NSWorkspace throws error when launch the mail application

I tried the below code, it is working fine for me. Also am able to launch the mail application as well.

//Note the below path is coming from bundle identifier of Mail APP 
NSString *path=@"/Applications/Mail.app"
NSURL *mailURL = [NSURL URLWithString:path];
NSError *err=nil;
[[NSWorkspace sharedWorkspace] launchApplicationAtURL:mailURL
                                              options:NSWorkspaceLaunchDefault
                                        configuration: someData
                                                error:&err];

But it throws me the below error message on console, What it means actually. How to resolve the below issue.

CFURLCopyResourcePropertyForKey failed because it was passed this URL which has no scheme: /Applications/Mail.app

Solution

The error is thrown because you are not creating a valid URL. The URL needs a scheme, in your case it is file: so the correct URL is file:///Applications/Mail. You need to create a file URL which works as follows:

NSString *path=@"/Applications/Mail.app";
NSURL *mailURL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:path];

Note that your code breaks if the user ha moved Mail.app to another location. Also note that if the user doesn't use Apple's Mail app, it won't work well for the user either.

One possibility of doing it a more correct way is given here: How to launch New Message window in Mail.app from my application

Another option is to get the URL for Mail.app in a more fleixble way covering for users that have moved Mail.app. The idea is to use the bundle identifier and then ask NSWorkspace to launch this application by using

- (BOOL)launchAppWithBundleIdentifier:(NSString *)bundleIdentifier
                          options:(NSWorkspaceLaunchOptions)options
   additionalEventParamDescriptor:(NSAppleEventDescriptor *)descriptor
                 launchIdentifier:(NSNumber **)identifier

(see also in detail here http://theocacao.com/document.page/183).