I've been developing an application for the Business for which I work, and thus far, I have succeeded in making each page mobile/desktop compliant using a combination of media queries and IE conditional comments, but the "locations" page has me stumped.
I want the address of each location to serve as a link which will be treated the way different MIME types are treated. Android seems to have this functionality covered with "intents" IE
geo:0,0?address
This also works on my N9, though from my testing using the iOS simulator, that can't open a "geo:" link. Is there a cross-browser way to create this functionality?
Thanks!
Related
I am building an Android & iOS App that has a video player, I am using one video hosting site(Wistia) for my videos. All videos are domain restricted, which means those will be played on a listed domain. The videos are getting properly played inside the web app(As we have allowed the video to be played for that domain) but I am not able to play those in my Android/iOS app.
Note: When I remove domain restriction from the video, then I am able to play the video in my app.
Can someone help me to find the domain of my Android app? Where should I define it in the code?
Below is the Wistia embedded code:
<script src="https://fast.wistia.com/embed/medias/j4q2kxdfd4.jsonp" async></script><script src="https://fast.wistia.com/assets/external/E-v1.js" async></script><span class="wistia_embed wistia_async_j4q2kxdfd4 popover=true popoverAnimateThumbnail=true" style="display:inline-block;height:84px;position:relative;width:150px"> </span>
Thank you.
Wistia is targeted at websites - they did have an iOS mobile app in the past but this was aimed more at contact owners, I believe, and is not supported anymore, either way.
They highlight this in their documentation (at time of writing):
Mobile OS Support
Most mobile devices only support HTML5 playback, which is Wistia’s default for mobile. This includes Android phones and tablets (4.1 and up), and iOS devices like iPhones and iPads.
To include Wistia in an app, the most recent way I have seen recommended by Wistia is to use a WebView and the standard embed code. This will allow you use the usual domain restrictions you have set.
The domain checking feature is most likely using the 'origin' or the 'referrer' field in the HTTPS request to determine the site the embed code is being used in. It is possible it is using a more complex mechanism than this but I think you will have to contact Wistia directly if and ask for support of that is the case.
Assuming it is this mechanism, you can look at the request headers in a browser inspector. For example, taking a site that uses Wistia and looks at the requests you will see something like this:
I've hidden the exact site name but both the origin and the referrer are the same top level domain name for the site hosting the videos.
The website on a mobile app will work the same way but if you are using a WebView in an Android app you will need to set the fields yourself, You may need to experiment as there seems to be different approaches but this is a good starting point: https://stackoverflow.com/a/5342527/334402
If you set these headers to a domain that is included in your set of allowed domains and the video still will not play then I think you will need to contact Wistia support directly.
I'm trying to do some simple website application for displaying my website and add some specific functionality to it.
My idea is to do something like Facebook app for mobile. Simply I need to display a website and replace File input - users should be able to capture a picture from camera or pick it from gallery (multiple select) and attach it to a post.
TL;DR;
Check images in the bottom.
What I have tried:
Using Cordova with Camera and Image picker plugin and displaying webpage in InnAppBrowser
Taking pictures with camera and picking pictures from gallery and then uploading them to server - there is a lot of examples of it.
What troubles I have found:
InnAppBrowser is forced fullscreen so I cannot resize it and place some buttons for picking pictures under it.
What do I need:
I just need to somehow attach images (from gallery or camera) to form file input or upload them to some kind of api instead - the api would process images on server and return some IDs which I can use instead of file input in the form on page to attach images to the post. Some hidden input where I would just insert IDs of uploaded images to be attached to the post (I'd write some if conditions into my PHP script).
I need my application to be multi-platform (Android, IOS, WP) so that is the reason I'm using Apache Cordova. I've tried lot of solutions and I've searched like for 5 hours. But I wasn't able to find anything useful.
Have somebody some experience in this way? Did somebody make some kind of that application?
If you can suggest any solution (it is not important to be a Cordova but it must be multiplatform) I'd be glad!
Thanks for your time!
Images
There is screen of desktop version with normal file input:
There is my vision of mobile application version with camera and image picker option right under web browser:
I guess I was not clear. The technical answer is Cordova/Phonegap are not for creating website applications. This means technically there is no "correct way" to do what you are asking.
For a website applications, all the pages are rendered from the website and controlled from the webpage/webbrowser.
For a mobile application, all the pages that the application can directly control are rendered on the mobile device. However, pages can be rendered (and/or created) from either the server or the mobile application, but the control of the page stays with the side that rendered (or created) the page. There is clear line between the two sides that can be moved, but at the *peril* of the programmer. (There are no points for being clever here, only added security issues.)
