Allow access to weblink only via native iOS and Android apps - javascript

I have website link at which I have designed a html/javascript web app. I used iOS and Android app to create an app that encapsulates the web app.
Is there a way to block access to the website link and only allow access to the website link only thru the native apps calling the link.
In short safari, IE, Chrome must not be able to access the link, but the iPhone & Android app should be able to access it.
Is there some way to tell that the app is accessing the site and not the phone or pc browsers.
I am sure there a number of ways to implement this.
Thanks,

It depends on how is the web app implemented. Since native Web Views are pretty much the wrapper for the standard browser (Safari/Chrome), you will find it tough to filter it based on that.
What you can do, however, is to add an extra GET variable (for ex. &ref=youruniquecodehere) or a custom User-Agent, based on which you will be able to identify, whether your application authorized the request (with a proper access code) or if it's a generic request using browser.
However, both of these options can still be bypassed if researched, although it'd require slightly more time. Not sure whether a solution that would work in 100% of cases exists.
Hope that helps, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Related

Create an extension to the browser to acces local scanner

I would like to access a special hardware (a penta scanner, for the wisest ;) ) from a web page.
The aim is to retrieve the information from the scanner and compute it on server side.
The problem here, is that I have to summon functions from a DLL that has to be on the client side. I have two leads for that:
Develop a COM DLL and use ActiveX
Try to get through a homemade extension for a web browser in order to communicate with the local DLLs.
I've tried the first option, and I got stuck and I've posted another thread about it. Anyway, even if it works, there are too many constraints about it (as to use IE or the fact that even Microsoft is not fond of this feature and banned it from edge).
The second method is something that I found on another forum but, I do not understand how I can interact with a browser extension (whatever the browser).
So what I am asking is:
Is it possible to use a web browser extension as a medium to a local DLL and if so, would you be so kind as to give a hint about how to do ar anything that might look like a start about how to do it (even just some key words to use on google, since mine didn't get anything)....
Thanks.
Based on my understanding, the motive to develop an Extensions is to enhance the feature and functionality for particular web browser.
You cannot control any hardware devices like printer or scanner with it.
So if your goal is to control the scanner from your web page with the help of any kind of extension than I think you cannot do this with Extension.

Check if app is installed from webpage

I have an iOS and Android app and I'm building a corresponding website. I would like that the webpage, if opened using a mobile device, opens the app or its corresponding app store page (without using Facebook app links).
On the app side everything is working, including the url schema.
Does someone know how to implement this procedure, without external services, using HTML and JS?
Thanks in advance for your help.
To be honest, this is kind of a pain to implement on your own. There is no easy way to handle everything without a ton of nasty edge cases, most notably the 'Cannot Open Page" error users will see if they don't have your app installed. Until iOS 9, a reasonable basic implementation was putting a JavaScript redirect like this into a dedicated redirect page on your site:
setTimeout(function() {
window.location = "https://yourdomain.com";
}, 25);
// If "yourapp://" is registered, the user will see a dialog
// asking if they want to open your app. If they agree, your
// app will launch immediately and the timer won't fire.
// If not installed, you'll get an ugly "Cannot Open Page"
// dialogue and your fallback page will open when the timer expires.
window.location = "yourapp://";
Unfortunately this would still show a 'Cannot Open Page' error, but until recently it was possible to get around this in a reasonably user-friendly way by using a more nuanced version of this script. Sadly, Apple intentionally broke that with the iOS 9.2 update, so custom URL schemes are actually pretty much useless for deep linking now, unless you are certain the app is already installed on that device.
Apple is obviously trying to push the newer Universal Links standard as much as possible. Universal Links lets you use a normal http:// URL to a page on your website (the page could be a simple redirection to your desired fallback webpage without the custom URL trigger that causes the 'Cannot Open Page' error), which is intercepted by your phone and sent directly into your app if installed.
This is quite a lot to handle, so the best option might be a free service like Branch.io (full disclosure: I work with the team) to take care of all the technical aspects. You can find examples of apps using the Branch service here.

<a href="fb//"> open post/video Link in native App? [duplicate]

Some dev blogs have published information about the "fb://" url scheme for opening various views in the Facebook iPhone App. No matter how much I've searched, I haven't found one word from any official Facebook source about this.
Since the information is public anyways, I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd like to know, whether using this url scheme is officially approved, am I allowed to use it, does it work correctly, and if it's not approved, will it be and what's the approximate schedule for that?
Thanks in advance for any info on this subject!
It's there to support the iOS push notification system (i.e. you get a push notification that says "Friend's Name tagged you in a photo", and you tap on it, it takes you straight to the photo).
I'd assume it's not intended for third party use and therefore subject to change. Hell, Facebook's public-facing APIs are subject to change on a whim anyhow, so I'd be especially cautious about something they hadn't documented.
It's for iOS only. The iOS API lets you define you own URL scheme, so Facebook must have developed their application to register the fb:// URL scheme on iOS devices. It's not a feature that was created by Apple, it's something you, the developer, can make up.
Here are some resources you can investigate
The Facebook iOS SDK
Here on StackOverflow
A tutorial on how it works (not Facebook-specific)
You can use it from your own applications on iOS, but only if the Facebook application is installed. There are, however, plugins and browser extensions out there that mimic the behavior by handling the fb:// schema on your desktop browser.

