entries are all correct. In our case, we had an extra forward slash at the end of the URL. For some reason, Google Analytics displays the trailing forward slash in reports, but does not actually store it for the pagePath.
Another error may be capitalization. It seems like GA applies filters after the data has been processed. If you add the lowercase/uppercase filter, notice that it only affects how the URLs display in your reports. Behind the scenes, it seems that GA still stores the URL with whatever capitalization the hit initially came in with. For example if the URL on your site is my.domain.com/path/to/PAGE.aspx and you apply the lowercase filter, the pagePath will display in your reports as /path/to/page.aspx. But, if you use the lowercase value in your csv import, the data will not join. You must use the pagePath that appears on your site (/path/to/PAGE.aspx in this case).
It would be nice if Google gave some log files when it tries to process and join the uploaded data with the existing data, rather than just saying the upload was successful even though the processing/joining stage may fail.

How to encode a URL using Asp.net?

I have the following line of aspx link that I would like to encode:
Response.Redirect("countriesAttractions.aspx?=");
I have tried the following method:
Response.Redirect(Encoder.UrlPathEncode("countriesAttractions.aspx?="));
This is another method that I tried:
var encoded = Uri.EscapeUriString("countriesAttractions.aspx?=");
Response.Redirect(encoded);
Both redirects to the page without the URL being encoded:
http://localhost:52595/countriesAttractions?=
I tried this third method:
Response.Redirect(Server.UrlEncode("countriesAttractions.aspx?="));
This time the url itself gets encoded:
http://localhost:52595/countriesAttractions.aspx%3F%3D
However I get an error from the UI saying:
HTTP Error 404.0 Not Found
The resource you are looking for has been removed, had its name changed, or
is temporarily unavailable.
Most likely causes:
-The directory or file specified does not exist on the Web server.
-The URL contains a typographical error.
-A custom filter or module, such as URLScan, restricts access to the file.
Also, I would like to encode another kind of URL that involves parsing of session strings:
Response.Redirect("specificServices.aspx?service=" +
Session["service"].ToString().Trim() + "&price=" +
Session["price"].ToString().Trim()));
The method I tried to include the encoding method into the code above:
Response.Redirect(Server.UrlEncode("specificServices.aspx?service=" +
Session["service"].ToString().Trim() + "&price=" +
Session["price"].ToString().Trim()));
The above encoding method I used displayed the same kind of results I received with my previous Server URL encode methods. I am not sure on how I can encode url the correct way without getting errors.
As well as encoding URL with CommandArgument:
Response.Redirect("specificAttractions.aspx?attraction=" +
e.CommandArgument);
I have tried the following encoding:
Response.Redirect("specificAttractions.aspx?attraction=" +
HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(Convert.ToString(e.CommandArgument)));
But it did not work.
Is there any way that I can encode the url without receiving this kind of error?
I would like the output to be something like my second result but I want to see the page itself and not the error page.
I have tried other methods I found on stackoverflow such as self-coded methods but those did not work either.
I am using AntiXSS class library in this case for the methods I tried, so it would be great if I can get solutions using AntiXSS library.
I need to encode URL as part of my school project so it would be great if I can get solutions. Thank you.

You can use the UrlEncode or UrlPathEncode methods from the HttpUtility class to achieve what you need. See documentation at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.httputility.urlencode(v=vs.110).aspx
It's important to understand however, that you should not need to encode the whole URL string. It's only the parameter values - which may contain arbitrary data and characters which aren't valid in a URL - that you need to encode.
To explain this concept, run the following in a simple .NET console application:
string url = "https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=";
//string url = "http://localhost:52595/specificAttractions.aspx?country=";
string parm = "Bora Bora, French Polynesia";
Console.WriteLine(url + parm);
Console.WriteLine(url + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(parm), System.Text.Encoding.UTF8);
Console.WriteLine(url + HttpUtility.UrlPathEncode(parm), System.Text.Encoding.UTF8);
Console.WriteLine(HttpUtility.UrlEncode(url + parm), System.Text.Encoding.UTF8);
You'll get the following output:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Bora Bora, French Polynesia
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Bora+Bora%2c+French+Polynesia
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Bora%20Bora,%20French%20Polynesia
https%3a%2f%2fwww.google.co.uk%2fsearch%3fq%3dBora+Bora%2c+French+Polynesia
By pasting these into a browser and trying to use them, you'll soon see what is a valid URL and what is not.
(N.B. when pasting into modern browsers, many of them will URL-encode automatically for you, if your parameter is not valid - so you'll find the first output works too, but if you tried to call it via some C# code for instance, it would fail.)
Working demo: https://dotnetfiddle.net/gqFsdK
You can of course alter the values you input to anything you like. They can be hard-coded strings, or the result of some other code which returns a string (e.g. fetching from the session, or a database, or a UI element, or anywhere else).
N.B. It's also useful to clarify that a valid URL is simply a string in the correct format of a URL. It is not the same as a URL which actually exists. A URL may be valid but not exist if you try to use it, or may be valid and really exist.

