Forum Discussion

sylvainrodrigue's avatar
sylvainrodrigue
Brass Contributor
Apr 10, 2019

How the new Edge will handle file:// URI ?

file: links seems to be ignored in this version of Edge (like they are in Chrome). In the previous version of Edge however (and all IE versions), clicking on a file: link opens the original document....
JeffOwens's avatar
JeffOwens
Copper Contributor
Apr 16, 2020

Thanks narutards 

 

For anyone else interested, we changed all our file:// link references to localfile:// and implemented a new protocol handler in the registry.   

 

For example: 

localfile://open?data=\\NASORL1\EngData\MAVIS\ProjectTickets\13092\Engineering-Data\Prototype\

 

Since this issue only applies to our intranet web application that we've developed internally, it was an easy thing to deploy (you might be able to do it via group policy if you're running AD or via an easy EXE to make those if not).

 

Also, since this is a registry edit, the protocol will be recognized on any browser.

 

That's our work-around for now.

sylvainrodrigue's avatar
sylvainrodrigue
Brass Contributor
Apr 20, 2020

JeffOwens +1 ! This is what we have done finally. We just had to implement a new URI Scheme handler to mimic what we had in IE11. It works with all modern browsers. 

 

If anybody want directions, please tell me. (Note: I'm the guy who posted the initial subject - I'm working for another company now).

 

Best regards JeffOwens.

    • MartyMiller's avatar
      MartyMiller
      Copper Contributor
      Mar 03, 2021

      SoumyaRaju Here's what I did...

       

      addLocalMyFile.reg:

           Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

           [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Myfile]
           @="URL:My Local File Protocol"
           "URL Protocol"=""

           [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Myfile\shell]

           [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Myfile\shell\open]

           [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Myfile\shell\open\command]
           @="powershell.exe -Command \"$val='%1'; $val = $val.Substring(10, $val.length - 10).TrimEnd('/').Replace('/','\\'); & 'EXPLORER.EXE' $val\""

       

      Apply the above registry change to each client machine.  Then, instead of...

       

           lb.Attributes.Add("onclick", "javascript:window.location.href= 'file:///" & fileToOpen2 & "'; return false;")

       

      Do this...

       

           lb.Attributes.Add("onclick", "javascript:window.location.href= 'Myfile://" & fileToOpen & "'; return false;")

       

      • Kaseebhotla's avatar
        Kaseebhotla
        Copper Contributor
        Aug 17, 2021
        Marty, I tried this. It's succeeding in opening explorer.exe but the file itself is not being opened. What does %1 hold when assigned to $val? Is it the entire URL? If yes, shouldn't the substring only exclude the first 7 characters ("myfile:")? Thank you!
  • SoumyaRaju's avatar
    SoumyaRaju
    Copper Contributor
    Mar 01, 2021
    Could you please share how you implemented the URI Scheme handler?
  • dbeuscher's avatar
    dbeuscher
    Copper Contributor
    Sep 03, 2020

    Yes, I am definitely interested in the instructions for this! Please post?sylvainrodrigue 

  • navijayvargiya's avatar
    navijayvargiya
    Copper Contributor
    May 11, 2020

    sylvainrodrigue 

     

    Can you please provide more detail, how you have created this uri protocol handler and registered it?

     

    I have created similar handler and registered it but my browser is not detecting this new uri scheme.

     

    How can we debug whether this protocol handler is working or not? I have created it using .net console application.

     

    How can register this handler using group policy?

     

    Thanks in advance

  • rakova17's avatar
    rakova17
    Copper Contributor
    May 04, 2020

    sylvainrodrigue Would you be able to share the instructions? Thanks!

    • jpochedley's avatar
      jpochedley
      Brass Contributor
      May 04, 2020

      I know it may not be what 100% of people want / need, but this helped us since most of the items we were linking to were Office docs (not file folders, etc)...

       

      Check out the Office URI scheme, as documented here:  

      https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/client-developer/office-uri-schemes

       

      When using the Office URI, the file open method uses the Office protocol handlers which support the file:// URI ....  so, a HREF on a web page can point to  ms-word:ofv|u|file://<server_path_to_doc> and Word will open the file directly from a non-http path...

       

      HTH

      • aspeagle69's avatar
        aspeagle69
        Copper Contributor
        Sep 30, 2021
        Thank you! This was the perfect answer for most of our documents. I still haven't found a way to display the pdf docs though. I may just have those uploaded since they are view-only. Thanks again!
    • MichelLAPLANE's avatar
      MichelLAPLANE
      MVP
      Mar 30, 2021

      You can use EdgeView2 control in which you can map local directory to virtual one using SetVirtualHostNameToFolderMapping function.

      webView2.CoreWebView2.SetVirtualHostNameToFolderMapping("my.virtual", "@"C:\MyVirtual\",
                    CoreWebView2HostResourceAccessKind.Allow);

      After that you can use this syntax to access your file


      "https://my.virtual/" + "myFile.txt"

      • rakova17's avatar
        rakova17
        Copper Contributor
        Mar 30, 2021

        MichelLAPLANE can you elaborate or explain like I'm 5? Thanks!

    • ThiloLangbein's avatar
      ThiloLangbein
      Brass Contributor
      Apr 28, 2020

      ScreamBE We instruct our users to not use file-links anymore, because they are not future-proof. I will not install/maintain/support "dirty" extensions to make this work again. 

  • Toto67's avatar
    Toto67
    Copper Contributor
    Apr 24, 2020

    sylvainrodrigue Yes to directions, please :smile: