Direct link to App Store on iPad? - ipad

Is there an URL that will directly open an application in the App Store on the iPad without redirecting through Safari? I am interested in http:// links, not itms://, as I want them to be usable outside the device. The phobos links used on iPhone do not seem to work on the iPad.

My current workaround is this:
NSURLRequest *myRequest = theRequest;
NSURL *urlFromMyRequest = [theRequest URL];
NSRange foundPhobosServer = [[urlFromMyRequest host] rangeOfString:#"phobos.apple.com"];
NSRange foundItunesServer = [[urlFromMyRequest host] rangeOfString:#"itunes.apple.com"];
if(foundPhobosServer.location != NSNotFound || foundItunesServer.location != NSNotFound)
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[request URL]];
Basically I check the URL to see if it's coming from phobos.apple.com or itunes.apple.com. If it is, then I just ask the system to open it for me. The system can recognize if the URL is from the App Store and will do the right thing and open the App Store app.
Additional note: This will quit your app.

Related

Creating Custom URL Scheme in iOS using Objective C

I am working on custom URL scheme basically i am new with us functionality.
What i done before?
I implemented this successfully,i create simple url "myApp" now when i hit this url on safari like (myApp://) its launch my application.
My code
i used:
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application openURL:(NSURL *)url sourceApplication:(NSString *)sourceApplication annotation:(id)annotation
What i want?
Basically i want to implement two things that is:
when an user hit a link on safari if an application is installed on device,through that link application should launch.That point i already done successfully.
The second point which i can't done yet,after trying a lot but i couldn't found any solution yet,that is:
If an application is not installed on device that link should redirect to app store where user can installed application.
If it is possible,then please tell me how to do that,please refer me any link,example or your answer also help me.Thanks in advance
What you are describing is called Deep Linking. It's a very common app feature to implement — most apps have it — and conceptually, it seems like an easy thing to build. However, it's complicated to get right, and there are a lot of edge cases.
You basically need to accomplish two things:
If the app is installed: open the app and route users to the correct content inside it.
If the app is NOT installed: forward users to the App Store so they can download it. Ideally, also route users to the correct content inside the app after downloading (this is known as 'deferred deep linking').
While not required, you'll also probably want to track all of this activity so you can see what is working.
If the app is installed
Your existing custom URI scheme fits into this category. However, Apple has decided that custom URI schemes are not a good technology, and deprecated them with iOS 9 in favor of Universal Links.
Apple is right about this. Custom URI schemes have a number of problems, but these are the biggest:
There is no fallback if the app isn't installed. In fact, you get an error.
They often aren't recognized as links the user can click.
To work around these, it used to be possible to use a regular http:// link, and then insert a redirect on the destination page to forward the user to your custom URI scheme, thereby opening the app. If that redirect failed, you could then redirect users to the App Store instead, seamlessly. This is the part Apple broke in iOS 9 to drive adoption of Universal Links.
Universal Links are a better user experience, because they are http:// links by default and avoid nasty errors. However, they are hard to set up and still don't work everywhere.
To ensure your users end up inside the app when they have it installed, you need to support both Universal Links and a custom URI scheme, and even then there are a lot of edge cases like Facebook and Twitter which require special handling.
If the app is NOT installed
In this case, the user will end up on your http:// fallback URL. At this point, you have two options:
Immediately forward the user directly to the App Store.
Send the user to your mobile website (and then use something like a smart banner to give them the option of going to the App Store).
Most large brands prefer the second option. Smaller apps often go with the first approach, especially if they don't have a website.
To forward the user to the App Store, you can use a Javascript redirect like this:
<script type="text/javascript">
window.onload = function() {
window.location = "https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1121012049";
};
</script>
Until recently, it was possible to use a HTTP redirect for better speed, but Apple changed some behavior in Safari with iOS 10.3, so this no longer works as well.
Deferred deep linking
Unfortunately there's no native way to accomplish this last piece on either iOS or Android. To make this work, you need a remote server to close the loop. You can build this yourself, but you really shouldn't for a lot of reasons, not the least of which being you have more important things to do.
Bottom line
Deep linking is very complicated. Most apps today don't attempt to set it up by building an in-house system. Free hosted deep link services like Branch.io (full disclosure: they're so awesome I work with them) and Firebase Dynamic Links can handle all of this for you, and ensure you are always up to date with the latest standards and edge cases.
See here for a video overview I made of everything you need to know about this.
In AppDelegate.m call this:
-(BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)app openURL:(NSURL *)url options:(NSDictionary<UIApplicationOpenURLOptionsKey, id> *)options;{
NSLog(#"url recieved: %#", url);
NSLog(#"query string: %#", [url query]);
NSLog(#"host: %#", [url host]);
NSLog(#"url path: %#", [url path]);
NSDictionary *dict = [self parseQueryString:[url query]];
NSLog(#"query dict: %#", dict);
if ([[url host] isEqualToString:#"login"]) {
[self setupHomeScreen:NO type:#"" entityId:#""];
[self _endSession];
return YES;
} else if ([[url host] isEqualToString:#"smartoffice"]) {
NSMutableDictionary *result = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
NSRange needle = [url.absoluteString rangeOfString:#"?" options:NSCaseInsensitiveSearch];
NSString *data = nil;
if(needle.location != NSNotFound) {
NSUInteger start = needle.location + 1;
NSUInteger end = [url.absoluteString length] - start;
data = [url.absoluteString substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(start, end)];
}
for (NSString *param in [data componentsSeparatedByString:#"&"]) {
NSArray *keyvalue = [param componentsSeparatedByString:#"="];
if([keyvalue count] == 2){
[result setObject:[keyvalue objectAtIndex:1] forKey:[keyvalue objectAtIndex:0]];
}
}
NSString *entityID = ([result objectForKey:#"secondparameter"]);
NSString *type = [result objectForKey:#"parameter"];
[self setupHomeScreen:YES type:type entityId:entityID];
//[self setupHomeScreen:YES type:#"TASK" entityId:#"160315"];
return result;
} else {
NSLog(#"myApp is not installed");
[self setupHomeScreen:NO type:#"0" entityId:#"0"];
}
return NO;
}
Open Xcode, got to Project Settings -> Info, and add inside ‘The URL Types” section a new URL scheme.
That is the scheme ://resource. So we go ahead and type com.myApp://
Fo me its backofficeapp://
Now use this link on Safari
backofficeapp://smartoffice/1?parameter=TASK&secondparameter=157536
Where
parameter = “TASK”
secondparameter = “taskID” // #iOS Mobile 2020 = 157536
This parameter is for landing on a specific screen.
Remember this URL won’t work if the app is not installed.

Launch Podcast App With URL scheme

I'm trying to open the podcast app with a url like this
- (void)setupPodcast
{
NSLog(#"setup podcast");
NSString *str = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"pcast://podcasts.sdxme.org/RSS/default.aspx?ID=%ld", (long)[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] integerForKey:#"CustomerID"]];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:str]];
}
2015-10-18 23:45:11.367 [29302:1691034] LaunchServices: ERROR: There is no registered handler for URL scheme pcast
However it looks like the pcast scheme is no longer supported? How can I open my own XML feed in the podcast app?
As per Swift 4,
We should use the below url schemes to open podcasts app from our app.
Podcasts (Add Feed By URL) — podcast:// (you can also add a feed URL after to auto-populate it)
Podcasts (Browse) — pcast:// or itms-pcast:// or itms-pcasts:// or podcasts:// or itms-podcast:// or itms-podcasts:// (displays a "can't connect" error)
MacOS Majave needs pcast://
IOS podcast://
I believe Apple changed their recognized podcast scheme and you should now use 'feed://...'.

Skobbler (GPS Navigation) does not open at specified location

I have the following code for opening Skobbler at specified location:
- (void)openSkobblerWithLatitude:(double)latitude longitude:(double)longitude {
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:[NSString stringWithFormat:
#"hybridnavigation://cmd=mapOverview&latitude=%f&longitude=%f",
latitude,
longitude]];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:url];
}
It opens Skobbler, but the location is completely ignored. Is there something wrong with the URL or is this simply a bug in Skobbler?
Link for downloading Skobbler:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gps-navigation-sat-nav/id370144231?mt=8
EDIT: This is what the final URL looks like:
"hybridnavigation://cmd=mapOverview&latitude=49.010066&longitude=8.396355"
I contacted skobbler's support and they confirmed that this is a bug on their side:
The command line integration does not work with the current version of the app. This problem will be fixed with the upcoming update. (At the moment, I cannot tell you an exact release date.)

Add address annotation when finding route via google maps api

I'm using google maps to get directions from one place to another. Here is the code
NSString *mapAPIString = [NSString stringWithFormat:#"http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=%f,%f&daddr=%f,%f",
sourceAddress.coordiate.latitude,
sourceAddress.coordiate.longitude,
destAddress.coordiate.latitude,
destAddress.coordiate.longitude,
];
NSURL *url = [[NSURL alloc] initWithString:mapAPIString];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:url];
The code works perfect. But both addresses are marked as 'Unknown address' in iOS Map App. Is it possible to add custom title for each address ?
iOS 6 is still under NDA, but if you have access to the docs have a look at them and you will probably find useful information for this problem.

iPad: How to generate an HTML file programmatically and view it?

I want to generate some program output and display it in Safari.
Alternatively I could display it in a UIWebView if there were a simple method for providing a Print button and then have printing occur.
Currently my approach is to save my HTML to a file, generate a full path, and then try to invoke Safari like so:
NSString *str = [[NSString alloc] initWithUTF8String: htmlpath];
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString: str];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:url];
But this is not working. Can somebody tell me what I'm doing wrongly? Thanks.
Apps in iOS are sandboxed, so Safari cannot access the contents of your app.
If you simply want to print it, I suggest you use a UIWebView.

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