Get filename as a request parameter - node.js

Question

I try to load a file with node.js.
In my view, I've got a button :
doctype 5
html(ng-app="lineApp")
head
title= title
link(rel='stylesheet', href='/stylesheets/style.css')
body
p filename: #{filename}
button(onclick="location.href='/app/#{filename}'") click me
The page display a paragraph with filename: C:\users\username\my filename.txt.
When I click on the button, the URL is something like http://localhost:8080/app/C:usersusernamemy%20filename.txt
So when I try to retrieve the parameter
exports.appli = function (req, res) {
var filename = req.params.filename;
//....
});
};
with the server side call :
app.get('/app/:filename?', routes.appli);
I got an invalid filename. My question is then, how to pass a file path as a parameter in URL ?

Answer 1

This is a problem with the slashes acting as escape characters.
The first time you pass the string to the client, any escaped slashes (ex: c:\\users\\username\\my file.txt) are converted to single slashes.
When you use href.location, the slashes act as escape characters a second time...which is why they drop out when you try to call the server using it.
You could:
Create two variables to pass to the jade template, one the filename as-is and the other an HTML encoded string
pass the variables to the jade template:
For example, based upon your original jade:
body
p filename: #{filename}
button(onclick="location.href='/app/#{encodedFilename}'") click me