Windows Webloc Opener

Open .webloc files (macOS URL shortcut files) in Microsoft Windows in default browser.

Simple middleware app that parses .webloc file (macOS URL shortcut file) and passes found URL to a system call that opens the URL in default web browser.

Install

• Go to this repo releases tab or follow this link to download latest WindowsWeblocOpener-<version>.zip.
• Unzip the release.
• Copy WindowsWeblocOpener directory containing WindowsWeblocOpener.exe somewhere, say C:\Program Files\WindowsWeblocOpener\WindowsWeblocOpener.exe .
• Right click .webloc file and choose Open With / Choose another app.
• In the opened dialog window check Always use this app to open .webloc files.
• In the app selection list click More apps and scroll down for Look for another app on this PC.
• Navigate to WindowsWeblocOpener.exe and select it.
• Profit.

Compatibility

Tested on

• Windows 10 x64
• Webloc files created by Safari on macOS
• Webloc files created by Chrome on macOS
• Webloc files created by Firefox on macOS

Interweb tells that the current format for weblocs was introduced in Mac OS X 10.4.

Todo / enhancements / help wanted

Get rid of console window that appears for a split of a second.
Does that mean rewriting this to WinMain routine (meaning C++?) and building w/ /link /subsystem:windows /entry:mainCRTStartup?

Building

App was built using CL (Compiler Command-Line Syntax) through Developer Command Prompt on a MSW10 machine that has Visual Studio Community 2017 on it.

Directory testfiles have .webloc files as created by different browsers on macOS in it.

Production

Open Developer Command Prompt

Create directory X:\Path\To\Source\Of\WindowsWeblocOpener\build\prod as cl does not like to put products under non existing dirs.

cd X:\Path\To\Source\Of\WindowsWeblocOpener\src
cl main.c /Fe..\build\prod\WindowsWeblocOpener /DDEBUG=0

Develop & debug

Open Developer Command Prompt

cd X:\Path\To\Source\Of\WindowsWeblocOpener\src
cl main.c /FeWindowsWeblocOpener
WindowsWeblocOpener.exe X:\Path\To\Source\Of\WindowsWeblocOpener\testfiles\safari.webloc