Appload
Appload is a simple page that does a Javascript-based redirect to a URL parameter. Use this to help launch an iOS app using the URL protocol scheme for the app from an iBooks hyperlink.
A very simple example to start the Message app is:
http://mmind.me/appload.htm?target=sms:366466
Install
No installation required, a minimized & compressed hosted Appload page is a available for use.
I plan to also host it here on github via gh-pages
Use
iBooks
Add a regular hyperlink to your iBooks app that would normally just open Mobile Safari.
Make the href/URL of the hyperlink point to one of the hosted Appload pages and append
an URI encoded version of the desired app's URI protocol scheme-- specificially use
JavaScript encodeURIComponent(string)
. For example:
myRedirectURL = 'http://mmind.me/appload.htm?target=' + encodeURIComponent(myTargetAppURL);
or if you choose to pre-encode a URL like imdb:///find?q=caddyshack
becomes
http://mmind.me/appload.htm?target=imdb%3A%2F%2F%2Ffind%3Fq%3Dcaddyshack
Android or other platforms
A use case for Android, another platform, or other iOS apps is unclear to me. If you have one, let me know. I'm willing to adapt or extend this project.
Examples
Example calls are also available online at: http://mmind.me/appload-examples.htm.
Compatibility
Intended for use with iBooks 2.x or higher on iOS 5.1 or higher.
License
MIT License - http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php
Appload Copyright (c) 2012 Tom King mobilemind@pobox.com
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.