However, the Cordova and Phonegap do have plugins.The entire purpose is to use plugins to make certain task easier. However, there is a clear line between the phone and the website. To be clear on this last part, this means that all of the "plugin services" on the phone (accelerometer, contact list, etc.) are directly available to the application, and not the website. However, some of the "services" are also available as HTML5 APIs, such 'camera' and 'geolocation' – mixing the two is dangerous. The HTML5 APIs should remain on the webserver side, if used. The UX is different for HTML5. (I will not discuss HTML5 APIs any further, as they are beyond the scope of this discussion)
To make your idea work, you will need the following "core" (or equivalent third-party) plugins
file-transfer
camera (or equivalent)
inappbrowser
On the file-transfer and camera, you can do everything from the webserver, if you want. Then the only task for the end-user is to select the appropriate folder and image. If you do this from the server-side, then you CANNOT use the plugins.
If you want to use the plugins, then you cannot use a server-side generated webpage. You must create the form on the mobile device. This means the page and the form reside on the mobile device. However, if you write your webpage correctly you can dynamically add or delete elements. This means on the mobile side you have control over every step of the user experience and can enhance that experience.
On the inappbrowser, a common trick is to put the website in an iframe. However, you have no direct control on the iframe. Another common trick is to submit to the server via an API – then have the visible webpage update separately. Another common trick is to have a webpage with a websocket that could handle the webpage update. However, this could also be done with a push to the webpage, or have the webpage do polling of the server. Again, the App has NO direct control of the webpage.
This entire thread makes the following assumptions.
There is no "correct way" to do this task.
The images (photos) are stored on a website, and are publicly available for viewing.
It also assumes that no HTML5 APIs will be used.
If I interpreted your problem statement correctly, I believe what you are looking for is access to device native services - camera & gallery - from your mobile website.
A solution that fits your design requirements is for the browser to provide such services. Unfortunately WebKit and other browsers limit such support to things like Geoposition.
The way for Cordova to help you here is if your mobile website is an stand alone HTML5/CSS/JS application that can use CORS XHR or WebSockets to communicate with webindependent Web Services.
If you can bottle your website into a set of static html/js/css files that display content from dynamic web services then you are set. That same javascript can then call navigator.camera.getPicture(success, fail, options) and file-transfer the result to a waiting web service.
That camera api is not available to the InAppBrowser just as it is not available to WebKit Chrome/Safari/Edge. Trying to control the Mobile App via the InAppBrowser is most likely to fail due to security constraints.
What you might get away with is re-imaging your browser application as a series of discrete services that return raw html snippets suited for a new mobile app. Then write your Cordova app as the top level container that manages the navigation amongst the html snippets. This server-side rendering would be most useful if it was significantly challenging enough to overwhelm the mobile platform / web services pattern (think custom video server or expert system).
#Jakub,
Cedric has essentially stated it plainly. I will restate. You understanding about Cordova/Phonegap is not correct.
From: Top Mistakes by Developers new to Cordova/Phonegap
You have hit issue #5.
I QUOTE:
From Phonegap FAQ
A PhoneGap application may only use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. However, you can make use of network protocols (XmlHTTPRequest, Web Sockets, etc) to easily communicate with backend services written in any language. This allows your PhoneGap app to remotely access existing business processes while the device is connected to the Internet.
In addition, Apple frowns on using apps as wrappers for websites.
Quote Apple iTunes Guidelines - 2.12
Apps that are not very useful, unique, are simply web sites bundled as Apps, or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be rejected
To be clear, your idea may be valid, but you will likely need to rethink your internal workflow. You likely want to keep the same UI and UX.
We make industrial machinery and ship it with Android devices (just like cellphones without the phone) with an installed app that we write to remotely control our equipment from the factory floor.
One customer requested that we interface to some of their equipment which they expose through a web server. I added a feature to our Android code which invokes the native web browser on our device. This works but they want the URL the browser is pointing-to be be hardcoded (or hidden) so their workers can't alter it. Is there a way to do this programmatically from our app?
Alternatively I could use a WebView. When I experimented using WebViews here at our shop on various commercial web pages, getting the scaling correct for any arbitrary web page was problematic. What would I need to know about the customer's web page to make sure a WebView would work with their page?
EDIT: Several responders have suggested a WebView and giving the user the option to manually scale it. The users are factory workers in a production setting, so making them take time to scale would probably not please the customer, and besides they're wearing gloves - all the controls we expose are "fat" buttons - so scaling would be hard. Really this should look right the first time they see it. The customer's production facility is on a LAN on the other side of a firewall in another country so I can't access it from here. Do I need to be able to reproduce it locally do do this right?
