# đź”— NEW Construct URL Column **URL:** \ **Category:** Ask for Help\ **Created:** [January 30, 2021, 12:52am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971 "2021-01-30T00:52:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Robert\_Petitto](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/robert_petitto/32/25193_2.png) [@Robert\_Petitto](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Robert_Petitto)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2021, 12:52am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/1 "2021-01-30T00:52:02Z")
There’s a new column in the Glide Data Editor— Construct URL. As the name suggests, it lets you create a URL using static values or from column values. The advantage of using Construct URL over a template column is that all the parameters are URL encoded (aka Percent Encoded)—[read more about that here](https://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_urlencode.ASP). This will make Cloudinary and Quickcharts URLs more reliable. ![Screen Shot 2021-01-27 at 2.51.04 PM](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/0/a/0a21c0dc62170a8097900d7ed3a5d6d6c8f93ff7.png) ---
**Author:** ![yinon\_raviv](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/yinon_raviv/32/1627_2.png) [@yinon\_raviv](https://community.glideapps.com/u/yinon_raviv)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2021, 7:34am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/2 "2021-01-30T07:34:15Z")
Especially will help with whatsapp and sms links as if you want to add text you must encode it so up until now we could only do this in the sheet but now… Thank you glide team ! ---
**Author:** ![Pratik\_Shah](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/pratik_shah/32/12416_2.png) [@Pratik\_Shah](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Pratik_Shah)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2021, 11:09am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/3 "2021-01-30T11:09:17Z")
Great! > [@yinon\_raviv](#): > > Especially will help with whatsapp and sms links as if you want to add text you must encode it so up until now we could only do this in the sheet but now… Agree ---
**Author:** ![ehdubya](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/ehdubya/32/24087_2.png) [@ehdubya](https://community.glideapps.com/u/ehdubya)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/4 "2021-01-30T18:26:03Z")
For those who want/need a visual of a URL’s anatomy: ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/e/f/effe1ca93dea8cc0425b0bc0e2066ed528af810c.png) ---
**Author:** ![ThinhDinh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/thinhdinh/32/49_2.png) [@ThinhDinh](https://community.glideapps.com/u/ThinhDinh)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2021, 12:30am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/5 "2021-01-31T00:30:50Z")
This is incredible useful, thank you! ---
**Author:** ![RoundRoute](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/roundroute/32/14140_2.png) [@RoundRoute](https://community.glideapps.com/u/RoundRoute)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 11:25am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/6 "2021-02-01T11:25:19Z")
Excellent. I guess these URLs will be measured in Analytics right? Or if we build a URL we can know the traffic it generates. ---
**Author:** ![RoundRoute](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/roundroute/32/14140_2.png) [@RoundRoute](https://community.glideapps.com/u/RoundRoute)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2021, 6:50pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/7 "2021-02-02T18:50:19Z")
One problem I see with the URL builder is that you can’t do it with deep links, it always takes you to the home of the app. ---
**Author:** ![Wiz.Wazeer](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/wiz.wazeer/32/72423_2.png) [@Wiz.Wazeer](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Wiz.Wazeer)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 8:53am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/8 "2021-02-04T08:53:50Z")
> **[URL Encode and Decode - Online](https://www.urlencoder.org/)** > > Encode to URL-encoded format (also known as "percent-encoded") or decode from it with various advanced options. Our site has an easy to use online tool to convert your data. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Murphy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/darren_murphy/32/47326_2.png) [@Darren\_Murphy](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Darren_Murphy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 11:17am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/9 "2021-02-04T11:17:15Z")
Just dropping a link here, as it’s relevant to this topic and may be useful if someone comes looking for an example of how to use it. > [@heart\_eyes Quickchart.io: the Cloudinary of Charts —on the fly charts!](https://community.glideapps.com/t/quickchart-io-the-cloudinary-of-charts-on-the-fly-charts/15946/125): > > So here is the one I did using the Construct URL column… Started off with a URL that looked like: https://quickchart.io/chart?bkg=white&c={.........} There are two query parameters in that URL: bkg=white c={ JSON structure } So I took the whole JSON structure, and put that in a template column: Then defined the Construct URL column as follows: The first query parameter was simple, so I “hard-coded” that, … ---
**Author:** ![Thong\_Nguyen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/thong_nguyen/32/21951_2.png) [@Thong\_Nguyen](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Thong_Nguyen)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2021, 2:24am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/10 "2021-02-19T02:24:29Z")
I did it with the template ---
**Author:** ![Robert\_Petitto](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/robert_petitto/32/25193_2.png) [@Robert\_Petitto](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Robert_Petitto)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2021, 2:51am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/11 "2021-02-19T02:51:50Z")
Templates work too—construct URL is unique in that it percent-encodes the URL ---
**Author:** ![Pablo\_books](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/pablo_books/32/2110_2.png) [@Pablo\_books](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Pablo_books)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2021, 4:43pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/12 "2021-02-19T16:43:53Z")
Doesn’t the browser do that? ---
**Author:** ![ThinhDinh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/thinhdinh/32/49_2.png) [@ThinhDinh](https://community.glideapps.com/u/ThinhDinh)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2021, 11:56pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/13 "2021-02-19T23:56:05Z")
I believe only construct URL column does that automatically, because I was having problems with Quickchart back in the days when I used template column. ---
**Author:** ![MaxB](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/maxb/32/15623_2.png) [@MaxB](https://community.glideapps.com/u/MaxB)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 2:11pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/14 "2021-02-20T14:11:27Z")
This has nothing to do with the possibility to create shorter shared links to the app, right? ---
**Author:** ![ThinhDinh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/thinhdinh/32/49_2.png) [@ThinhDinh](https://community.glideapps.com/u/ThinhDinh)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 2:23pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/15 "2021-02-20T14:23:33Z")
Yes, that’s true. ---
**Author:** ![StephM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@StephM](https://community.glideapps.com/u/StephM)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 2:04pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/16 "2021-03-10T14:04:43Z")
Could this be used somehow to track outbound link clicks? ---
**Author:** ![ThinhDinh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/thinhdinh/32/49_2.png) [@ThinhDinh](https://community.glideapps.com/u/ThinhDinh)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 2:56pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/17 "2021-03-10T14:56:35Z")
No, as far as I aware. ---
**Author:** ![StephM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@StephM](https://community.glideapps.com/u/StephM)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2021, 8:40pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/18 "2021-03-10T20:40:15Z")
Ok, thanks @ThinhDinh. ---
**Author:** ![StephM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@StephM](https://community.glideapps.com/u/StephM)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 11:30am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/19 "2021-03-11T11:30:12Z")
What would you suggest to track outbound link clicks? I went through most of the posts related to this topic but have not been able to find anything… ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 1:01pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971/20 "2021-03-11T13:01:15Z")
I had replied to one of you other posts regarding this question. If you saw it already, you can ignore. If not, here it is. > [@How to access google tag manager to glide?](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-access-google-tag-manager-to-glide/8278/9): > > You could maybe create a button with a custom action that first increments a column value and then opens the link. [Next page](https://community.glideapps.com/t/new-construct-url-column/21971.md?page=2)