How to map a custom protocol to an application on the Mac?

Question

I'm trying to register a custom protocol to an application on the Mac, i.e:

1. User clicks on link with "abcdef://some/url/here"
2. An installed application is launched with the above string passed as the first param

I've done this successfully on Windows using the information from this question:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/389204/how-do-i-create-my-own-url-protocol-e-g-so

I would prefer to find something that is browser-independent, in other words at the OS level. I would also like to automate this registration through a shell script, so hopefully there is a way to do this that doesn't involve the GUI.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Digging up the details is difficult, but there is a preference pane called RCDefaultApp that will handle it for you. I'd still love to know how it works, will continue digging.

Answer 2

I've not had occasion to use it but some time ago I bookmarked OS X URL handler to open links to local files which is exactly what you're looking for.

Answer 3

The important part of the linked page in Jay's answer is the entry in the Info.plist.

I think with Launch Services it will automatically open this app if it is the only one that can handle a particular URL scheme, else you'll need to use the trick that Charlie Martin describes.

I'm not sure what the defaults command that needs to be executed is, or if it is a launchctl command.

Answer 4

On Macs this is easy to do with AppleScript. The most detailed description is in this article, Launch Scripts from Webpage Links on Mac. I'd read that page since it includes a full walk-through and a full working example to download.

Basically, you make an event handler in a script:

on open location this_URL
    display dialog "I'm doing something with this URL: " & return & this_URL
end open location

Then save that as an Application. Then in the Finder use Show Package Contents to edit the Info.plist. You add some properties to the app to register it as a handler for your protocol.

<key>CFBundleURLTypes</key>
<array>
    <dict>
        <key>CFBundleURLName</key>
        <string>Cliff's handler</string>
        <key>CFBundleURLSchemes</key>
        <array>
            <string>abcdef</string>
        </array>
    </dict>
</array>