Can I set a URL scheme for an Android viewer app?

Hello Paul,

The custom URL scheme is offered by the iOS platform and not for android.

You will not find this option in Dps app builder for android.

Can you add this feature to the request list?

We'd definitely appreciate a custom URL scheme solution for Android (and Windows 8.1 while we're at it).

Directly linking to app (and specific articles) is a powerful feature we'd like to use across all platforms.

I'll add it to the list for both Android and Windows, however it's unlikely to get done any time soon.

Neil

I'm waiting for it too.

Neil, is there any news?

No news, sorry. We do not have plans to add this to the native viewer at this point.

Neil

Have you tried linking using the "market://" prefix? You should be able to use several methods to link to an Android app. You just can't do any deep linking based on a custom URL scheme that you can do in iOS viewers.

Linking to Your Products | Android Developers

Bob, "market://" prefix is working, but it will launch Google Play and not the app. I'm using direct entitlement with banner and web form, so i need a way to return to my app from the web browser.

Sad to hear it, Neil. We need this solution for Windows and Android.

As far as i know, both systems have this capability as well.

Enabling Deep Links for App Content | Android Developers

Connect your website to your Windows Store app (Windows)

If you just want to launch an external app you don't need anything from the viewer to do that as far as I know. Just make a hyperlink with the correctly formatted URL.

You can't, however, do a link to another DPS app that dives directly into a folio or article.

Neil

Neil, may you please provide me with example of such link?

I read back up your post and you're trying to do DE sign-up via an external website? I would just tell your readers to use the device's hardware back button to return to your app, or use a full custom store to integrate the account creation experience into the app. Relying on OS-level app URLs to try and get back to the app seems fragile and tough to get working.

Neil

Yes, i'm using it for DE sign up and subscription purchase. The process takes about 5 steps in browser. When user finishes all the steps, back button doesn't return to the app. It works just like Back button in browser. To return to the app user need to push it 5-6 times, so this is not a solution. Off course, i can give text instruction, what to do next. But return URL will be better solution for this case. And in iOS - again - it works this way.

Ok I went next door and talked to a dev, and I was wrong about this on Android. We are not registering a custom URL scheme so there is no way to trigger the app via a hyperlink from a webpage.

Neil

So this is doable assuming you have access to the native Android code in the app you are linking from. You can use the package name for your DPS Android application to launch it. You won't be able to use deep linking or anything like that, but you will be able to launch to the Library.

See the following github project as a reference for a Cordova / Phonegap plugin that does this for you (if you are not using Cordova / Phonegap, then I linked to the source as well). The Cordova Launcher plugin will let you determine if the device is able to launch an app via package. You can then decide whether you want to launch the app w/ the package or you want to push the user to the app store to download the application. Both of these options can be handled w/ the Launcher plugin.

If you want to push the user to the app store then use something like : market://details?id=[package name]

Cordova Launcher Plugin : nchutchind/App-Launcher-Cordova-Plugin · GitHub

Android Source Code (Reference if not using Cordova / Phonegap)  App-Launcher-Cordova-Plugin/Launcher.java at master · nchutchind/App-Launcher-Cordova-Plugin · GitHub: