How to make a jQuery GET/AJAX request to a private/custom URL protocol?

Question

On both Mac and iOS platforms, it is possible to do two-way interchange with the native runtime through custom URI schemes / a NSURLProtocol. For example.. to request an NSImage from a native Objective-C method, you can register your custom handler (a simple string, here i used "mycustomprotocol") with Webkit / your WebView NSView, and call it from JS like…

var theURL = 'mycustomprotocol:///' + (textField.value);
img.innerHTML = '<img src="'+theURL+'" id="string"/>';

I would LIKE to be able to use jQuery to do make requests, as at this point, it is more familiar than 90's-style JS.. but as far as I can find on the web, $.get and $.ajax only do http(s).

Would something like

javascript:document.location = 'mycustomprotocol://'

override jquery's URL handling? I'm a dumbdumb when it comes to JavaScript, I'm sure this is easily done.. I do believe this is how the entire jQuery mobile framework is implemented (via private URI's).. So, why is there nothing on google or SO about it, huh? Can i get some help from my sister friends?

Answer 1

The basic ajax and get methods use the browser's regular http requests. For security reasons, ajax type calls will never work with a custom protocol. If you try to develop a website that isn't on a server and use .ajax, you'll notice it will do nothing. You'll have to start from the ground up and make a custom request handler altogether, not just alter something within jQuery.

Answer 2

Here is what I did for a callto: protocol, which works in Firefox 24 and IE 10 (I haven't tested any other browsers):

First - your protocol must already be registered or your computer won't recognize it. Second create a hidden link in your markup with your protocol as the href. When I click on a button (#calltobutton), then it sets the value of the hidden link (#clicker) and then and then clicks it, causing the browser to perform the action.

Then do this:

$('#calltobutton').click(function () {
    initCallTo(1234567890);
});


function initCallTo(callto) {
    $('#clicker').attr('href', "callto:" + callto);
    $('#clicker')[0].click();
}

Now, the method of clicking on the callto link is a but strange. You can read more about that in this here thread.