intent filter for ical URLs

Question

I'm trying to register my Android app as a handler for iCal URLs. To do this I set intent filters in my Manifest for the webcal:// pseudo protocol and for HTTP URLs using the text/calendar MIME type (see below).

This works perfectly fine in the emulator, but on a real device I'm having problems. The webcal:// filter works, but the text/calendar one doesn't. Instead the Browser displays the ical file as plain text instead of passing the URL to my app.

I checked that the browser isn't configured as a default handler for ical (in Settings->Applications->Browser) and I asked a few other people if they could reproduce the problem on their mobiles. All with the same result.

What's the correct way to register for text/calendar URLs?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  package="org.splitbrain.giraffe"
  android:versionName="0.31" android:versionCode="4">
<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="4" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"></uses-permission>

<application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name" android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Light.NoTitleBar">
    <activity android:label="@string/app_name" android:name="MainActivity">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
        <intent-filter>
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE"></category>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW"></action>
            <data android:mimeType="text/calendar" android:scheme="http"></data>
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"></category>
        </intent-filter>
        <intent-filter>
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE"></category>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW"></action>
            <data android:scheme="webcal"></data>
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"></category>
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
    <activity android:name="OptionsActivity"></activity>
    <activity android:name="DetailActivity"></activity>
    <activity android:name="AboutActivity"></activity>

</application>
</manifest>

Update: Turns out the above works fine in the Android 1.6 emulator, but not on a 2.3.3 emulator where it shows the same behavior as on my phone. Is this a bug in Android maybe?

Is it possible the server is not accurately sending down the correct Content-Type? If it isn't, the browser might just interpret it as plain text. You might have better luck with a path intent filter too that regexes *.ical — Greg Giacovelli, Jul 21 '11 at 05:10
Yes, the server sends the correct mime-type. Here's the URL I use for testing: http://re-publica.de/11/rp2011.ics — Andreas Gohr, Jul 21 '11 at 09:41
Have you tried another filter with the path parameter approach for *.ics? If that doesn't work is it possible you have the default app set to be the browser so that it doesn't prompt anymore? — Greg Giacovelli, Jul 22 '11 at 05:43

Moog · Answer 1 · 2014-03-27T19:30:53.627

Just use the DEFAULT category, the BROWSABLE category is might be causing the problem.

Add a .*.ics path pattern to capture any files that have been given the wrong mime type by the server

Put all the data matching into the same filter

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  package="org.splitbrain.giraffe"
  android:versionName="0.31" android:versionCode="4">
<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="4" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"></uses-permission>

<application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name" android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Light.NoTitleBar">
    <activity android:label="@string/app_name" android:name="MainActivity">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
            <data android:mimeType="text/calendar" />
            <data android:scheme="webcal" />
            <data android:pathPattern=".*.ics" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
    <activity android:name="OptionsActivity"></activity>
    <activity android:name="DetailActivity"></activity>
    <activity android:name="AboutActivity"></activity>

</application>
</manifest>

Nope. No difference. Even with the *.ics pathPattern and the rules exactly as you gave them, the browser continues to display the data instead handing the URL over to my application. — Andreas Gohr, Jul 25 '11 at 18:39
I believe that the expression you are looking for is: ".*.ics" see the docs for more info: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/data-element.html — TheIT, Mar 27 '14 at 03:46
@TheIT well spotted! This is an ancient post, but I hope somebody finds it useful. I'll update the answer. Should it not be `.*\.ics` to escape he second period? — Moog, Mar 27 '14 at 19:33

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 25 '11 at 19:05

0

I opened a bug report at https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=18796

answered Jul 25 '11 at 19:05

Andreas Gohr

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intent filter for ical URLs

2 Answers2