URLs to Hyperlinks

As a follow on to the Email Mailto Links Regex article, this article gives an example of a PeopleCode function that searches for URLs (web addresses) in a text string and converts them into HTML hyperlinks.

This article gives an example of a PeopleCode function that searches for URLs in a text string and converts them into HTML hyperlinks complete with the anchor (<a>) tags and target="blank" to open in a new tab/window.

So for example if it were to find the text:

https://www.peoplesoftwiki.com

It would be replaced with the HTML:

<a href="https://www.peoplesoftwiki.com" target="_blank">https://www.peoplesoftwiki.com</a>

This allows a end user to click on the hyperlink and have it open in a new window. This is particularly useful for long description configuration fields where users can specify a URL and this will automatically displayed as a hyperlink.

 NOTE: to use in a long description field a HTML area is required to display the hyperlink correctly.

Function ConvertURLsToHyperLinks(&sInput As string) Returns string

 

 Local JavaObject &jURLRegex, &jURLLinkRegex, &jInput;

 Local string &sHTML;

 

 /* Match any URLs */

 &jURLRegex = CreateJavaObject("java.lang.String", "\bhttps?://\S+\b");

 

 /* Replace the found match ($0 back reference) and enclose with a href HTML tag */

 &jURLLinkRegex = CreateJavaObject("java.lang.String", "<a href=""$0"" target=""_blank"">$0</a>");

 

 /* Store the text to be scanned for URLs as a Java string object */

 &jInput = CreateJavaObject("java.lang.String", &sInput);

 

 /* Perform a replace all using the search URL regex and the URL link regex */

 &sHTML = &jInput.replaceAll(&jURLRegex, &jURLLinkRegex);

 

 Return &sHTML;

 

End-Function;

A few limitations to be aware of with this function are:

The URL must start with http(s):// (either http or https protocol)

If you have a trailing slash at the end of your URL it will not be matched. Leave it out