Unable to resolve the internal links along with use of RenderComponentPresentation() in the anchor tag

Question

I have tried the following code in a DWT and the internal link (tridion:href= "@@Links0.Fields.link@@") does not get resolved.

<a onclick="_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', '@@Links0.Metadata.ga_category@@', 
   '@@Links0.Metadata.ga_action@@', '@@RenderComponentPresentation
   (Links0.ID,RemoveSpecialCharactersFromTitle)@@']);"
    tridion:href="@@Links0.Fields.link@@"  target="_blank" class="button primary" >

When I place this internal link attribute(tridion:href="@@Links0.Fields.link@@") before the onclick, the link get resolved successfully. But page fails at the time of deployment with the following error:

Closing Tag tcdl:ComponentPresentation does not match tcdl:Link Stack: TAG: (0) Param=false Mode=0 Class=com.tridion.tcdl.tags.DefaultTagHandler TAG:ComponentPresentation (0) Param=false Mode=0 Class=com.tridion.tcdl.tags.ComponentPresentationTagHandler TAG:Link (0) Param=false Mode=0 Class=com.tridion.tcdl.tags.LinkTagHandler ------ , Unbalanced tags in TCDL file Closing Tag tcdl:ComponentPresentation does not match tcdl:Link Stack: TAG: (0) Param=false Mode=0 Class=com.tridion.tcdl.tags.DefaultTagHandler TAG:ComponentPresentation (0) Param=false Mode=0 Class=com.tridion.tcdl.tags.ComponentPresentationTagHandler TAG:Link (0) Param=false Mode=0 Class=com.tridion.tcdl.tags.LinkTagHandler

So I found that there is some issue with @@RenderComponentPresentation(Links0.ID,RemoveSpecialCharactersFromTitle)@@ passed as the parameter in Google Analytics.

There are some project limitations, so we are rendering the Component Presentation inside the Google Analytics in the way mentioned above.

When I place the text returned by this Component Presentation, for example, "This is a sample product" it works correctly.

By this I mean the following internal link get resolved successfully:

<a onclick="_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', '@@Links0.Metadata.ga_category@@', 
   '@@Links0.Metadata.ga_action@@', 'This is sample product']);"
   tridion:href="@@Links0.Fields.link@@"  target="_blank" class="button primary" >

I tried to set the output of this Component Presentation in the RenderContextVariable

@@SetRenderContextVariable("linkTitle_withoutSC", 
  RenderComponentPresentation(Links0.ID,RemoveSpecialCharactersFromTitle))@@

And also tried the following way:

  <a onclick="_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', '@@Links0.Metadata.ga_category@@', 
      '@@Links0.Metadata.ga_action@@', '@@RenderContextVariable.linkTitle_withoutSC@@']);"
       tridion:href="@@Links0.Fields.link@@"  target="_blank" class="button primary" >

But this workaround is not working since we can not set and use RenderContextVariable in the same DWT. Please let me know if I am wrong here.

Now I have been unable to find any other way to deal with the internal link in my situation.

Could somebody help me on this?

EDIT-2 SOME MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE REQUIREMENT

Point 1- Reason to use @@RenderComponentPresentation(Links0.ID,RemoveSpecialCharactersFromTitle)@@ inside the Google Analytics

Component for this presentation is nested linked component so I can perform my task though a C# TBB or fragment having logic same to RemoveSpecialCharactersFromTitle so I use RenderComponentPresentation here.

Point 2- I am trying to set and use RenderContextVariable in the same DWT of a CT so that it return me the string output[Title] .By this way I can avoid the conflict of tcdl:ComponentPresentation and tcdl:Link tags during the deployment phase.

Answer 1

You can set a Context Variable in a TBB and use it in a Page Template, what you need to do is the following thing.

Instantiate the Context Variable (Page Template)

engine.PublishingContext.RenderContext.ContextVariables.Add("ContextVariable", string.Empty);

Set your context variable in a .NET TBB or C# Fragment (Component Template)

TcmUri linkId = new TcmUri("[Link ID]");
TcmUri templateId = new TcmUri("[RemoveSpecialCharactersFromTitle]");

engine.PublishingContext.RenderContext.ContextVariables["ContextVariable"] = 
                                        engine.RenderComponentPresentation(linkId, templateId);

Put the Context Variable in a Package Variable (Page Template)

var conVar = engine.PublishingContext.RenderContext.ContextVariables["ContextVariable"].ToString();
package.PushItem("ContextVariable", package.CreateStringItem(ContentType.Html, conVar);

Use the package variable in your DWT (Page Template)

<a onclick="_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', '@@Links0.Metadata.ga_category@@', 
                      '@@Links0.Metadata.ga_action@@', '@@ContextVariable@@']);" 
   tridion:href="@@Links0.Fields.link@@"  target="_blank" class="button primary" >

Answer 2

I think, as you've understood, the code is producing invalid TCDL markup because there is a ComponentPresentation tag within a Link tag's attribute.

I suspect you will need to create a C# TBB which does the same job as your RemoveSpecialCharactersFromTitle Component Template and adds the resulting value to the package.

public class RemoveSpecialCharactersFromTitle : ITemplate
{
     public void Transform(Engine engine, Package package)
     {
          string strippedTitle = "";
          // Get Component from Package/Engine
          // Title stripping code 
          package.PushItem("StrippedTitle", 
                            package.CreateStringItem(ContentType.Text, strippedTitle));
     }
}

This new TBB should then be added to the Compound Template before your Dream Weaver Template. This will enable you to use the value directly in your DWT TBB.

<a onclick="_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', '@@Links0.Metadata.ga_category@@', 
            '@@Links0.Metadata.ga_action@@', '@@StrippedTitle@@']);" 
   tridion:href="@@Links0.Fields.link@@"  target="_blank" class="button primary" >

I'm curious as to the thinking of using a Component Template for the job of stripping the characters? Is it a legacy template type - VB Script or similar?