[RESOLVED] Create a Custom URL Handler

[wrack]

Hey Guyz,

This is a little diffrerent question from normal development I have to do. I have searched for this but couldn't find any solution here.

Doesn't have to be in VB.NET, could be in C# or just point me to the right registry entries that needs to be created to make this work and I am happy too.

Anyways we have a windows client server application called let's say "CoolApp". Now a third party is developing a web front-end using the Interface, BL and DL dlls. They want to add a functionality when user does some specific search on a records lets say a customer with the id of 12345, and then they can send an email to anyone with the access to the application where the link in the email would look something like;

CoolApp://Customer@Id=12334

When the user clicks on that link in the email, it launches the application and open the customer form and shows the customer with id 12345.

Hopefully this makes sense so far. So the question is how do I create that MIME type called "CoolApp" so it acts like a normal http:// or ftp:// addresses?

Cheers

[wrack]

Allright further more research indicates that this is not a MIME type I am after So much for barking at the wrong tree (wrong search term from my part) to find a solution.

It is actually a Custom URL Protocol that I need to register. For anyone who is interested to know, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa767914.aspx

Cheers

[wrack]

Allright not so resolved after all. I followed steps described in the MSDN article but no joy. The link I created doesn't really act like a link at all!

Can anyone shed some light on this if they have tried this successfully?

Cheers

[Edneeis]

The article covers handling a custom url but it does say anything about getting mail applications to recognize that your new url type is valid.

If you followed the instructions to setup your alert or used the CustomURL tool from codeplex (link in the comments on msdn) then it doesn't get recognized in an email but you browse to the protocol in explorer or ie then it will open your app and pass the info in.

if your protocol is app:// then typing in an IE8 address box app://blah/blah1234 will open your application to handle it.

[Edneeis]

Apparently if you use a hyperlink in an HTML email that points to your app it works also.
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum...fm/873120.html

[wrack]

The article covers handling a custom url but it does say anything about getting mail applications to recognize that your new url type is valid.

If you followed the instructions to setup your alert or used the CustomURL tool from codeplex (link in the comments on msdn) then it doesn't get recognized in an email but you browse to the protocol in explorer or ie then it will open your app and pass the info in.

if your protocol is app:// then typing in an IE8 address box app://blah/blah1234 will open your application to handle it.

Yes I followed the steps exactly and I also used that CustomURL tool. No joy. After setting it up, I have tried following:

1. Send an email to myself with that custom url as a link, didn't work.
2. Open IE and typed that url and hit enter, didn't work.
3. Run Windows Explorer and typed that url and hit enter, didn't work.
4. Open RUN command box and typed that url and hit enter, didn't work.

Interesting to hear that adding a hyperlink with that url but not an actual text. I will try that and see if that works.

Thanks for the head up. If in the meantime if anyone else has any experience with this, I would appreciate the help.

[Edneeis]

What is your url that you are using?
Is there something wrong with the path. I think my path naturally had no spaces in it but I know some registry based crap only likes short path names.

If your test really is 'CoolApp' try this:
Click Here
This is for me to test mine

Once I put it in a Hyperlink it worked fine for me.

[wrack]

The URL I am working with is,

opt://6E3A9436-472E-45DB-B715-EBA6D73EAFB5/12345?contact=123456789

[Edneeis]

Here is your link

Did it work? It works for me but I don't get all of the url content. The same thing happened with mine. I think you have to implement more of the interfaces associated with Async Pluggable Protocols to fix that.

Here are some shots:

[Edneeis]

If I didn't use the tool or if I modified the result to match the more simple settings like they talk about in the previous article and here: http://www.openwinforms.com/run_exe_...avascript.html
Then it worked as I expected.

This link also talks about the Handler regkey:
http://richardsbraindump.blogspot.co...-handlers.html

[wrack]

Ok I think I got it working. My test system was server 2003 and server 2008 where some sort of crazy security setting prevented application launches from browsers.

Sorted out now. Thank you Edneeis for your help and consistent efforts to make this work. For those who are interested to know, I just used the method described in MSDN.