Deep Links
Descripción general
This guide will take you through the process of setting your Electron app as the default handler for a specific protocol.
By the end of this tutorial, we will have set our app to intercept and handle any clicked URLs that start with a specific protocol. In this guide, the protocol we will use will be "electron-fiddle://
".
Ejemplos
Main Process (main.js)
Primero, importaremos los módulos requeridos desde electron
. Estos módulos ayudan a controlar el ciclo de vida de nuestra aplicación y crear una ventana del navegador nativa.
const { app, BrowserWindow, shell } = require('electron')
const path = require('node:path')
Next, we will proceed to register our application to handle all "electron-fiddle://
" protocols.
if (process.defaultApp) {
if (process.argv.length >= 2) {
app.setAsDefaultProtocolClient('electron-fiddle', process.execPath, [path.resolve(process.argv[1])])
}
} else {
app.setAsDefaultProtocolClient('electron-fiddle')
}
We will now define the function in charge of creating our browser window and load our application's index.html
file.
let mainWindow
const createWindow = () => {
// Create the browser window.
mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
width: 800,
height: 600,
webPreferences: {
preload: path.join(__dirname, 'preload.js')
}
})
mainWindow.loadFile('index.html')
}
In this next step, we will create our BrowserWindow
and tell our application how to handle an event in which an external protocol is clicked.
This code will be different in Windows and Linux compared to MacOS. This is due to both platforms emitting the second-instance
event rather than the open-url
event and Windows requiring additional code in order to open the contents of the protocol link within the same Electron instance. Read more about this here.
Windows and Linux code:
const gotTheLock = app.requestSingleInstanceLock()
if (!gotTheLock) {
app.quit()
} else {
app.on('second-instance', (event, commandLine, workingDirectory) => {
// Alguien trata de correr una segunda instancia, debemos enfocar nuestra ventana.
if (mainWindow) {
if (mainWindow.isMinimized()) mainWindow.restore()
mainWindow.focus()
}
// the commandLine is array of strings in which last element is deep link url
dialog.showErrorBox('Welcome Back', `You arrived from: ${commandLine.pop()}`)
})
// Create mainWindow, load the rest of the app, etc...
app.whenReady().then(() => {
createWindow()
})
}
MacOS code:
// This method will be called when Electron has finished
// initialization and is ready to create browser windows.
// Algunas APIs pueden solamente ser usadas despues de que este evento ocurra.
app.whenReady().then(() => {
createWindow()
})
// Maneja protocolo. En este caso, elegimos mostrar una Caja de Error.
app.on('open-url', (event, url) => {
dialog.showErrorBox('Welcome Back', `You arrived from: ${url}`)
})
Finalmente, agregaremos un poco de código adicional para manejar cuando alguien cierra nuestra aplicación.
// Quit when all windows are closed, except on macOS. Allí, es común
// para que las aplicaciones y su barra de menú permanezcan activas hasta que el usuario salga
// explicitamente con Cmd + Q.
app.on('window-all-closed', () => {
if (process.platform !== 'darwin') app.quit()
})
Notas importantes
Embalaje
En macOS y Linux, esta característica solo funcionará cuando tu aplicación esté empaquetada. No funcionará si se inicia desde la línea de comandos durante el desarrollo. Cuando empaquetes tu aplicación necesitarás asegurarte de que los archivos Info.plist
de macOS y los archivos .desktop
de Linux para la aplicación están actualizados para incluir el nuevo manejador de protocolo. Algunas de las herramientas de Electron para empaquetar y distribuir aplicaciones manejan esto para ti.
Electron Forge
If you're using Electron Forge, adjust packagerConfig
for macOS support, and the configuration for the appropriate Linux makers for Linux support, in your Forge configuration (please note the following example only shows the bare minimum needed to add the configuration changes):
{
"config": {
"forge": {
"packagerConfig": {
"protocols": [
{
"name": "Electron Fiddle",
"schemes": ["electron-fiddle"]
}
]
},
"makers": [
{
"name": "@electron-forge/maker-deb",
"config": {
"mimeType": ["x-scheme-handler/electron-fiddle"]
}
}
]
}
}
}
Empaquetador Electron
Para soporte de macOS:
Si estás utilizando las APIs de Electron Packager, agregar soporte para manejadores de protocolo es similar a como se hace en Electron Forge, excepto que protocols
es parte de las opciones de Packager pasadas a la función packager
.
const packager = require('@electron/packager')
packager({
// ...other options...
protocols: [
{
name: 'Electron Fiddle',
schemes: ['electron-fiddle']
}
]
}).then(paths => console.log(`SUCCESS: Created ${paths.join(', ')}`))
.catch(err => console.error(`ERROR: ${err.message}`))
Si estás utilizando el CLI de Electron Packager, use las banderas --protocol
y --protocol-name
. Por ejemplo:
npx electron-packager . --protocol=electron-fiddle --protocol-name="Electron Fiddle"
Conclusión
Después de iniciar su aplicación Electron, puedes introducir la URL en tu navegador que contiene el protocolo URL personalizado, por ejemplo, "electron-fiddle://open"
y observe que la aplicación responderá y mostrará un cuadro de dialogo de error.
