how to start up a desktop application in client side

Question

In my web page, I have to start a desktop application on the client\'s computer if it\'s installed. Any idea how I can do this?

If the application is MS Office or Ad

Answer 1

First off - you can't do it using javascript in any sort of a portable mechanism.

If the application is ms office or adobe reader,I know how to startup them

No you don't - you know how to send a document, which the browser associates with these applications and invokes them supplying the name of the local copy of the response. You can't just start the programs.

You just need to do the same for your app - invent a new mime type (the major type would be 'application' and by convention, non-standard minor types are prefixed with 'x-', so you might use application/x-hguser) then associate that mimetype with the relevant program browser side.

i.e: You need to explicitly configure each browser