Question

I’m using handleOpenURL() for a Custom URL Scheme to launch my app from a link in an email. Works perfectly and I can do stuff in my app based on the URL parameters in the link.

The problem is handleOpenURL() doesn’t seem to get call when my app does a cold start (not running in the background). Is there another handler that I can use for a cold start vs an already running instance?

OR

Is there a global variable that I can read that will tell me what the invoke URL was? I read about invokeString, but it never seems to be set?

I’m using PhoneGap 2.0

Answer 1

if you read carefully the comment above the application:handleOpenURL method, you will probably understand:

// this happens while we are running ( in the background, or from within our own app )
// only valid if Calinda-Info.plist specifies a protocol to handle
- (BOOL) application:(UIApplication*)application handleOpenURL:(NSURL*)url

This methods will not be called if the application is not running. My solution was to tweak project with the following changes:

MainViewController.h

@interface MainViewController : CDVViewController
@property (nonatomic, retain) NSString *URLToHandle;
@end

MainViewController.m

- (void) webViewDidFinishLoad:(UIWebView*) theWebView 
{
     if (self.URLToHandle)
     {         
         NSString* jsString = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"window.setTimeout(function() {handleOpenURL(\"%@\"); },1);", self.URLToHandle];
         [theWebView stringByEvaluatingJavaScriptFromString:jsString];
     }
     [...]
}

- (void)dealloc
{
    self.URLToHandle = nil;
    [super dealloc];
}

@synthesize URLToHandle;

AppDelegate.m

- (BOOL) application:(UIApplication*)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary*)launchOptions
{   
    [...]
    self.viewController = [[[MainViewController alloc] init] autorelease];
    self.viewController.useSplashScreen = YES;
    self.viewController.wwwFolderName = @"www";
    self.viewController.startPage = @"index.html";
    self.viewController.view.frame = viewBounds;

    // Patch for handleOpenURL
    ((MainViewController *)self.viewController).URLToHandle = URLToHandle;

    [...]
}

Hope that helps.

Cyril

Additional note: when testing make sure you stop xcode. When xcode was running application would throw an exception. if I stop the xcode this solution works fine.