When writing a Worklight app it is verboten to change the URL of the DOM in which the application is running. This makes sense as a hypertext move to another URL will obliterate the state of the app.
On occasion however, in my app I receive a URL for a news article and the user wishes to read it. Displaying the new content in an iFrame would start to address the requirement, but then I need navigation controls, etc. and it starts to feel like I am reinventing a wheel.
Does Worklight, or one of the mobile JS frameworks provide a "browser in browser" experience that I need here?
Worklight utilizes Cordova. Cordova makes it possible to display just what you wanted, a "browser in a browser" - InAppBrowser.
The InAppBrowser is a web browser view that displays when calling
window.open(), or when opening a link formed as <a target="_blank">.
Try that.
No setup is required as the InAppBrowser plug-in is already part of the Worklight project (this may differ depending on your Worklight version; If you are using 6.x you're OK).
All you need to do is to call up the URL. For example, in yourProject\apps\yourApp\common\main.js:
function wlCommonInit() {
window.open('http://apache.org', '_blank', 'location=yes');
}
Once the app initializes it will open the InAppBrowser:
And once tapping the Done button, you're back in the app.
You can of course not specify the location attribute so the navigation bar won't display. In that case, in order to go back to the app the user will need to tap the Back button:
Related
I've been trying to create mechanism for my Expo app, that will allow users to share content of app (so I basically need linking with params, and I think I know how to do it, according to docs).
I wanted to start creating this mechanism with simple sharing, without params (just clickable link that opens app). Here's my code (executed when user presses share button):
share = async () => {
await Share.share({
message: Linking.makeUrl()
})
}
It shares link as excepted (I tried it on messenger), but shared link is not clickable. I also tried using exp://192.168.100.3:190000 that points to my PC in the same LAN (I coped that from http://localhost:19002/), where metro bundler is running, and copying Tunnel link - neither of those worked, link is just a plain text, and if user clicks on it nothing happens. But, when I scan QR code, from http://localhost:19002/ (metro bundler page) application opens as excepted.
You're doing everything just fine!
The reason why a shared link is not clickable in some apps is simply because of the mechanisms of the other apps for "detecting" links from plain text and "linkifying" them.
You see, these links are actually "deep links" (custom URL schemes).
Here's an example. If I share this link: exp://192.168.100.3:190000 over Slack, it becomes "clickable", because it looks like Slack has a mechanism to detect these custom "deep links" which lead to a mobile app:
If I share the same link over Messanger, it outputs it as a plain text. This is because Messanger doesn't have a mechanism to detect these "deep links".
In order for the link to "click", it must be rendered in an anchor tag. Messenger simply linkifies only "known" web links (http://, https://...), not custom ones.
The QR code reader in your case opens your deep link, because it has a mechanism to detect "deep links".
So, if you want a reliable way for making your links always "clickable", here's the workaround: spin-off a web site. When people generate (and share) links, they share web links https://your-server. When they open these links -> the web server redirects them with the exp://... (or your custom) scheme. If users have your app installed - the links will open with your app.
I need to open a third-party app from my react native mobile app. I understand that this is called universal linking on iOS and AppLink on Android.
I have done a lot of research for this, and I have been able to set up a link to the third party app on the app store. Now I just need to get my app to open up the app if the user has it installed. That requires the URI scheme of the other app, though.
My question is, how do I get the URI scheme to this third party app? Rather, how do I get the URI scheme of any app? I know the URI scheme of the twitter app is 'twitter://app', but the app I am trying to link to is way more niche than twitter or other popular apps, so there is no help for this sort of thing online.
Any tips?
Finding the URL scheme of an iOS app
Due to Apple's tendency for secrecy, it's not easy to find the URL scheme of an iOS app. But it can be done. Here's how I do it, using a Mac app called iMazing.
Launch iMazing, select a connected iOS device, click Apps:
In the footer of the window, click Manage Apps:
Select the app you're interested in , then select Export .IPA menu item. Note: You may need to download the app first.
The saved file will have the .ipa extension. Change the extension to .zip, and unzip the file. You now have a directory with the name matching the app's name.
Assuming "asana" is the app name, open the file "asana/Payload/asana.app/Info.plist" in a text editor, and search for a section that contains "CFBundleURLSchemes". Assuming the app contains CFBundleURLSchemes (they are optional), it should look something like this:
The URL scheme is in the <string>asana</string>, so the complete url scheme in this case is "asana://". Test that the URL launches the app by typing it into iOS Safari browser window. If it works, Safari should display an alert like this:
What About Apps Without CFBundleURLSchemes?
I haven't found a way to launch apps without CFBundleURLSchemes directly, but you can link to the app's page in the App Store, where the user can open the app with the Open button (or Get button if the app is not installed).
