Question

I want to create a new protocol so that I can view the data retrieved through the protocol in the browser.

For example, I want to be able to go to myprotocol://www.filepath.com/img.jpg and view the image.

Where myprotocol is defined by myself.

I have read about registering application handling here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa767914%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

with this it is possible to run a desktop exe that receives the url I am trying to access. How would I return the retrieved jpg to the browser for viewing, so that it behaves like a normal protocol, such as http?

Thanks

Answer 1

That registration will allow you to bind an application to the uri, so if launched through windows explorer (including “Run”) and from command line, then the app is launched and the uri passed to it as an argument (much like if you double-click a file, the default app for it is launched and the path to the file passed).

For example, your “default” browser will have http:// associated with it in this way.

It is still up to the application itself to have its own handling of the URI when it is passed as an argument. If you want to make a browser handle your new protocol, you will have to write an extension/plugin/add-on/whatever-that-browser’s-makers-call-it to add further functionality to the browser. This is a separate job for Firefox, IE, Chrome, Konqueror, Chromium (well, at least it might be sharable with Chrome), etc. with separate APIs to deal with.