Implementation of Android App Links in Open Event Organizer App

Android App Links are HTTP URLs that bring users directly to specific content in an Android app. They allow the website URLs to immediately open the corresponding content in the related Android app.

Whenever such a URL is clicked, a dialog is opened allowing the user to select a particular app which can handle the given URL.

In this blog post, we will be discussing the implementation of Android App Links for password reset in Open Event Organizer App, the Android app developed for event organizers using the Eventyay platform.

What is the purpose of using App Links?

App Links are used to open the corresponding app when a link is clicked.

  • If the app is installed, then it will open on clicking the link.
  • If app is not installed, then the link will open in the browser.

The first steps involve:

  1. Creating intent filters in the manifest.
  2. Adding code to the app’s activities to handle incoming links.
  3. Associating the app and the website with Digital Asset Links.

Adding Android App Links

First step is to add an intent-filter for the AuthActivity.

<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="https"
         android:host="@string/FRONTEND_HOST"
         android:pathPrefix="/reset-password" />
</intent-filter>

Here, FRONTEND_HOST is the URL for the web frontend of the Eventyay platform.

This needs to be handled in AuthActivity:

@Override
protected void onNewIntent(Intent intent) {
    super.onNewIntent(intent);
    handleIntent(intent);
}
private void handleIntent(Intent intent) {
    String appLinkAction = intent.getAction();
    Uri appLinkData = intent.getData();

    if (Intent.ACTION_VIEW.equals(appLinkAction) && appLinkData != null) {
        LinkHandler.Destination destination = LinkHandler.getDestinationAndToken(appLinkData.toString()).getDestination();
        String token = LinkHandler.getDestinationAndToken(appLinkData.toString()).getToken();

        if (destination.equals(LinkHandler.Destination.RESET_PASSWORD)) {
            getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction()
            .replace(R.id.fragment_container,                     
                         ResetPasswordFragment.newInstance(token))
            .commit();
        }
    }
}

 Call the handleIntent() method in onCreate():

handleIntent(getIntent());

Get the token in onCreate() method of ResetPasswordFragment:

@Override
public void onCreate(@Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    if (getArguments() != null)
        token = getArguments().getString(TOKEN_KEY);
}

Set the token in ViewModel:

if (token != null)
    resetPasswordViewModel.setToken(token);

The setToken() method in ViewModel:

if (token != null)
    resetPasswordViewModel.setToken(token);

LinkHandler class for handling the links:

package com.eventyay.organizer.utils;

public class LinkHandler {

    public Destination destination;
    public String token;

    public LinkHandler(Destination destination, String token) {
        this.destination = destination;
        this.token = token;
    }

    public static LinkHandler getDestinationAndToken(String url) {
        if (url.contains("reset-password")) {
            String token = url.substring(url.indexOf('=') + 1);
            return new LinkHandler(Destination.RESET_PASSWORD, token);
        } else if (url.contains("verify")) {
            String token = url.substring(url.indexOf('=') + 1);
            return new LinkHandler(Destination.VERIFY_EMAIL, token);
        } else
            return null;
    }

    public Destination getDestination() {
        return destination;
    }

    public String getToken() {
        return token;
    }

    public enum Destination {
        VERIFY_EMAIL,
        RESET_PASSWORD
    }
}

enum is used to handle links for both, password reset as well as email verification.

Finally, the unit tests for LinkHandler:

package com.eventyay.organizer.utils;

import org.junit.Test;
import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
import org.junit.runners.JUnit4;

import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;

@RunWith(JUnit4.class)
public class LinkHandlerTest {

    private String resetPassUrl = "https://eventyay.com/reset-password?token=12345678";
    private String verifyEmailUrl = "https://eventyay.com/verify?token=12345678";

    @Test
    public void shouldHaveCorrectDestination() {
        assertEquals(LinkHandler.Destination.RESET_PASSWORD,
            LinkHandler.getDestinationAndToken(resetPassUrl).getDestination());
        assertEquals(LinkHandler.Destination.VERIFY_EMAIL,
            LinkHandler.getDestinationAndToken(verifyEmailUrl).getDestination());
    }

    @Test
    public void shouldGetPasswordResetToken() {
        assertEquals(LinkHandler.Destination.RESET_PASSWORD,
            LinkHandler.getDestinationAndToken(resetPassUrl).getDestination());
        assertEquals("12345678",
            LinkHandler.getDestinationAndToken(resetPassUrl).getToken());
    }

    @Test
    public void shouldGetEmailVerificationToken() {
        assertEquals(LinkHandler.Destination.VERIFY_EMAIL,
            LinkHandler.getDestinationAndToken(verifyEmailUrl).getDestination());
        assertEquals("12345678",
            LinkHandler.getDestinationAndToken(verifyEmailUrl).getToken());
    }
}

