PureBasic Forums - English

I have started using Twitter more and more lately, and I wanted a quick and easy way to shorten URLs so they would fit inside the limited Twitter textbox.
So, I wrote this small utility that takes a URL as input, and converts it to a Bit.ly URL using the Bitly API.
When you run the program you will be asked for a URL for input. When it has shortened the URL, you will be asked to copy the short URL to the clipboard. That's it.
Like I said, I wanted a small and easy program to do this so I didn't have to go to the website to do it manually.

If you have any suggestions, please feel free to post them here. My plan is to create a simple taskicon program with a simple popup menu system to display various options.

You can download the test program here: http://www.geotrail.no/downloads/Bitly_x86.exe

URL Decoder

• URL Decoder now works with the following URL shorteners:
• Bit.ly
• Is.gd
• dlvr.it
• Tinyurl.com
• Cot.ag
• j.mp

Update! I've written a small program that decodes the Bit.ly URL's, for all the short url skeptics out there
http://www.geotrail.no/downloads/Bitly_Decoder.exe

Geotrail.
EXCELLENT WORK!!!


I am NOT trying to put you down or distress your coding skills. I apologize if that is what it seems. Yes TWITTER needs to loosen up on the URL restrictions since they have actually generated this new tool and all the silly things that malware and hostage ware people do with it!

I have known you for as long as I have been on this board and you don't have an illicit coding bone in your body that I can tell!

My company, as a security practice, BANS all types of tinyURL links.

They insist the full path to the link is displayed.

It can get amazing and yes, at times such URL look more like strings of alphabet soup than actual pointers.

But redacted URLs are a risk. It might be a problem later.

I know... I know... Rook is being paranoid again!!! Shut up Rook. Go play somewhere else...

Rook: OT, your avatar really looks like you.

Thanks Rook.
No, I do understand your skepticism concerning shortened urls. I am pretty skeptical to them myself, so I only open the urls from Twitter people I trust.

I am working on a simple UI for the program now, but it will run as a task icon program. The whole idea is to make it as small and simple as possible.

clean job, thanks GeoTrail

For all you short url skeptical people out there, I've written a small program that decodes the Bit.ly URL's.
See the first post for the download link.

Uhhh like uuhhhh BUMP and stuff. uuuuhhhh

Sorry, too much Beavis & Butthead lately.

So has anyone tried the URL decoder lately? Any comments or suggestions?
I'm planning on putting both programs together into one simple to-use taskbar-icon program.

GeoTrail wrote:So has anyone tried the URL decoder lately? Any comments or suggestions?
I'm planning on putting both programs together into one simple to-use taskbar-icon program.

Haven't really tried it, but maybe I will next time someone (I don't trust) sends me one of those weird URL's Good work though!

How do you decode exactly? By fetching the "Location" from the HTTP header? That should work on any URL that use direct redirects (not html or javascript).

EDIT: Just tested it, I wrote "ddf" just for fun and woah it returned an URL! So it identifies the "structure" of the "ID string" I write and then takes a guess at which URL-shortening-site site it is and then connects to that site to figure out which URL it points too? (since I didn't have to enter the full URL)

Bo it doesn't fetch any headers. It uses the Bit.ly API calls using POST and GET

GeoTrail wrote:Bo it doesn't fetch any headers. It uses the Bit.ly API calls using POST and GET

What about the other ones you said you support:

* Is.gd
* dlvr.it
* Tinyurl.com
* Cot.ag
* j.mp

They all have API's?

They all use the same API calls.

Does anyone still use these programs?
Reason I ask is because I'm planning on writing a new version from scratch with both the encoder and decoder in one program, with a (hopefully) nice interface and the option to automatically monitor the clipboard for bit.ly and other shortened urls and you will get an info window displaying the decoded url and an option to open the url in icognito mode For those skeptics out there Rook) hehehe

RIP Rook.

What???