Homepage shortcuts...

[Jon.Jeffery]

I'm trying to create a nice shortcut to open a hosted FM database in Go, to be saved on the device's Homepage.

FIrst I tried a page with a <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0,url=fmp7://host/databases.fp7"> redirect.

This worked, but the redirect is obviously instantaneous, and the user doesn't have a chance to save the link before being moved to Go.

I could increase the delay to, say twenty seconds, to give an on-the-ball user the chance to 'Add to Home Screen', but then this gives the same delay every time you open the page from your home page.

Ideally, I'd like a webpage that could sense if it was being opened from the Safari browser bar or from a Homepage bookmark, and either prompt the user to 'Add to Home Screen', or go straight to the FM database, depending.

One way to do this would be to use the iOS 'app mode' -- where a link saved to the Homepage can be told to run the web page as an iOS application, and not within Safari. This difference can easily be detected by PHP or by Javascript, and the page behaviour adjusted appropriately -- i.e. if in Safari we give a prompt, if in app mode we just bounce straight to fmp7://host/database.fp7

Just one problem -- in app mode, iOS seen to block redirects to fmp7 URLs, although I can't find any documentation on this behaviour. It is perfectly happy to redirect to an http address, so <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=http://www.google.com"> works, but not <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=fmp7://host/database.fp7"> -- it flashes the cryptic error 'the URL cannot be shown'.

The association of fmp7:// with Filemaker Go definately exists in app mode, as a hyperlink on the page will happily open the database in Go -- e.g. <a href="fmp7://host/database.fp7">click to open database</a>... although, interestingly, a <button> element using a javascript redirect does not work.

The hyperlink solution works, but it's inelegant, as it requires the user to click twice (onces on the Homepage shortcut, once on the resulting hyperlink).

I thought about using an http:// redirect to open a second page in Safari (out of app mode), itself with an fmp7:// redirect to the database. However, once in app mode, all subsequent pages are opened in app mode (even if you include <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="no">) and redirects to fmp7:// links are quashed.

Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? Why is a redirect to an installed iOS app blocked??? Is there an elegant way to hack this, without requiring the user to click a lot, or to follow a lot of instructions?

Sorry about the double posting -- the page timed-out when I clicked 'post', so I wasn't sure if my beautifully formatted mail had been posted!

[omegagoh]

Hi Jon,

I would suggest that you try App Maker from FIleMaker Inc, which creates an icon to open the FM DB directly.

Regards,

Omega Goh

Speedy Scaleable Solutions

www.speediDB.com

[jbante]

For reference App Maker is available on FileMaker's TechNet forum. Being a member is required for access, but membership is free.