Can a website (HTML5,JavaScript) access a mobile device's (android/iPhone) contact list, SDCard files

Can a website (HTML5,JavaScript) access a mobile device's (android/iPhone)
contact list, SDCard files?
A website as in one opened in a browser not a phonegap application/webapp.
There was an attempt at the W3C to create a browser API to access contacts from the browser.
This is often mentioned as one of the new HTML5 APIs.
However the attempt never became a real specification and never got implemented by any browser vendors. Now it is officially discontinued:
http://www.w3.org/TR/contacts-api/
You can't access the mobile device file system through a website, it would be a major security problem. You might be able to steal all user files if you can access them through the browser. Hope this helps.
At this point in time there is no way to access the internal APIs from Android, iOS and Windows Phone via a simple website. This also precludes you from accessing aspects such as the contact list because these are all only accessible via API calls.
Solutions that allow you to code phone apps or web apps in JavaScript or HTML5 and still grant access to APIs do so by utilizing a wrapper with calls back to the native code. But you can't call native code from an external source such as a website.
Chrome has since shipped their own version of a "Contact Picker" HTML5 API in Chrome 80: https://web.dev/contact-picker.
Chrome only: it is not a W3C Standard nor is it on the W3C Standards Track.
selectRecipientsButton.addEventListener('click', async () => {
const contacts = await navigator.contacts.select(['name', 'email'], {multiple: true});
if (!contacts.length) {
// No contacts were selected in the picker.
return;
}
// Use the names and e-mail addresses in |contacts| to populate the
// recipients field in the website’s UI.
populateRecipients(contacts);
});
Am not so sure if the author of this question will still be interested in a solution but I use this on my apps, its really a handy way of access native api from html5 apps. http://bridgeit.mobi/bridgeit.html#features
BridgeIt enables any web application to access a wide range of mobile device capabilities using a simple JavaScript API.
Using this tool is as easy as 1, 2, 3…
Include the BridgeIt JavaScript in your page
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://api.bridgeit.mobi/bridgeit/bridgeit.js"></script>
Attach a BridgeIt call to some action element on your page, and provide a callback to handle returned values from BridgeIt. For instance, a button to retrieve a contact from the address book...
bridgeit.fetchContact('element_ID', callback_Function);
Access the page from your mobile browser. If the BridgeIt utility app is not already installed, you will be prompted to do so. Once the BridgeIt utility app is installed, your application can access all of BridgeIt's native features.
Example code can be found here https://github.com/bridgeit/bridgeit.js/wiki/Contact-List-Tutorial
https://developers.google.com/people/
You can't access Contacts by website stored on phone, but you can do it server side using People API. If user stored everything on the cloud - you win. Perhaps this is only way to provide native-like experience on your website
You can access address book using Autofill feature of safari browser in iOS devices (but settings > safari > autofill > contact info must be turn on). And the name field in must be "name, email, phone, tel, etc" to get autofill works properly. It works only in Safari but not in other browsers.
Using pure HTML
<input type="file">
you can access files from mobile device,but you cant access contact.

Save site as a mobile shortcut android

I spent a lot of time to search for solution but without result.
I check this topics :
Website Bookmark/ Shortcut Icon for Android Help. Cant get passed standard ribbon icon
Whick is very nice ,but here user must click on bookmark.That`s not what i need. May be button,or automatic script that prompt user for this and created automaticaly.For example something like this :
http://socialmedia.biz/2012/02/21/encourage-visitors-to-save-your-site-as-a-mobile-shortcut/
But it`s work only on Apple devices .. What im looking for is a similar solution for android.
Is this possible at all?
May be the only solution is to create simple app that act like a shortcut to my web page?
The page that is talking about has a mobile version ..
Have you looked here [for Chrome]? https://developers.google.com/chrome/mobile/docs/installtohomescreen
May be the only solution is to create simple app that act like a shortcut to my web page? The page that is talking about has a mobile version ..
If this is "allowed" and doesn't go against too many guidelines, this might be your only option. Basically you'd want to create a one Activity application and all it does is call the default Intent for your web page. This should push the user into the default Browser.
You could put the app in the Google Play store and link to it from the site or a script. I'd call the app something like "SITE_NAME Web Shortcut" and make it clear in the description that the only purpose is to launch the browser -- as previously mentioned this doesnt "feel" like something that should be in an app store, and if users think they're getting something extra you'll definitely get bad reviews.
(I'd also make the Activity with #style/Theme.Transparent)
Please be aware that Chrome has changed the way that installs web apps.
Here are the details: https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2018/06/a2hs-updates
There is an install criteria now:
The web app is not already installed
Meets a user engagement heuristic
Be served over HTTPS
Includes a Web App Manifest that includes:
short_name or name
icons - must include a 192px and a 512px icon
start_url
display - must be one of fullscreen, standalone, or minimal-ui
prefer_related_applications must not be present, or be false
-Registers a service worker with a fetch handler

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