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I was wondering if I could have a web link to a local application form my webpage.

I'm almost certain that this is not possible, but I'm just wondering.

For example, a music player web application which has a link to buy that song in iTunes, or any other local music application.

Upon the link being clicked, the user's local iTunes application would be launched.

I have seen this done before, but I would imagine that the application needs support for this, already.


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Can you give an example? –  Oded Jan 15 '11 at 18:48
Done. Tell me if you need any more clarification. –  Qcom Jan 15 '11 at 18:50
I still don't understand what you mean. What exactly do you expect to happen when such a link is clicked on? Application launched? –  Oded Jan 15 '11 at 18:51
Yes, that's it. –  Qcom Jan 15 '11 at 18:52

1 Answer 1

up vote 1 down vote accepted

This is generally done by using protocol handlers. For instance, AIM will register with the OS to handle aim:// URLs, and that allows a web page to link to those URLs, and when they're clicked, AIM will open. So you're right in saying that the application has to support it for it to work.

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The application and the OS need to support this. –  Oded Jan 15 '11 at 19:01
Indeed. All modern OSs do though. –  crimson_penguin Jan 15 '11 at 19:02
Thanks for the help, guys. Is there any good resource of supported applications? Or, should I just find out the applications I like, and check if they have the support? –  Qcom Jan 15 '11 at 19:27
Well, you haven't really said what you want to do with this... There probably are lists of protocols handled by applications on various OSs. I used to have a Preferences Pane (for System Preferences on Mac OS X) that would show all the ones registered on my computer, but I don't seem to have it anymore, and don't remember what it was called. –  crimson_penguin Jan 17 '11 at 4:27

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