Question

I want to create link_to “google like” in Rails.

Let me explain.

On simple google search page
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=658&q=stackoverflow&oq=stackoverflow&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=1&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=65l2231l0l2364l13l13l0l5l5l1l297l1698l1.2.5l8l0

Everything looks beatiful to simple user.

URL preview is stackoverflow.com

But when I click copy link location I get this address http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=stackoverflow&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CC8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstackoverflow.com%2F&ei=JVOpTra5M-Pi4QT1pPwk&usg=AFQjCNERidL9Hb6OvGW93_Y6MRj3aTdMVA&sig2=_ARyobDs5AzfZw4YwBNg1g

How to control URL preview with JS or Coffescript in Rails for link_to? Can somebody provide some solution to this problem?

Answer 1

The original link reference is the “pretty version” but a mousedown event changes the URL to redirect through Google’s site using JavaScript.

Original HTML:

<a class="l" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','1','AFQjCNERidL9Hb6OvGW93_Y6MRj3aTdMVA','','0CDAQFjAA')" href="http://stackoverflow.com/">

Stack Overflow

After a mousedown event (even right clicking):

<a class="l" onmousedown="return rwt(this,'','','','1','AFQjCNERidL9Hb6OvGW93_Y6MRj3aTdMVA','','0CDAQFjAA')" href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstackoverflow.com%2F&ei=aVepTtjwJ4nlsQKTvLHbBQ&usg=AFQjCNERidL9Hb6OvGW93_Y6MRj3aTdMVA">

Stack Overflow

An untested JQuery implementation for an ERB based template:

$('.l').mousedown(function() {
  $(this).attr("href","<%= url_for(:controller => :redirect, :action => :index) -%>/"+$(this).attr("href"));
});