Steam: Firefox Protocol Handler How-To

[fatbuttlarry]

*Note: This how-to requires wine, steam, and firefox.

+ +FIREFOX


Ever want those cool links like:

steam:"-applaunch 70 +connect  vnny.dyndns.org:27015"

to work with Steam under Ubuntu?

It can be done. This is how I did it.

• First, create the following script: /usr/bin/steam
  (Type this in a console window)

  sudo pico /usr/bin/steam

  (Type this text)

  #!/bin/sh
  #
  # Steam wrapper script
  #
  exec wine "c:\\program files\\steam\\steam.exe" "$@"

  (Alternately, you can download it here: steam.tar.gz (203 Bytes)
• Ensure the new file is executable:
  

  sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/steam

Firefox 3.5 and higher:

1. Navigate your firefox browser to about:config
2. Set up the following values in firefox's about:config page
   Right Click >> New >> Boolean:
   (Preference Name)

   network.protocol-handler.expose.steam

   (Boolean Value)

   false

3. Click a Steam hyperlink: [sample link]
4. When prompted for the application, Click "Browse" and paste the path to our executable:
   

   /usr/bin/steam

5. Click the check box to remember this application for Steam links
6. You are finished.

Firefox 3.0 and older:

1. Navigate your firefox browser to about:config
2. Set up the following values in firefox's about:config page
   Right Click >> New >> Boolean:
   (Preference Name)

   network.protocol-handler.external.steam

   (Boolean Value)

   true

   Right Click >> New >> String:
   (Preference Name)

   network.protocol-handler.app.steam

   (String Value)

   steam

   Right Click >> New >> Boolean:
   (Preference Name)

   network.protocol-handler.warn-external.steam

   (Boolean Value)

   false

3. Test to see if it works: [sample link] and enjoy!
4. You are finished.

-Tres

[Darko-TheRaven]

I just spotted a mistake.

network.protocol-handler.external.steam

is in the image but you do not specify to add that preference

[fatbuttlarry]

Thanks! Fixed! Cheers.

-Tres

[KillerKiwi]

Im pretty sure you could do this in gconf... then the links would work in all gnome apps

[fatbuttlarry]

Im pretty sure you could do this in gconf... then the links would work in all gnome apps

Good idea.

Does it matter if I don't run gnome lol?

I'll apt-get that and see what it does!

-Tres

[fatbuttlarry]

Currently running the following command to get gconf installed:

apt-get install gconf-editor

Then got CORBA errors. So I created a key thing, and it didn't show up.

I re-opened the program and some stuff was listed. Looks kind of like a registry. Cool. Lol I'm stopping that project right there.

-Tres

[KillerKiwi]

gconf is like a registry (windows like *ugg* ) only in the fact that its centralised... you can delete it corrupt it etc any everything will still work as the settings are actually distributed xml files.

Just to clarify it is NOT like the windows regiestry

END RANT

anyway you can create gconf keys like this (NOTE: you are ment to create an XML fall back but this hack works fine)

gconftool-2 -t string -s /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/steam/command exec wine "c:\\program files\\steam\\steam.exe" "%s"
gconftool-2 -t bool -s /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/steam/enabled true
gconftool-2 -t bool -s /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/steam/needs_terminal false

for KDE you can do this



[Protocol]
exec=wine "c:\\program files\\steam\\steam.exe" '%u'
protocol=steam
input=none
output=none
helper=true
listing=false
reading=false
writing=false
makedir=false
deleting=false
icon=package
Description=steam

Save this code in ${KDEHOME}/share/services/steam.protocol

[fatbuttlarry]

gconf is like a registry (windows like *ugg* ) only in the fact that its centralised... you can delete it corrupt it etc any everything will still work as the settings are actually distributed xml files.

Just to clarify it is NOT like the windows regiestry

END RANT

anyway you can create gconf keys like this (NOTE: you are ment to create an XML fall back but this hack works fine)

gconftool-2 -t string -s /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/steam/command exec wine "c:\\program files\\steam\\steam.exe" "%s"
gconftool-2 -t bool -s /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/steam/enabled true
gconftool-2 -t bool -s /desktop/gnome/url-handlers/steam/needs_terminal false

for KDE you can do this



[Protocol]
exec=wine "c:\\program files\\steam\\steam.exe" '%u'
protocol=steam
input=none
output=none
helper=true
listing=false
reading=false
writing=false
makedir=false
deleting=false
icon=package
Description=steam

Save this code in ${KDEHOME}/share/services/steam.protocol

It's my guess, that if I'm using KDE w/ Firefox, Firefox will only know the gconf settings, where as Konqueror will only know the KDE settings?

This is really cool stuff. Perhaps it's a better solution around the Firefox hack that started this thread. I guess I make a false assumption that most people using steam run firefox, which may not be the case.

If I can get these changes to take and work, I will update the how-to with the more abstract settings.

BTW - Does anyone know how to remove these settings from Firefox once they've been created? Lol, I might want to take them back out for testing!

-Tres

[Orffen]

I also had to do a

sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/steam

before Firefox would properly handle it. It gave error

"Firefox doesn't know how to open this address, because the protocol (steam) isn't associated with any program."

The message is confusing, but has been raised in the Mozilla Bugzilla.

[fatbuttlarry]

Thanks Orffen! Added to How-To!

-Tres