You will need to obtain the app page's URL from the App Store:
Open App Store, go to the app's page, click the share icon:
Click Copy Link:
The URL will look like this:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/asana-organize-tasks-work/id489969512
Clicking on that link in Safari will bring up the app page in the App Store.
Maybe it is worth to start with some background:
There are various ways to deep link into an app, and it depends on the platform (iOS\Android\WindowsPhone...) and its version.
On iOS, up until version 9, the way to open an app was by using URI schemes, e.g. the one you added above: twitter://app. Each app declares the scheme that should be used. Therefore in order to deep link into the app you wish to open, you'll need to use the scheme that it declared. This is the same for Android until version 6.
Starting iOS9+, Apple introduced Universal Links as the method for deep linking. Here's some information: https://developer.apple.com/ios/universal-links/
In these versions, URI schemes won't longer work when using Safari browser (which is the iOS default browser) if the app is not installed. If the app is installed, however, URI schemes should allow opening the app, if everything is configured successfully. In Android there's a similar method called "AppLinks".
Having said this, the above information is for setting deep link for your app. I do not think that it is a common use case to open a third party app from your app - deep links are configured and used by the app owner (e.g. for publishing his\her app to engage users).
Using onesignal, When one sets the push notification value "url" for a notificaiton to open in an app, aka universal linking, by default the app is opened and a webview screen emerges (not on android, only iOS - at least in React Native).
I want to ignore this webview. I don't want to open it. The url is supposed to open the app to the corresponding universal link/deep link, not my domain on a web broswer. If I click on a similar link from a non-notificaiton source, it takes me to the screen, why does the push notification not do this?
How do I override this? I can't seem to figure it out. Do I have to manually implement this? Why does it open a webview by default and not the corresponding screen in the app instead?
It seems you have to manually route it if one were to go this route, unfortunately. From what I'm gathering bits here and there.
this is a bad choice to go with if you're using iOS:
https://www.myapp.com/p/fdsafa
this is better:
myapp://p/fdsafa
unfortunately onesignal has it setup in some weird way with the https://www.myapp.com that it makes it useless on iOS, unless your actual intention is to open an actual web url in a webview. Where as myapp:// is compatible with both platforms (just don't put a host on Android, leave the host out, just do the myapp as the schema). Works.
How to launch a specific page of hybrid worklight application on clicking a link in email?
I did not go through all the steps involved, but yes, you can do this.
Step 1
Create a Worklight application using, for example, jQuery Mobile to handle the multiple pages
Step 2
If the app is intended for Android, you will need to modify the AndroidManifest.xml file with an intent filter in order to associate the app with an action and a custom URL scheme
You can read more about this by googling for "opening android application using a custom URL scheme", for example
If the app is intended for iOS, you will need to modify the <app-name->info.plist file with a custom URL scheme
You can probably follow this guide: http://iosdevelopertips.com/cocoa/launching-your-own-application-via-a-custom-url-scheme.html
Step 3
Once you get the app to open from an external link, you need to handle the parameters. You'll want this since you want to open a specific page. This is also mentioned for iOS in the above link, and you'll need to further google this for Android
Step 4
Once you've obtained the parameter, you can use the Send Action to JavaScript from Native API for iOS and Andriod in Worklight in order to pass a command to JavaScript, telling the web code to do some changePage function that will load the specific page
I am making mobile app using Sencha touch which will be bundled as native app and installed on devices. In my app on certain pages I want to add "share" functionality which is supposed to post some data to user's feed. While testing on browser I can to do that by opening a window with FB sharing url like "https://m.facebook.com/dialog/feed" or "https://m.facebook.com/sharer.php" and passing all related params as explained in https://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/dialogs/feed/
But when this app is bundled and I share with this, user is moved to browser and cannot return to app because redirect_uri cannot point to app which is why I wanted to open this dialog within my app, probably in an iFrame. This is also not possible because these dialogs are not allowed to be embedded in iframe by META tags and in order to surpass it I have to do user login which again is another dialog which I cannot open in my app's iFrame.
I also looked at sample sencha app http://blooming-day-7830.herokuapp.com/ but it also takes user to separate login page instead of opening in-app dialog.
So my questions is how does hybrid apps connect with FB without moving out user to browser?
if you decide to use PhoneGap you can try the following two options. You will have to check for the iOS version before you switch your Phonegap call to. . .
Option 1 : for iOS before 6.0
Phonegap has a pretty nifty ChildBrowser plugin that you can use to load the FB share page without leaving the app for iOS 5.0 and below.
Option 2 : for iOS 6.0+
Facebook Share functionality has now been added to iOS. So all you have to do, is call a custom plugin class that you create, and call the standard FB share code using a basic Phonegap plugin call. You won't leave the app, the ChildBrowser doesn't have to show up, instead, you'll get the stock iOS-FB share sheet that will show up, you can add pictures, text, and so on, and post to facebook.