felix-exon / DesktopAppLink

Creates hyperlinks to call desktop applications from

DesktopAppLink

Purpose

The goal of this project is to easily create weblinks that pass data to client software installed on any device running windows.

Using

It's fairly simple to use:

 DesktopAppLink.CreateLink(
      "applink.sample", 
      "\"<path to exe>\"", 
      "<optionalStaticArgument>");

This will set up the protocol in the registry of your pc.

You then create link like this and embed it on any webpage.

<a href="applink.sample:optionalArgumentsFromLink">Run Desktop App</a>

Arguments

There are 2 types of arguments:

• static args (passed to the protocol upon creation)
• arguments that are passed with the protocol when invoking (via webbrowser)

Static Arguments

Static args are store in the registry of windows next to your protocol. The can only be changed using regedit.

Arguments from Hyperlink

Links from hyperlink will always be passed with the protocolname to the application:

<a href="mycustomprotocol:origin=web">Click me!</a>

Results

Chrome

Firefox