c# - How do I launch the web browser after starting my ASP.NET Core application? -

i have asp.net core application used client multiple users. in other words, not hosted on central server , run published executable anytime need use application.

in program.cs file there's following:

var host = new webhostbuilder()     .usekestrel()     .usecontentroot(directory.getcurrentdirectory())     .useiisintegration()     .usestartup<startup>()     .build();  host.run(); 

i default web browser automatically open avoid redundant step of user having open browser , manually put in http://localhost:5000 address.

what best way achieve this? calling program.start after call run() won't work because run blocks thread.

you have 2 different problems here:

thread blocking

host.run() indeed blocks main thread. so, use host.start() (or await startasync on 2.x) instead of host.run().

how start web browser

if using asp.net core on .net framework 4.x, microsoft says can use:

process.start("http://localhost:5000"); 

but if targeting multiplatform .net core, above line fail. there no single solution using .net standard works on every platform. windows-only solution is:

system.diagnostics.process.start("cmd", "/c start http://google.com"); 

edit: created ticket , ms dev answered as-of-today, if want multi platform version should manually, like:

public static void openbrowser(string url) {     if (runtimeinformation.isosplatform(osplatform.windows))     {         process.start(new processstartinfo("cmd", $"/c start {url}")); // works ok on windows     }     else if (runtimeinformation.isosplatform(osplatform.linux))     {         process.start("xdg-open", url);  // works ok on linux     }     else if (runtimeinformation.isosplatform(osplatform.osx))     {         process.start("open", url); // not tested     }     else     {         ...     } } 

all now:

using system.threading;  public class program {     public static void main(string[] args)     {         var host = new webhostbuilder()             .usekestrel()             .usecontentroot(directory.getcurrentdirectory())             .useiisintegration()             .usestartup<startup>()             .build();          host.start();         openbrowser("http://localhost:5000/");     }      public static void openbrowser(string url)     {         if (runtimeinformation.isosplatform(osplatform.windows))         {             process.start(new processstartinfo("cmd", $"/c start {url}"));         }         else if (runtimeinformation.isosplatform(osplatform.linux))         {             process.start("xdg-open", url);         }         else if (runtimeinformation.isosplatform(osplatform.osx))         {             process.start("open", url);         }         else         {             // throw          }     } }