ClickOnce for Chrome now that NPAPI is not supported?
The application I'm working on integrates with Microsoft ReportBuilder 3.0 (part of SQL Server Reporting Services). ReportBuilder is a Microsoft ClickOnce application. Our official browsers support Firefox, Chrome and some IE versions.
Microsoft provides an official Firefox plugin (Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant), but nothing for Chrome. Until recently, we instructed users to install an open source extension, which you can see here: https://github.com/rajkosto/ChromeClickOnce
This extension has since been removed from the Chrome Web Store and I understand that Chrome is removing all NPAPI functionality from the browser. Our users can no longer use ReportBuilder when they use our product in Chrome, which is a big problem for us.
Is there a way to start ClickOnce again in Chrome? We cannot be the only ones suffering from this problem. Thanks for any advice you can provide.
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I spent several hours researching this and came up with the following solution. I warn you that this is the worst case scenario.
Create a registry file that creates a URI scheme on the client machine: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ie/aa767914(v=vs.85).aspx
For an executable program, you can use a custom exe that shares the schema (in my case, I named it ReportBuilder and the link would look like <a href="ReportBuilder:http://...">test</a>
), or I used a batch file (see below) and then invoke Internet Explorer with the address:
set str=%1
set str=%str:ReportBuilder:=%
"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" %str%
So, ultimately, when the link is clicked, it calls this batch file and this batch file calls Internet Explorer, which opens the link for the ClickOnce application.
So far, this is the only way I have been able to get it to work. I tried using two different ClickOnce extensions, both of which no longer work. I've also tried using IE tabs, however that doesn't work either.
Hope this helps someone.
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I am using the IETab ( http://www.ietab.net/ ) chrome extension to view clickonce like IE.
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Is there a way to get NPAPI up and running again?
There are very few ways (enterprise install only, 32-bit only) and it goes away anyway. Not worth the effort.
Is there a way other than NPAPI to talk to [Native app here]?
Yes, although this would require a complete rewrite. You have Native Messaging as an NPAPI replacement for this.
The basic idea is to have a "proxy" native application, called the "Native Host" in this terminology, that Chrome can launch, and that can talk to your [Native Application here] on its behalf. Chrome will only speak on standard I / O in JSON encoded messages, but your proxy may interact with the original application in some way.
For more information see docs andchrome-native-messaging
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