FriendlyId.Net 1.0.1

FriendlyId.Net

FriendlyId implementation in c# based on Java version

What is the FriendlyID library?

The FriendlyID library converts a given Guid (with 36 characters) to a URL-friendly ID (a "FriendlyID") which is based on Base62 (with a maximum of 22 characters), as in the example below:

Guid                                        Friendly ID

c3587ec5-0976-497f-8374-61e0c2ea3da5   ->   5wbwf6yUxVBcr48AMbz9cb
|                                           |                              
36 characters                               22 characters or less

In addition, this library allows to:

• convert from a FriendlyID back to the original Guid; and
• create a new, random FriendlyID

Why use a FriendlyID?

Globally Unique IDs (Guids) provide a non-sequential and unique identifier that can be generated separately from the source database. As a result, it is not possible to guess either the previous or next identifier. That's great, but, to achieve this level of security, a Guid is long (128 bits long) and looks ugly (36 alphanumeric characters including four hyphens which are added to make it easier to read the Guid), as in this example: 123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426655440000.

Such a format is:

• difficult to read (especially if it is part of a URL)
• difficult to remember
• cannot be copied with just two mouse-clicks (you have to select manually the start and end positions)
• can easily become broken across lines when it is copied, pasted, edited, or sent.

FriendlyID C# library solves these problems by converting a given Guid using Base62 with alphanumeric characters in the range [0-9A-Za-z] into a FriendlyId which consists of a maximum of 22 characters (but in fact often contains fewer characters).

Usage

// convert friendly id to Guid
var guid = FriendlyId.ToGuid("5wbwf6yUxVBcr48AMbz9cb");
// c3587ec5-0976-497f-8374-61e0c2ea3da5

// convert Guid to friendly id
var friendlyId = FriendlyId.ToFriendlyId(Guid.Parse("c3587ec5-0976-497f-8374-61e0c2ea3da5"));
// 5wbwf6yUxVBcr48AMbz9cb

//generate new friendly id
var friendlyId = FriendlyId.CreateFriendlyId();