- main.js
- preload.js
- index.html
- renderer.js
// Modules to control application life and create native browser window
const { app, BrowserWindow, ipcMain, shell, dialog } = require('electron/main')
const path = require('node:path')
let mainWindow
if (process.defaultApp) {
if (process.argv.length >= 2) {
app.setAsDefaultProtocolClient('electron-fiddle', process.execPath, [path.resolve(process.argv[1])])
}
} else {
app.setAsDefaultProtocolClient('electron-fiddle')
}
const gotTheLock = app.requestSingleInstanceLock()
if (!gotTheLock) {
app.quit()
} else {
app.on('second-instance', (event, commandLine, workingDirectory) => {
// Someone tried to run a second instance, we should focus our window.
if (mainWindow) {
if (mainWindow.isMinimized()) mainWindow.restore()
mainWindow.focus()
}
dialog.showErrorBox('Welcome Back', `You arrived from: ${commandLine.pop().slice(0, -1)}`)
})
// Create mainWindow, load the rest of the app, etc...
app.whenReady().then(() => {
createWindow()
})
app.on('open-url', (event, url) => {
dialog.showErrorBox('Welcome Back', `You arrived from: ${url}`)
})
}
function createWindow () {
// Create the browser window.
mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
width: 800,
height: 600,
webPreferences: {
preload: path.join(__dirname, 'preload.js')
}
})
mainWindow.loadFile('index.html')
}
// Quit when all windows are closed, except on macOS. There, it's common
// for applications and their menu bar to stay active until the user quits
// explicitly with Cmd + Q.
app.on('window-all-closed', function () {
if (process.platform !== 'darwin') app.quit()
})
// Handle window controls via IPC
ipcMain.on('shell:open', () => {
const pageDirectory = __dirname.replace('app.asar', 'app.asar.unpacked')
const pagePath = path.join('file://', pageDirectory, 'index.html')
shell.openExternal(pagePath)
})
const { contextBridge, ipcRenderer } = require('electron/renderer')
contextBridge.exposeInMainWorld('shell', {
open: () => ipcRenderer.send('shell:open')
})
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<!-- https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/CSP -->
<meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'">
<meta http-equiv="X-Content-Security-Policy" content="default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'">
<title>app.setAsDefaultProtocol Demo</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>App Default Protocol Demo</h1>
<p>The protocol API allows us to register a custom protocol and intercept existing protocol requests.</p>
<p>These methods allow you to set and unset the protocols your app should be the default app for. Similar to when a
browser asks to be your default for viewing web pages.</p>
<p>Open the <a href="https://www.electronjs.org/docs/latest/api/protocol">full protocol API documentation</a> in your
browser.</p>
-----
<h3>Demo</h3>
<p>
First: Launch current page in browser
<button id="open-in-browser" class="js-container-target demo-toggle-button">
Click to Launch Browser
</button>
</p>
<p>
Then: Launch the app from a web link!
<a href="electron-fiddle://open">Click here to launch the app</a>
</p>
----
<p>You can set your app as the default app to open for a specific protocol. For instance, in this demo we set this app
as the default for <code>electron-fiddle://</code>. The demo button above will launch a page in your default
browser with a link. Click that link and it will re-launch this app.</p>
<h3>Packaging</h3>
<p>This feature will only work on macOS when your app is packaged. It will not work when you're launching it in
development from the command-line. When you package your app you'll need to make sure the macOS <code>plist</code>
for the app is updated to include the new protocol handler. If you're using <code>@electron/packager</code> then you
can add the flag <code>--extend-info</code> with a path to the <code>plist</code> you've created. The one for this
app is below:</p>
<p>
<h5>macOS plist</h5>
<pre><code>
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>CFBundleURLTypes</key>
<array>
<dict>
<key>CFBundleURLSchemes</key>
<array>
<string>electron-api-demos</string>
</array>
<key>CFBundleURLName</key>
<string>Electron API Demos Protocol</string>
</dict>
</array>
<key>ElectronTeamID</key>
<string>VEKTX9H2N7</string>
</dict>
</plist>
</code>
</pre>
<p>
<!-- You can also require other files to run in this process -->
<script src="./renderer.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
// This file is required by the index.html file and will
// be executed in the renderer process for that window.
// All APIs exposed by the context bridge are available here.
// Binds the buttons to the context bridge API.
document.getElementById('open-in-browser').addEventListener('click', () => {
window.shell.open()
})