I am looking for a way to call other installed applications from within my app. For example: Can a user open his Skype app from my app?
Is there a way to do this?
Take a look at -openURL: and -canOpenURL:.
The application in question must register CFBundleURLTypes for it to respond to the aforementioned open method. In the case of Skype, for example, the URL protocol is skype:.
- (void)openAppUsingPrivateAPI:(NSString *)bundleId {
Class LSApplicationWorkspace_class = objc_getClass("LSApplicationWorkspace");
NSObject * workspace = [LSApplicationWorkspace_class performSelector:#selector(defaultWorkspace)];
BOOL isopen = [workspace performSelector:#selector(openApplicationWithBundleID:) withObject:bundleId];
}
use private method to do it
Related
Mail App Extensions were announced by Apple at WWDC21. The implementation is very similar to Safari App Extensions. With the method showPreferencesForExtension(withIdentifier:completionHandler:) of the SFSafariApplication class it is possible to launch Safari and open the preferences panel for a specific Safari app extension.
Example Code:
import SafariServices
SFSafariApplication.showPreferencesForExtension(withIdentifier: "example") { error in
// error handling...
}
In addition, the state of the extension can be checked. This is useful to show the user in the container app if the extension is enabled. You can implement this using the getStateOfSafariExtension(withIdentifier:completionHandler:) method of the SFSafariExtensionManager class.
Example Code:
import SafariServices
SFSafariExtensionManager.getStateOfSafariExtension(withIdentifier: "example") { state, error in
// check state and error handling...
}
Unfortunately, I haven't found any ways to implement this for Mail App Extensions yet. Of course, I know that I can open the Mail App quite easily with NSWorkspace:
if let url = NSWorkspace.shared.urlForApplication(withBundleIdentifier: "com.apple.mail") {
NSWorkspace.shared.open(url)
}
...but this is just a workaround and not a solution. I want to open the "Mail App Extension" preferences panel and read the status of the extension. Am I missing an API for this?
We recently got our ios app rejected because of the following:
We noticed that the user is taken to Safari to sign in or register for an account, which provides a poor user experience.
however, the bit that launches the safari window for facebook/Google login is part of the AWSMobileHubHelper framework so we can't modify that code.
Any ideas/solutions would be greatly appreciated.
So I found a workaround. I just grab the GIDSignIn instance and change the properties myself. In case any one else wants to know how, all you have to do is:
Add a bridge header and import #import <GoogleSignIn/GoogleSignIn.h>
Implement the presentViewController method for GIDSignInUIDelegate on your main login controller
func signIn(signIn: GIDSignIn!, presentViewController viewController: UIViewController!) {
presentViewController(viewController, animated: true, completion: nil)
}
Edit demo login code to be something like this:
func loginWithGoogle(delegate: GIDSignInUIDelegate!) {
let googleProvider = AWSGoogleSignInProvider.sharedInstance()
// It is important that these are initialized after
// AWSGoogleSignInProvider.sharedInstance() is called
GIDSignIn.sharedInstance().uiDelegate = delegate
GIDSignIn.sharedInstance().allowsSignInWithBrowser = false
GIDSignIn.sharedInstance().allowsSignInWithWebView = true
handleLoginWithSignInProvider(googleProvider, callback: callback)
}
As of iOS 9 using Facebook SDK, this is expected behavior per Facebook login. Mobile Hub quickstart app is just applying the Facebook SDK 3 and using the APIs as directed. Check out the brief description below and read through the comments to get a better insight. This was not a popular decision by Facebook and others have provided workarounds (to forcing user authentication via mobile browser) if you wish to experiment. As for the AWSMobileHubHelper framework, we are looking into making this available at some point but don't have a timeline for this.
"Logic that automatically defaults people to the optimum experience for iOS 9. This means that the SDK dialogs for Facebook Login, Sharing across Facebook and Messenger, App Invites, App Events, or Native Like will automatically determine the best experience for people based on their device."
Source:
https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2015/09/10/new-SDK-for-iOS9/
I want to open Skype in a Swift webview by just using a URL. Similar to something like the URL Scheme's provided by Apple for opening Apple Mail mailTo:// or telephone tel://.
1.) must i use the skype-API or just check if skype is installed with
#IBAction func skypeMe(sender: AnyObject) {
let installed = UIApplication.sharedApplication().canOpenURL(NSURL(string: "skype:")!)
if installed {
UIApplication.sharedApplication().openURL(NSURL(string: "skype:echo123?call")!)
