URLAndFileLauncher

C++ Windows application for launching/opening any valid URL or file. It was mainly created for my C# WinForms project called MiXTools (soon ™) to circumvent reverse engeneering Xiaomi's Mi OSD Utility software in order to change the dedicated assistant key's action to something useful for newer generation of Xiaomi laptops.

Features

• open files and valid URLs
• open files in their extension associated editor
• UTF-8 support
• Windows Drag-and-Drop with files

Arguments

UAFL accepts maximum of two arguments and their order is interchangeable. It accepts input from the command line if any was given otherwise it tries to read the first two lines of the config file if it exists.

Launch modes

( () == optional )

• -o, (-)open : Opens the given URL or file. (default when there is only a single argument)
• -r, (-)runas : Launches the given application (or through a shortcut) as an Administrator. (only works with executables (.exe) and shortcuts (.lnk))
• -e, (-)edit : Launches an editor and opens the given file for editing. (works if the extension has an associated app)

Usage

UAFL can be used with command line or uafl (without an extension) config file.

Command line arguments

uafl: name of the executable
url_or_path: a valid URL or a file's path
m: file/URL launch mode

• uafl "url_or_path" m
• uafl "url_or_path" "m"
• uafl "url_or_path" -m
• uafl "url_or_path" "-m"
• uafl m "url_or_path"
• uafl "m" "url_or_path"
• uafl -m "url_or_path"
• uafl "-m" "url_or_path"

Using a single argument defaults to open launch mode

• uafl "url_or_path"
• uafl url_or_path (only works if the path or URL doesn't contain space characters)

Config file

Reads the first two lines of uafl (config file).
If the file has only one line the launch mode defaults to open.
To launch the specified file or URL run the executable of UrlAndFileLauncher.

Compile

Terminal

debug:

 1. windres debug.rc debug_res.o
 2. g++ -Wall -municode -std=c++23 program.cpp uafl_api.cpp -o uafl-debug.exe debug_res.o

release:

 1. windres prod.rc prod_res.o
 2. g++ -Wall -O2 -municode -mwindows -std=c++23 program.cpp uafl_api.cpp -o uafl.exe prod_res.o

The flag mwindows is used for disabling console and municode is needed for Unicode (wWinMain) support.

Build scripts

Run the .cmd files (build-debug.cmd, build-prod.cmd, build.cmd) to compile the source files.

Log file

The app will output logs to uafl_error.txt in case of an error.

MiXTools version

MiXTools (mxt) is a modified version of URLAndFileLauncher. The main difference is that it uses MiXTools specific paths for file access and error logging.