Auto-launching with file and URI associations (XAML)
You can use the Windows.System.Launcher API to launch the user's default app for a file type or protocol. You can also enable your app to be the default app for a file type or protocol.
In this section
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An app can register to become the default handler for a certain file type. Both desktop apps and Windows Runtime apps can register to be a default file handler. If the user chooses your app as the default handler for a certain file type, your app will be activated every time that type of file is launched. |
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An app can register to become the default handler for a certain Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) scheme name. Both desktop apps and Windows Runtime apps can register to be a default handler for a URI scheme name. If the user chooses your app as the default handler for a URI scheme name, your app will be activated every time that type of URI is launched. |
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Learn how to launch the default app for a file. Many apps need to work with files that they can't handle themselves. For example, e-mail apps receive a variety of file types and need a way to launch these files in their default handlers. These steps show how to use the Windows.System.Launcher API to launch the default handler for a file that your app can't handle itself. |
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Learn how to launch the default app for a URI. URIs allow you to launch another app on the operating system to perform a specific task. For example, if you want to allow the user to send a mail to a contact in your app, you can use the mailto: URI to launch the user’s default e-mail app. |
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Launch the built-in Settings app by using the ms-settings URI scheme described in this topic. |
Related topics
Guidelines
Guidelines for file types and URIs
Reference