Registering a protocol handler in Windows 8

Question

I'm trying to register my application that will handle opening of links, e,g, http://stackoverflow.com. I need to do this explicitly for Windows 8, I have itworking in earlier versions of Windows. According to MSDN this has changed in Win8.

I've been through the Default Programs page on MSDN (msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc144154.aspx) page on MSDN. It provides a great walkthrough on handling file types but is light on details for protocols. Registering an Application to a URL Protocol only goes over the steps involved in setting up a new protocol, but not how to correctly add a new handler to an existing protocol.

I've also tried the registry settings outlined in other SO posts.

One more thing, the application is not a Metro/Windows Store App, so adding an entry in the manifest won't work for me.

Answer 1

You were on the right track with the Default Programs web page - in fact, it's my reference for this post.

The following adapts their example:

First, you need a ProgID in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes that dictates how to handle any input given to it (yours may already exist):

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes
     MyApp.ProtocolHandler //this is the ProgID, subkeys are its properties
        (Default) = My Protocol //name of any type passed to this
        DefaultIcon
           (Default) = %ProgramFiles%\MyApp\MyApp.exe, 0 //for example
        shell
           open
              command
                 (Default) = %ProgramFiles%\MyApp\MyApp.exe %1 //for example

Then fill the registry with DefaultProgram info inside a Capabilities key:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\MyApp
    Capabilities
       ApplicationDescription
           URLAssociations
              myprotocol = MyApp.ProtocolHandler //Associated with your ProgID

Finally, register your application's capabilities with DefaultPrograms:

HKLM\SOFTWARE
      RegisteredApplications
         MyApplication = HKLM\SOFTWARE\MyApp\Capabilities

Now all "myprotocol:" links should trigger %ProgramFiles%\MyApp\MyApp.exe %1.