android - Cordova register file types to 'open with' list

Question

I'd like to register my Ionic app (through Cordova) to open certain file types. Just like Dropbox does. When a user has a file on another application (like email), and he clicks 'open with', there's a list which contains the Dropbox app.

Heres a tutorial from Apple: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/FileManagement/Conceptual/DocumentInteraction_TopicsForIOS/Articles/RegisteringtheFileTypesYourAppSupports.html

Is there any Cordova plugin that support both Android and iOS and gives a JS API to that feature? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You can achieve FileType association in Cordova.

It includes 2 steps.

1) register files in Android Manifest / iOS plist as

Manifest

<intent-filter
    android:icon='@drawable/ic_launcher'
        android:label='AndroidMHT File'
    android:priority='1'>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.EDIT" /> 
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.PICK" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
    <data android:mimeType="*/*" />
    <data android:pathPattern="*.mht" />
</intent-filter>
<intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
    <data android:scheme="http" android:host="*" android:pathPattern=".*\.mht" />
    <data android:scheme="https" android:host="*" android:pathPattern=".*\.mht" />
</intent-filter>
<intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
    <data android:mimeType="message/rfc822" android:scheme="http" />
    <data android:mimeType="multipart/related" android:scheme="http" />
    <data android:mimeType="message/rfc822" android:scheme="https" />
    <data android:mimeType="multipart/related" android:scheme="https" />
</intent-filter>

plist

<key>CFBundleDocumentTypes</key>
<array>
    <dict>
        <key>CFBundleTypeIconFiles</key>
        <array>
            <string>Document-molecules-320.png</string>
            <string>Document-molecules-64.png</string>
        </array>
        <key>CFBundleTypeName</key>
        <string>Molecules Structure File</string>
        <key>CFBundleTypeRole</key>
        <string>Viewer</string>
        <key>LSHandlerRank</key>
        <string>Owner</string>
        <key>LSItemContentTypes</key>
        <array>
            <string>com.sunsetlakesoftware.molecules.pdb</string>
            <string>org.gnu.gnu-zip-archive</string>
        </array>
    </dict>
</array>

2) Use the File Opener Plugin for Cordova

You may need to pass necessary flags to open those files.

Reference: Android, iOS and a phonegap community forum thread

Hope it helps.