How to open a browser window from a node-webkit app?

Question

I have a desktop application, packaged using node-webkit. I need to open the default browser of the user on click of a link. I am using

window.open("www.google.com")

but this opens a new node-webkit window rather than opening a browser window. How do I open a browser window instead??

Possible duplicate of [How to use nodejs to open default browser and navigate to a specific URL](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8500326/how-to-use-nodejs-to-open-default-browser-and-navigate-to-a-specific-url) — Tomek Rękawek, Oct 03 '13 at 11:14
@Tomek: Certainly looks like it, yeah; [this answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/13419639/157247) seems most relevant. — T.J. Crowder, Oct 03 '13 at 11:17
@Tomek, the link posted uses another gem. I would be more interested if I can play with it through any javascript method. Can't find a way to do it yet — Infant Dev, Oct 04 '13 at 09:10

score 20 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 04 '13 at 21:28

20

To open a link in the user's default browser, you could use gui.Shell.openExternal("http://website.com"). Checkout the documentation for gui.Shell.

answered Oct 04 '13 at 21:28

theabraham

Thanks.. It works perfect. This also comes in the window object, so I can say window.gui.Shell.openExternal("website.com") – Infant Dev Oct 07 '13 at 10:32
is there a way to store a reference to the window that is opened? – dopatraman Aug 25 '14 at 16:01
1

For completeness, you must define before the `gui` variable: `var gui = require('nw.gui');` – evalarezo May 11 '15 at 15:43

1 Answers1