Cordova / Ionic - Download file from InAppBrowser - ios

Question

The scenario goes like this: I open a website in InAppBrowser, after the user ends with the work over there, the site generates a .pdf for the user to download, the problem is that the pdf does not download, it opens it in the browser.
Is there a way to make it download from the InAppBrowser? I'm currently working on an iOS app, so the solution would be better for iOS.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Following #jcesarmobile advices this is what I came up with:
First I had to install the cordova-plugin-file-transfer
Open URL
var url = "http://mi-fancy-url.com";
var windowref = window.open(url, '_blank', 'location=no,closebuttoncaption=Cerrar,toolbar=yes,enableViewportScale=yes');
Create a listener on that windowref for a loadstart event and check if what's being loaded is a pdf (that's my case).
windowref.addEventListener('loadstart', function(e) {
var url = e.url;
var extension = url.substr(url.length - 4);
if (extension == '.pdf') {
var targetPath = cordova.file.documentsDirectory + "receipt.pdf";
var options = {};
var args = {
url: url,
targetPath: targetPath,
options: options
};
windowref.close(); // close window or you get exception
document.addEventListener('deviceready', function () {
setTimeout(function() {
downloadReceipt(args); // call the function which will download the file 1s after the window is closed, just in case..
}, 1000);
});
}
});
Create the function that will handle the file download and then open it:
function downloadReceipt(args) {
var fileTransfer = new FileTransfer();
var uri = encodeURI(args.url);
fileTransfer.download(
uri, // file's uri
args.targetPath, // where will be saved
function(entry) {
console.log("download complete: " + entry.toURL());
window.open(entry.toURL(), '_blank', 'location=no,closebuttoncaption=Cerrar,toolbar=yes,enableViewportScale=yes');
},
function(error) {
console.log("download error source " + error.source);
console.log("download error target " + error.target);
console.log("upload error code" + error.code);
},
true,
args.options
);
}
The problem i'm facing now is the path where it downloads, I just can't open it. But well, at least file is now downloaded. I will have to create a localStorage item to save the paths for different files.
Many validations are missing in this steps, this was just an example I made quickly to check if it works. Further validations are needed.

Answer 2

Open you window using IAB plugin and add an event listener
ref = window.open(url, "_blank");
ref.addEventListener('loadstop', loadStopCallBack);
In the InAppBrowser window call the action using https://xxx.pdf">documentName
Implement the loadStopCallBack function
function loadStopCallBack(refTemp) {
if(refTemp.url.includes('downloadDoc')) {
rtaParam = getURLParams('downloadDoc', refTemp.url);
if(rtaParam != null)
downloadFileFromServer(rtaParam);
return;
}
}
function getURLParams( name, url ) {
try {
if (!url)
url = location.href;
name = name.replace(/[\[]/, "\\\[").replace(/[\]]/, "\\\]");
var regexS = "[\\?&]" + name + "=([^&#]*)";
var regex = new RegExp(regexS);
var results = regex.exec(url);
return results == null ? null : results[1];
} catch (e) {
showSMS(e);
return null;
}
}
After create a download method
function downloadFileFromServer(fileServerURL){
try {
var Downloader = window.plugins.Downloader;
var fileName = fileServerURL.substring(fileServerURL.lastIndexOf("/") + 1);
var downloadSuccessCallback = function(result) {
console.log(result.path);
};
var downloadErrorCallback = function(error) {
// error: string
console.log(error);
};
//TODO cordova.file.documentsDirectory for iOS
var options = {
title: 'Descarga de '+ fileName, // Download Notification Title
url: fileServerURL, // File Url
path: fileName, // The File Name with extension
description: 'La descarga del archivo esta lista', // Download description Notification String
visible: true, // This download is visible and shows in the notifications while in progress and after completion.
folder: "Download" // Folder to save the downloaded file, if not exist it will be created
};
Downloader.download(options, downloadSuccessCallback, downloadErrorCallback);
} catch (e) {
console.log(e);
}
}
you can get the plugin here https://github.com/ogarzonm85/cordova-plugin-downloader
it Works and was too easy