In this case, I would definitely use the webview. There's just not going to be a way for you to prevent the native browser from potentially changing URLs.
To handle zooming you could just let the users zoom appropriately for themselves:
webview.getSettings().setBuiltInZoomControls(true);
I don't believe you can block the native browser from accessing other url's, so WebView is your best bet.
About what you need to check, I'd simply check if their website is scaling properly on mobile devices. If it does, it should behave the same in a WebView. Simply visit the website from a mobile phone/tablet or have a look at their page's code.
Providing the ability for the user to zoom as suggested by iismathwizard is an excellent idea as well.
Best of luck ;)
I have built an application using phone gap, and plan to release the app for Apple iOS and Android OS.
The app it's self is fairly simple, and is essentially a glorified HTML website with a few jQuery mobile add-ins for slide functionality etc.
The client have an existing document management system which under request I have amended to be compatible for mobile displays. This being so that users can write notes and save them directly into the system from their phones.
The web document management system is restricted by login and locked out to a select group of static IPs, and because the App is going public, the want the functionality with the database to be limited to the same contraints as the web system...
To all intents and purposes, they want it to be an iframe within the app. So hey, this is what I did... iFrame complete and hey presto works a dream, oh wait, non of the form features work. I can't file upload or anything like this :/
So I tried using but no such luck here :/ same issues.
Over the weekend I looked into http://docs.phonegap.com/en/2.2.0/guide_cordova-webview_android.md.html but this looks to be completely in the wrong direction.
I've been looking all weekend for iFrame alternatives that will retain functionality, and am still looking as we speak.
Can I emphasise that this functionality works in the web system on Chrome for Android, Android native browser and also iOS's safari browser.
I essentially need a way of creating something like an iframe, but with the functionality of the native browsers :/ = bamboozled...
I have a number of Drupal 7 websites (http://drupal.org) that have a mobile theme with JQuery mobile (http://jquerymobile.com/) for users browsing with smart phones or tablets. Although this provides a great mobile experience I would like to create an app for the Android and Iphone that uses a few built in features for content creation (mainly just the camera on node creation). I have eclipse and the android emulators all installed and have an installation of Phonegap working for Android testing. Here is where I need some advice on the best approach to my particular problem.
Basically each app can be almost entirely just a webview (easy), but I do need 2 features which should add enough uniqueness to make it able to get approved in the MAC app store.
Ability to add nodes using a REST service (along with phonegap) have access to the use phone’s camera to populate an image field.
A start or front-page has a fast login, and allows instant access to add content (all assets stored locally on phone, so even if the phone is offline, this page will still come up).
Ability to go from the regular mobile site (webview) back to the local node creation page (with access to the camera) or frontage.
Ability to pass something to the webview so I can hide content creation links that access the web version of node creation forms (which would not have the camera for example).
Here is where I’m confused. I don’t want to recreate the entire site and retrieve all the data using services (lots of tutorials and stuff I’ve seen are doing this including DrupalGap - http://drupal.org/project/drupalgap). That seems like a ton of redundant work that will require lots of continuous updates when the site is upgraded and changed with no real gain other than speed (For this it’s ok that it won’t be as fast).
For my mobile apps, when a user wants to view their profile, look at various pages etc, that should all happen in a webview, I only need services and the typical approach to mobile development for the front page, authentication and node creation. The rest should happen in a webview. So what is the best way to switch between adding nodes and authentication using a service and just going to a regular webview? Should I try embedding a webview in a page and having a small menu on the top that doesn’t’ change which links to the add content and login?
How do I setup the session for both the webview content and the service? Or how I can I force authentication through REST and then pass that on to the webview?
You don’t have to answer each one of those directly, I would just like some tips to get me started in the right direction. So far I’m thinking I create a “frontpage” for the app with all it’s assets stored locally on the phone, which has a login which authenticates through a web service (REST). After you login it shows the link to add nodes and a link to view the webview. The big question is how I use the same session for both and how to navigate between the 2 well?
I accomplished the goals stated above, by have the login use a REST service via jquery mobile in a regular html page (like this tutorial http://tylerfrankenstein.com/code/android-app-with-drupal-7-services-phonegap-and-jquery-mobile) this is also where the create content links can be placed. When you want the user to be able to open the "regular" mobile website and already be logged in, use the childbrowser phonegap plugin (https://build.phonegap.com/docs/plugins). Users can close the childbrowser and go back to the main dashboard by clicking the X, or you can create a listener that responds to them vising a specific URL (like the homepage).