i have no clue how it works, i just know that it does. i do know that it has nothing to do with netscape, because i use msie.
if anybody wants to see it in action, go to http://slowly.org/y (my start page) and click one of the aim screennames on my list.
Apparently, the “aim:” tag gets treated by your OS similarly to the “mailto:” tag does. When you installed ICQ/AIM, it must have told your Windows system (settings in the Registry) that the aim: kind of link fires off the messaging program.
And sailor wrote:
True, but I have a commerical application out there, and I web site which I wanted to cause my application to start, including sending certain command-line parameters to it. It took a little while, but I got it to work. When I distribute the application (using the Wise installation system), I also install a little launcher program, and I create a new MIME type in the user’s system, and associate the MIME type with the launcher program. The launcher program opens the file on the command line, and then fires off my main application with the appropriate paramaters.
So the web site sends the HTTP headers telling the browser that it’s my MIME type, then sends the content which is for the launcher to read. The user’s browser saves the text contents to a temporary file, and fires off my launcher program which reads that temporary file and launches the main app in the appropriate way.
>> i have no clue how it works, i just know that it does
Well, up to a certain point… It does not work in my computer. Probably you need to install the AOL software to make it work.
The AOL links just give me an error and the ICQ links ask me for permission to download stuff (which I deny as a matter of course). In other words, in a normal installation of MSIE5 and WIN95 it does not work. If it is not Netscape then it may be AOL that installs the necessary stuff. Does it work for anyone without AOL or Netscape?
what aol stuff did you not install? do you have aim? i can’t imagine it working if you don’t have aim. other than that, i don’t have any aol software on this computer.
the icq link doesn’t work for me, either. it was a code someone gave me, and it’s apparently not correct. i’m taking it down when i get the right code.
Yup, I do not have AIM and you are very right that we cannot expect it to work.
I also thought that my verion of ICQ is not the latest and it could well be that newer versions might work. Just a thought.
But my interest is this: The way I see it, it is the browser who interprets the tag line. If MSIE does not originally interpret it, then it would have to be modified by the AOL software. I wonder how this is done. Would it replace a DLL file? I do not see how the browser could interpret the tag without building the function into it. Just curious about this. Can someone explain it?
I’ve seen the same AIM code, but as has been said I’m sure it’ll only work if you have AIM installed (I don’t). As far as I can tell, the only way to get ICQ messaging on your site is to download the (overblown) ICQ Message Panel from this link or the ICQ Communication Panel from this link.
I also noticed some gibberish about personal communication centres, and being able to “page” people using the following address type:
http://wwp.icq.com/YOUR_ICQ#
You could always try that too.
Matt, if I have my ICQ running, then you can page me by sending an email to that paging email address and it will pop up on my screen, but that is not what is being asked.
If I understand correctly, the OP is this: It assumes I am online but my AIM or ICQ is not running. Then someone can do something at their end which would launch AIM or ICQ in my computer. I doubt this is possible and I would like to see a convincing explanation. I do not see how you could do anything in your computer that would launch a program in my computer (without using a Trojan or some other hacking technique).
Then the thread sort of took a turn to say maybe what we mean is that I could click on a link and it would start AIM or ICQ in MY computer. Well, that is a totally different thing but it still requires that the browser recognize the tag and I have not seen any evidence of that. In any case I do not see much advantage to that as I know how to start any program I want to start.
Like many threads what happens is it gets so confused nobody knows any more what the heck anyone is asking or answering.
[slight personal hijack]I’ve missed seeing you around! (And I owe you a LONG overdue email - I’m SO sorry!)[/hijack]
I cannot answer the “why,” but I can verify that it does, in fact, work. I do not have AOL (I use a cable modem connection here at work), but I do have AIM installed, and I use only MSIE (5.0). I just clicked on one of the links on Cessandra’s home page and it not only launched my AIM program, but it started an IM to the person I clicked on with “hi” typed in the window.
And being the practically computer illiterate person that I am, I assure you I never configured anything on my system to allow for this. I’ll also be interested if anyone can explain how/why it works.
There’s nothing nefarious going on, but it takes a little explaing:
First, remeber that URL stands for “Uniform Resource Locator.” The first part of a URL (everything before the “//”) is called the “scheme” and tells the browser what kind of resource is being located. Usually you’ll see “http:” (web documents using the HyperText Transfer Protocol), “ftp:” (other types of files using the File Transfer Protocol) and “file:” (files on your local hard drive). You may also often see “mailto:”. Some less common ones are “telnet:”, “WAIS:”, “gopher:” and “news:” but there are others. The scheme tells the browser how to handle whatever the url is linking to.
When you install AIM, it registers itself with your browser and tells it “Hey, I know how to handle aim: schemes in URL’s.” The browser files this away and next time it sees a “aim:” type-url, it calls AIM to handle the link. Your email client (Outlook, Netscape Messenger, Eudora, etc.) does the same thing for “mailto:”. As noted, it doesn’t work if AIM has never been installed.
This is similar to what happens when you install a “plug-in” to handle certain file types. For instance, if you install Adobe Acrobat reader, it tells the browser that it can handle all .pdf files.
As far as I know ICQ does not have this feature, although the things mattk mentions will do something similar.
Disclaimer: The above information does not represent the opinions of America Online, Inc.
well, it’s nice that it was finally explained.
no, no… it was always the second thing. i wanted a link that i could click to open a message window on my computer, regardless of whether i had aim or icq running.
i know for sure that there is a code for icq to do this, because i’ve used it before. that is, i’ve clicked the link. someone did give me a code on another board, but, as noted, it did not work.
i think it’s sort of funny that on all four messages boards where i asked this question, i keep getting refferred to the www pager. i already know how it works, i’ve had it on my site before. thanks anyway. 