URL aliases in emails

Introduction

Don't you hate it when you receive emails with links like the one below ? Imagine how your customers feel about it.

Hi,
Look at the new program I just finished: 
http://soderlind.no/this-is-a-very-long-path/with-a-subdirectory/file.as
p?var1=value1&var2=value2&var3=a-verly-long-value


Br,
Per

You can easily fix this by creating an URL alias, and send a mail like this one:

Hi,
Look at the new program I just finished: 
http://soderlind.no/u/?CP001


Br,
Per

To handle URL aliases on your server, do the following:

• 1^st, create a virtual directury on your server: /u
• 2^nd, save the code below as default.asp in the virtual directory, and modify it with your URLs

<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT"%>
<%
Option Explicit
Const DEFAULTURL = "http://soderlind.no/"
Dim dUrlRedir,strKEY
Set dUrlRedir = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
'

' Add as many as you wish. If you are going to have a lot of aliases, 

' you should consider storing then in a database

'

dUrlRedir.add "CP001", "http://soderlind.no/this-is-a-very-long-path/with-a-" & _
     "subdirectory/file.asp?var1=value1&var2=value2&var3=a-verly-long-value"
dUrlRedir.add "CP002", _
  "http://www.codeproject.com/aspnet/cassini_apache_101.asp"
dUrlRedir.add "CP003", _
  "http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/xpwebdevfriendly.asp"
'//

If Not IsEmpty(request.ServerVariables("QUERY_STRING")) Then
    strKEY = request.ServerVariables("QUERY_STRING")
    If dUrlRedir.Exists(strKEY) Then
        response.Redirect(dUrlRedir(strKey))    
    Else
        response.Redirect(DEFAULTURL)    
    End If
Else
    response.Redirect(DEFAULTURL)
End If
%>