Sitecore glass mapper general link in Mvc 4

Question

Hi i'm currently learning sitecore 7 with MVC4 and glassmapper and I'm having some issues with the general linkfield. I can't seem to ouput the external links (not links to items) correctly from a general linkfield. What am I doing wrong?

My model:

[SitecoreType(TemplateId = "{F8168BAF-6916-47FE-BC7F-DE3B033CE233}")]
public class SocialLink : AbstractBase
{

    [SitecoreField]
    public virtual string Description { get; set; }

    [SitecoreField]
    public virtual string Class { get; set; }

    [SitecoreField(FieldType = SitecoreFieldType.GeneralLink)]
    public virtual Link Url { get; set; }

}

in the view:

@foreach (var socialLink in Model.SocialFolder.Socials)
{
     <a href="@socialLink.Url" class="connect @socialLink.Class">@socialLink.Description</a>                
}

Output:

<a href="Glass.Mapper.Sc.Fields.Link" class="connect slideshare">Read us on Slideshare</a>

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Is the model auto-generated or did you create them manually? What type is Link, Glass.Mapper.Sc.Fields.Link? If so you need @socialLink.Url.Url, you want the Url property from the Link field called Url.

@foreach (var socialLink in Model.SocialFolder.Socials)
{
     <a href="@socialLink.Url.Url" class="connect @socialLink.Class">@socialLink.Description</a>                
}

I would be very tempted to rename Class and Url properties to something else, possibly CssClass and SocialMediaUrl or something so as not to cause confusion.

Answer 2

So that Anchors and Querystrings are supported, it's best to use link.BuildUrl((SafeDictionary<string>)null)

There are two Link.BuildUrl()methods and, annoyingly, they both have default parameters (although one marked as obsolete). You will need to specify which one via a typed null, or...

You can add an extension method which will make things easier

public static class GlassFieldExtensions
{
    public static string GetUrl(this Link link)
    {
        return link.BuildUrl(null as SafeDictionary<string>);
    }
}

And in the HTML:

@foreach (var socialLink in Model.SocialFolder.Socials)
{
     <a href="@socialLink.GetUrl()" class="connect @socialLink.Class">@socialLink.Description</a>                
}