} else {
UIApplication.sharedApplication().openURL(NSURL(string: "https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/skype/id304878510?mt=8")!)
}
}
2.) how must i call this? (skype:username?call)
3.) my skype-login should be called automatically
4.) i want to choose the addressee
Is that possible?
This link could help.
UIApplication.sharedApplication().openURL launches skype automatically
Try openURL(NSURL(string: "skype:")!) It may launch skype,
where you could
choose the addresses. Or may not launch.
I want to open iphone apps like Contacts and Calendar from within my phonegap app, I don't mind that doing so will put my app in the background. I can open the browser and using window.open but how do I open other apps?
eg window.open("contacts://", '_blank'); doesn't work
The only way that one app, PhoneGap-based or otherwise, can cause another app to launch is to open an URL that uses the target app's custom URL scheme. So, if the Contacts app supports some custom scheme, you're in luck. If not, you're out of luck.
You are going to need to write a custom phonegap plugin so that you can access custom methods you write in objective C.
The official phonegap documentation is here.
I'll briefly explain how you will do this.
In your javascript you will call this code :
PhoneGap.exec("OpenMailAppPlugin.openMailApp",parameter1);
In objective C you will create a new file OpenMailAppPlugin class. Read the link above for exact instuctions, but the important method will be soemthing like this.
-(void) openMailApp:(NSMutableArray*)paramArray withDict:(NSMutableDictionary*)options {
NSString *parameter1 = [paramArray objectAtIndex:0]; //recieves information from javascript function
NSURL* mailURL = [NSURL URLWithString: #"mailto:%#?cc=bar#example.com&subject=Greetings%20from%Cupertino!&body=Wish%20you%20were%20here!",paramter1];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL: mailURL];
}
additionally, you may be interested in sending information back to your phonegap application. You can do this by injecting a javascript call that sends parameters. In your objective C function you would do something like this.
NSString * jsCallBack = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"myJavascriptFunction('%#');",parameter];
[self.webView stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:jsCallBack];
As previously answered, using a URL scheme can work. If you have several apps and you want to be able to open one from the other, then it's really simple when using PhoneGap build: you just need to add the URL scheme to your config.xml file, eg:
// In config.xml
<gap:url-scheme>
<scheme>app1scheme</scheme>
</gap:url-scheme>
Then from your other app you'll just have a link to app1scheme://, eg simply
Start App1
Here is the list of all the iOS/iPhone app url
Video - video:
Music - music:
Youtube - youtube.com
iTunes store - itms:
iBooks - itms-books:
App Store - itms-apps:
Mail sending - mailto:
Telephone - tel:
More can be found at this outdated link
http://www.wiki.akosma.com/IPhone_URL_Schemes
Look at this on how you can implement your's url
https://appurl.org/docs-handling-android
Need to use a plugin, unfortunately you need native ios code:
This one works:
https://github.com/phonegap/phonegap-plugins/tree/master/iOS/ExternalFileUtil
I am going to develop a iPhone application.
In that i need to run another iPhone app when the user clicks on the button.
Is it possible to run a iPhone app from another iPhone app?
If possible, Please let me know your inputs on this.
Thanks for any help.
[copy and paste of a previous answer I gave here for the click-averse]
You can use the url scheme built into iOS. For example, you could call Safari with a url because it is registered as the application which handles the http URL scheme
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:#"http://www.google.com/"]]
The openURL: method is an instance method of the singleton UIApplication instance, on which you can call any application installed which registers in its plist an ability to handle some sort of input data.
Here's a list of common url schemes in iOS.
A little known way to detect the existence of another application on a device is to use canOpenURL: on the same singleton instance:
if ([[UIApplication sharedApplication] canOpenURL:[NSURL URLWithString:#"cydia://"]])
{
NSLog(#"cydia installed");
}
else
{
NSLog(#"cydia not installed");
}
Only if that other app is already installed and run and has been designed to register a custom URL handler to itself with the OS.
The your app can run it by using that custom URL scheme.
If the app has a custom URL Schema and you know what it is, then it is possible to launch another app form yours.
When user pressed the button, your current app will close and run the new app..
Yea.. Its possible.. BUT you must know the "short link" of the other app.. I tried it before and even successfully transferred data from the lite version to the full version..
Its called url scheme..
Here's a link:
http://www.idev101.com/code/Objective-C/custom_url_schemes.html
Hope it can achieve what you want..