URL handler pass-through...please!

M

mrogers

Bit poster
I would like to be able to click on a link in, say, an email in Outlook within my Windows XP Parallels VM and have that URL open in my default browser in OS X.

I think this could be accomplished by allowing an option to register a component of Parallels Tools as the default browser in the VM. Then, when a URL is clicked in the VM, this component basically just passes the URL through and issues it as a request of the host OS.

This little convenience would be a huge, huge benefit for me and for many people in my office. When someone has to use Outlook, for example, and that's really the main reason they're running Parallels, it would be fantastic to be able to click on links in emails and open them in your normal browser. This kind of feature would really compliment Coherence.
 
Wow, no one has anything to say about this? I'd think that with how cool Coherance Mode is, this would be an important feature to at least some people who want to remain in the OS X environment as much as possible.
 
A lot of the best suggestions on this wish list don't receive a reply, because there is really nothing to say other than, "I agree, that would be cool," and keep your fingers crossed that this is one of the features we will see in a future version.

Parallels has been quite impressive in the number of user requested features they have folded into their product. I think you should take the lack of replies to mean that nobody disagrees with you ;)
 
API Instead

Well since you asked, I'll chime in...

This specific feature is not especially interesting to me, however the core of what you are talking about really is the ability for windows applications to pass messages to OSX applications. This is something I would be very interested to see. I would love to see Parallels include some type of API for messaging between the two operating systems that independent developers could use to create plugins and such. A simple Outlook plugin could be created to open URLs in the OSX browser for example.

When you think about even a very simple request like yours - you can begin to imagine lots of configuration options - which browser to use, open in a new tab, open in a new windows, etc. The thing is that there are thousands of apps and thousands of integration possibilities. I would be sad to see the Parallels team get bogged down with application-level tweaks.

But, if they give us an API, we can go about with these things and leave them to improve the actual emulation and performance.
 
Man, do I ever NOT want that. I'm not trying to pretend that my Mac runs Windows programs. I need a sandbox environment where NOTHING a program does in a guest can affect OSX. This way, a virus can't damage my host OS. I really want an isolated Windows machine running on my host. I'll never turn on coherence either. Windows is Windows and Mac is Mac and they are different and always will be until Microsoft buys an OSX license from Apple and distributes it under the Windows monicker.

If that capability is ever provided, it needs to be optional and I'll never turn it on. It should default off.
 
i can understand that you want a sandbox but judging from forum comments and the fact that there is even a coherence mode, many people seem to want seamless, cooperative side-by-side environments. perhaps you are using it to test something in an isolated environment, whereas other people are just working with some OSX apps and some Windows apps and we don't want there to be a barrier between them. the writing on the wall as I see it is that windows is becoming just an invisible service, if you will.

i can see your point for security reasons, i can't imagine that it would be difficult for this to be an optional setting and/or a service that you can choose to start/stop by default.
 
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I'm always happy to see people get what they want as long as if I don't want it, I don't have to have it. The code needed to connect the two environments could open security holes, so as long as I can turn it off, I'm fine with others having their eye candy.
 
i hadn't really put much thought into it before, but your point shows that there are definitely two camps of parallels users at this point. one would include yourself, who, lets say don't want their peas to touch their carrots. Then there's the other group including myself and the OP who are just mixing the whole plate of food up together. you want separate virtual machines, we want an integrated desktop. i think both are legit uses.

an API wouldn't offer really any eye candy - it would just offer intrgration.
 
I don't care much about a more generic windows <-> os x communication capability, but I'll second the original request for a URL handler passthrough.

I primarily use windows to run outlook (my office uses exchange, and even though there's an IMAP interface, outlook is just easier). I run outlook maximized in a windowed instance of parallels. Essentially, I am pretending that os x is running outlook. Clicking links in emails and having them open windows' firefox in that parallels window can be slightly annoying.

Ideally, the URL passthrough would open at least http(s) links in my default os x http handler, but only when running parallels in windowed mode. If I were running it full screen, then windows handlers would be preferred. (I don't use coherence so I don't have a preference in that case.)
 
unfletch said:
I don't care much about a more generic windows <-> os x communication capability, but I'll second the original request for a URL handler passthrough.

I primarily use windows to run outlook (my office uses exchange, and even though there's an IMAP interface, outlook is just easier). I run outlook maximized in a windowed instance of parallels. Essentially, I am pretending that os x is running outlook. Clicking links in emails and having them open windows' firefox in that parallels window can be slightly annoying.

Ideally, the URL passthrough would open at least http(s) links in my default os x http handler, but only when running parallels in windowed mode. If I were running it full screen, then windows handlers would be preferred. (I don't use coherence so I don't have a preference in that case.)
Click to expand...

I agree that a URL pass through function is a very good idea. There could be a flag in the PVS file for:

URL to Host Browser = 1

for enabling the "pass through". It seems to me that this should certainly be "doable" without enabling any particular security hole from THAT MECHANISM itself.

I know it's a bit of a pain but what I do is simply to CNTL-C the URL, then click on Safari (in the Dock) and CMD-V paste the URL into the browser line. Not very elegant but I'm getting pretty used to it at this point. Of course it's also a lot easier for me because I'm using Entourage primarily, so i don't have to do that cut and paste operation very often.
 
you could do this already if you know a little bit of programming. just create a windows executable and set it as your default browser. however, instead of being a browser, it's just an executable that reads the arguments (url) and writes it to a file in the parallels global shared folder then terminates.

meanwhile on the mac side, have a cron process monitoring the global shared folder and when it sees a certain file there, it will open up the url in safari or whatever.
 
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