Launching a web browser from command-line Dart script

Question

I'd like to open a given URL from a small command-line app I wrote in Dart. Any simple way to do it? This would be similar to Desktop#browse(URI) in Java.

What OS is the app supposed to run on? – Pacane Oct 09 '15 at 02:38 — Pacane, Oct 09 '15 at 02:38

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 09 '15 at 08:37

Try this code:

import "dart:io";

void runBrowser(String url) {
  var fail = false;
  switch (Platform.operatingSystem) {
    case "linux":
      Process.run("x-www-browser", [url]);
      break;
    case "macos":
      Process.run("open", [url]);
      break;
    case "windows":
      Process.run("explorer", [url]);
      break;
    default:
      fail = true;
      break;
  }

  if (!fail) {
    print("Start browsing...");
  }

Thanks! Based on @günter-zöchbauer reply, using xdg-open is the way to go for Linux. — P.Y., Oct 09 '15 at 17:45

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

You need to do launch it using Process.run() or Process.start() and you have to take care of OS differences yourself.

On
- Linux you can use Linux: command to open URL in default browser (needs to be installed but it usually is by default)
- Windows https://superuser.com/questions/36728/can-i-launch-urls-from-command-line-in-windows
- OSX http://osxdaily.com/2011/07/18/open-url-default-web-browser-command-line/

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 19 '16 at 03:39

2

The invoke the default browser on Windows:

Process.run("start", [url], runInShell: true);

(Tested on Windows 7 only though I'm afraid)

answered Mar 19 '16 at 03:39

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Launching a web browser from command-line Dart script

3 Answers3