link to an ebook and launch appropriate app?

[sneakyimp]

I was wondering if anyone know how to make a link to an ebook such that the appropriate application will be launched to interpret the file. I'm wondering if there's some kind of attribute for the <a> tag that works client-side or whether one must send headers using [man]header[/man]. Perhaps there's an RFC for this?

EDIT: I'm especially keen that this work on portable devices like the iPhone. E.g., one is browsing the internet in Safari, clicks an ebook link, and Stanza or Kindle launches.

[dagon]

it is entirely up to the client machine what application is launched, you can't do anything about that other than set the appropriate headers and make suer the file is named correctly.

It would be an incredible security lapse if a site could chose what application was launched on a clients machine

[sneakyimp]

Thanks for your response.

It's not so much that I have any desire to choose any particular application, it's more that I was hoping to understand what the appropriate headers and/or link attributes might be for an ebook -- or ebook reader applications.

[dagon]

anything wrong with <a href="ebook.file">File name</a> ??

[sneakyimp]

That sounds like it might work well with .epub or .mobi files, but perhaps not so well for eBooks in .html format.

[dagon]

why not let the user decide what to do with the file, they are in the best position to know what they want to do with it.