Custom URL scheme PhoneGap Plugin

launch your app by a link like this: mycoolapp://

for iOS and Android, by Eddy Verbruggen

• This repo is for PhoneGap 3.0.0 and up
• For PhoneGap 2.9.0 and lower, switch to the phonegap-2.9.0-and-lower branch

1. Description
2. Installation 2. Automatically (CLI / Plugman) 2. Manually 2. PhoneGap Build
3. Usage
4. URL Scheme hints
5. License

1. Description

This plugin allows you to start your app by calling it with a URL like mycoolapp://path?foo=bar

• Compatible with Cordova Plugman
• Submitted and waiting for approval at PhoneGap Build (more information)

iOS specifics

• Forget about using config.xml to define a URL scheme. This plugin adds 2 essential enhancements:
  • Uniform URL scheme with Android (for which there is no option to define a URL scheme via PhoneGap configuration at all).
  • You still need to wire up the Javascript to handle incoming events. This plugin assists you with that.
• Tested on iOS 5.1, 6 and 7.

Android specifics

• Unlike iOS, there is no way to use config.xml to define a scheme for your app. Now there is.
• Tested on Android 4.3, will most likely work with 2.2 and up.

2. Installation

Automatically (CLI / Plugman)

LaunchMyApp is compatible with Cordova Plugman. Replace mycoolapp by a nice scheme you want to have your app listen to:

$ cordova plugin add https://github.com/EddyVerbruggen/LaunchMyApp-PhoneGap-Plugin.git --variable URL_SCHEME=mycoolapp

(note that the phonegap cli doesn't accept variables, so please use the cordova cli as shown above)

The LaunchMyApp.js file is brought in automatically.

Note for iOS: there was a bug in CLI which caused an error in your *-Info.plist. Please manually remove the blank line and whitespace (if any) from NSMainNibFile and NSMainNibFile~ipad (or your app won't start at all).

Manually

iOS

1. Copy www/ios/LaunchMyApp.js to www/js/plugins/LaunchMyApp.js and reference it in your index.html:

<script type="text/javascript" src="js/plugins/LaunchMyApp.js"></script>

2. Add this to your *-Info.plist (replace URL_SCHEME by a nice scheme you want to have your app listen to, like mycoolapp):

<key>CFBundleURLTypes</key>
<array>
  <dict>
    <key>CFBundleURLSchemes</key>
    <array>
      <string>URL_SCHEME</string>
    </array>
  </dict>
</array>

Android

1. Copy www/android/LaunchMyApp.js to www/js/plugins/LaunchMyApp.js and reference it in your index.html:

<script type="text/javascript" src="js/plugins/LaunchMyApp.js"></script>

2. Add the following xml to your config.xml to always use the latest version of this plugin:

<plugin name="LaunchMyApp" value="nl.xservices.plugins.LaunchMyApp"/>

3. Copy LaunchMyApp.java to platforms/android/src/nl/xservices/plugins (create the folders)

4. Add the following to your AndroidManifest.xml inside the /manifest/application/activity node (replace URL_SCHEME by a nice scheme you want to have your app listen to, like mycoolapp):

<intent-filter>
  <data android:scheme="URL_SCHEME"/>
  <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
  <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
  <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
</intent-filter>

PhoneGap Build

Using LaunchMyApp with PhoneGap Build requires you to add the following xml to your config.xml to use the latest version of this plugin (replace mycoolapp by a nice scheme you want to have your app listen to):

<gap:plugin name="nl.x-services.plugins.launchmyapp">
  <param name="URL_SCHEME" value="mycoolapp" />
</gap:plugin>

The LaunchMyApp.js file is brought in automatically.

3. Usage

1a. Your app can be launced by linking to it like this from a website or an email for example (all of these will work):

<a href="mycoolapp://">Open my app</a>
<a href="mycoolapp://somepath">Open my app</a>
<a href="mycoolapp://somepath?foo=bar">Open my app</a>
<a href="mycoolapp://?foo=bar">Open my app</a>

mycoolapp is the value of URL_SCHEME you used while installing this plugin.

1b. If you're trying to open your app from another PhoneGap app, use the InAppBrowser plugin and launch the receiving app like this, to avoid a 'protocol not supported' error:

<button onclick="window.open('mycoolapp://', '_system')">Open the other app</button>

2. When your app is launched by a URL, you probably want to do something based on the path and parameters in the URL. For that, you could implement the (optional) handleOpenURL(url) method, which receives the URL that was used to launch your app.

function handleOpenURL(url) {
  console.log("received url: " + url);
}

If you want to alert the URL for testing the plugin, at least on iOS you need to wrap it in a timeout like this:

function handleOpenURL(url) {
  setTimeout(function() {
    alert("received url: " + url);
  }, 0);
}

A more useful implementation would mean parsing the URL, saving any params to sessionStorage and redirecting the app to the correct page inside your app. All this happens before the first page is loaded.

Android Quirck

When the launchMode of your activity in AndroidManifest.xml is 'singleTask', your app does start via the URL scheme, but it will not receive any parameters. To work around this, change the launchMode (duh), or add this anywhere in your app:

document.addEventListener("pause", function(){navigator.app.exitApp()}, false);

4. URL Scheme hints

Please choose a URL_SCHEME which which complies to these restrictions:

• Don't use an already registered scheme (like fb, twitter, comgooglemaps, etc).
• Use only lowercase characters.
• Don't use a dash - because on Android it will become underscore _.
• Use only 1 word (no spaces).

TIP: test your scheme by installing the app on a device or simulator and typing yourscheme:// in the browser URL bar, or create a test HTML page with a link to your app to impress your buddies.

5. License

The MIT License (MIT)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.