WebClient.DownloadFile - Invalid URI: The hostname could not be parsed

So I tried this in several different formats and produced different results. I will include all relevant information below.
My company uses a web-based application to schedule the generation of reports. The service emails a URL that can be clicked on and will immediately begin the "Open Save As Cancel" dialogue box. I am trying to automate the process of downloading these reports with a C# script as part of a Visual Studio project (the end goal is to import these reports in SQL Server).
I am encountering terrible difficulty initiating the download of this file using WebClient Here is the closest I have gotten with any of the methods I have tried:
*NOTE: I removed all identifying information from the URL, but left all special characters and the basic architecture intact. Hopefully this will be a happy medium between protecting confidential info and giving you enough to understand my dilemma. The URL does work when manually copied and pasted into the address bar of internet explorer.
Error Message:
"Invalid URI: The hostname could not be parsed."
public void Main()
{
using (var wc = new System.Net.WebClient())
{
wc.DownloadFile(
new Uri(#"http:\\webapp.locality.company.com\scripts\rds\cgigetf.exe?job_id=3058352&file_id=1&format=TAB\report.tab"),
#"\\server\directory\folder1\folder2\folder3\...\...\...\rawfile.tab");
}
}
Note also that I have tried to set:
string sourceUri = #"http:\\webapp.locality.company.com\scripts\rds\cgigetf.exe?job_id=3058352&file_id=1&format=TAB\report.tab\abc123_3058352.tab";
Uri uriPath;
Uri.TryCreate(sourceUri, UriKind.Absolute, out uriPath);
But uriPath remains null - TryCreate fails.
I have attempted doing a webrequest / webresponse / WebStream, but it still cannot find the host.
I have tried including the download URL (as in my first code example) and the download URL + the file name (as in my second code example). I do not need the file name in the URL to initiate the download if I do it manually. I have also tried replacing the "report.tab" portion of the URL with the file name, but to no avail.
Help is greatly appreciated as I have simply run out of thoughts on this one. The only idea I have left is that perhaps one of the special characters in my URL is getting in the way, but I don't know which one that would be or how to handle it properly.
Thanks in advance!

My first thought would be that your URI backslashes are being interpreted as escape characters, leading to a nonsense result after evaluation. I would try a quick test where each backslash is escaped as itself (i.e. "\" instead of "\" in each instance). I'm also a little puzzled as to why your URI is not using forward slashes...?
// Create an absolute Uri from a string.
Uri absoluteUri = new Uri("http://www.contoso.com/");
Ref: Uri Constructor on MSDN

Redirecting File/Path access to a different folder in C#

We have some legacy code (console executable) that is called by our web application which has hard coded absolute paths to the file system for accessing certain files when it is run. This has limited our web application to a single instance per server. Is there any way to redirect a process/application's file access to a different folder (maybe a way to force it to use some virtual file system)?
For example: The executable may look for a file in "C:\inetpub\wwwroot\webappname\schemas". Can we force all references to that path to point to "C:\inetpub\wwwroot\webapp2\schemas" instead?

There might be two approaches. The first one is definitely easier.
By modifying the executable
If the application is written in .Net, use a decompiler like the one from 9Rays.Net, decompile the code, and make modifications. This might also work for Java.
If it's a native application, open the application in a hex editor, locate the string and change it. It has to keep the same length, however you can use a null terminal \0 to "shorten" it.
Using C#
Crate a launcher for the application, which gets called instead, and hooks into read/write calls to modify the paths. This can be done in C#, and you can find resources on the Internet for it.

Finally found an answer. I got it to work in .Net, I don't know if it will help for any other languages. Inspiration came from this blog: http://blog.didierstevens.com/2006/07/07/viewing-strings-in-executables/
I downloaded Mcaffee's BinText 3.03 (http://www.mcafee.com/us/downloads/free-tools/bintext.aspx), and ran it on my test EXE. I searched through the list, and found the string I wanted to replace. This gives you a file position offset. My string was at 0x73F according to BinText. The following code replaced the first two characters of my string with "AK". With a little rework, you could do actual string removal, instead of a simple 1:1 character replacement.
{
string file = "TrashV1.exe"; // Input EXE
string fileout = "TrashV2.exe";
File.Delete(fileout);
byte[] barr = File.ReadAllBytes(file);
int offset = 0x73e; // NOTE! This is one LESS than the offset that MCaffee reported!
string replace = "AK";
var enc = new System.Text.UnicodeEncoding();
byte[] unicode = enc.GetBytes(replace);
for (int i = 0; i < unicode.Length; i++)
{
barr[offset + i] = unicode[i];
}
File.WriteAllBytes(fileout, barr);
}
TrashV1.exe: STACK_OVERFLOW
TrashV2.exe: AKACK_OVERFLOW

How does Response.Redirect calculate the URL for "~/folder1/folder2/some.aspx"

This might sound like a trivial problem but for some reason it is not.
Instead of needing to redirect
Response.Redirect("~/folder1/folder2/some.aspx")
I need the location as if it behaved like
string navigatingUrl = Response.Redirect("~/folder1/folder2/some.aspx")
Trying to replicate this I started with
string navigatingUrl = new Uri(HttpContext.Current.Request.Url,
new Uri("~/folder1/folder2/some.aspx", UriKind.Relative));
This instead generates "http://www.fullRequestUrl/~/folder1/folder2/some.aspx"
Edit: Well I've found out why I absolutely hate the URL API from Microsoft. I wish hellfire to whoever wrote this line of code
else if (uriKind == UriKind.Relative)
{
// Here we know that we can create an absolute Uri, but the user has requested
only a relative one
e = GetException(ParsingError.CannotCreateRelative);
}
What would possess someone to throw an error like that? This single if statement completely destroys the API.

I think you are looking for Control.ResolveUrl(). Typically you would probably use the method found on your Page object (if you are using WebForms).

Stealing from Get absolute url for a file in my asp.net project to include HTTP// etc for use externally? the only absolute way to do this is:
string url = Request.Url.GetLeftPart(UriPartial.Authority)
+ VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute(relativePath)

Response.Redirect(Page.ResolveUrl("~/folder1/forlder2/some.aspx"), false);