Resources:

Documentation: Link

Further reading: Android App Linking

Pull Request: feat: Add app link for password reset

Open Event Organizer App: Project repo, Play Store, F-Droid

Continue ReadingImplementation of Android App Links in Open Event Organizer App

Handle app links and apply unit tests in Open Event Attendee Application

The open event attendee is an android app which allows users to discover events happening around the world using the Open Event Platform. It consumes the APIs of the open event server to get a list of available events and can get detailed information about them. Users following links on devices have one goal in mind: to get to the content they want to see. As a developer, you can set up Android App Links to take users to a link’s specific content directly in your app, bypassing the app-selection dialog, also known as the disambiguation dialog. Because Android App Links leverage HTTP URLs and association with a website, users who don’t have your app installed go directly to content on your site.

A unit test generally exercises the functionality of the smallest possible unit of code (which could be a method, class, or component) in a repeatable way. You should build unit tests when you need to verify the logic of specific code in your app.

  • Why unit test cases?
  • Setup app link intent in the app
  • Apply unit test cases
  • Conclusion
  • Resources

Let’s analyze every step in detail.

Why unit test cases?

As it is already discussed what the app link intents are, and it is basically for providing a better user experience for the application. These are some following reason why unit test cases should use – 

  1. Rapid feedback on failures.
  2. Early failure detection in the development cycle.
  3. Safer code refactoring, letting you optimize code without worrying about regressions.
  4. Stable development velocity, helping you minimize technical debt.

JUnit4 library is used for unit tests.

Setup app link intent in the app

Declare the frontend host according to build flavor in the app level gradle file:

buildTypes {
        release {
            resValue "string",  "FRONTEND_HOST", "eventyay.com"
        }
        debug {
            resValue "string", "FRONTEND_HOST", "open-event-fe.netlify.com"
        }
    }

Handle the app link intent in Manifest file by adding intent filter under main activity decleartion:

<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="https"
        android:host="@string/FRONTEND_HOST"/>
</intent-filter>

Manifest will through the intent in the main activity file.

Now handle the intent in main activity:

override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        handleAppLinkIntent(intent)
    }

    override fun onNewIntent(intent: Intent?) {
        super.onNewIntent(intent)
        handleAppLinkIntent(intent)
    }

    private fun handleAppLinkIntent(intent: Intent?) {
        val uri = intent?.data ?: return
        val bundle = AppLinkUtils.getArguments(uri)
        val destinationId = AppLinkUtils.getDestinationId(uri)
        if (destinationId != null) {
            navController.navigate(destinationId, bundle)
        }
    }

Here a new class/object AppLinkUtils is defined which will return destination fragment id and the argument/data according to the intent URI.

Apply unit test cases:

First, implement the libraries in the gradle file –  1. JUnit for unit tests, 2. Robolectric for using android classes in the test class:

testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.12'
testImplementation 'org.robolectric:robolectric:3.4.2'

Create a test class for testing the app link functions and run it with RoboLectricTestRunner:

private const val EVENT = "event"
private const val RESET_PASSWORD = "resetPassword"
private const val VERIFY_EMAIL = "verifyEmail"

@RunWith(RobolectricTestRunner::class)
class AppLinkUtilsTest {

    private fun getAppLink(type: String): Uri {
        return when (type) {
            EVENT -> Uri.parse("https://eventyay.com/e/5f6d3feb")
            RESET_PASSWORD -> Uri.parse("https://eventyay.com/reset-password?token=822980340478781748445098077144")
            VERIFY_EMAIL -> Uri.parse("https://eventyay.com/verify?token=WyJsaXZlLmhhcnNoaXRAaG")
            else -> Uri.parse("")
        }
    }

    @Test
    fun `should get event link`() {
        val uri = getAppLink(EVENT)
        assertEquals(R.id.eventDetailsFragment, AppLinkUtils.getDestinationId(uri))
        assertEquals("""
            5f6d3feb
        """.trimIndent(), AppLinkUtils.getArguments(uri).getString(EVENT_IDENTIFIER))
    }// Find more test cases in the GitHub Repo.

Testing response:

GIF

In a Nutshell

So, essentially the Eventyay Attendee should have this feature to handle all links i.e. Reset password, verify user email and open event details in the app itself. So, we can provide a better user experience in-app instead of redirecting to the frontend for them.

Resources

  1. Android app links: https://developer.android.com/studio/write/app-link-indexing
  2. Developing android unit testing: https://www.vogella.com/tutorials/AndroidTesting/article.html

Tags

Eventyay, open-event, JUnit, AndroidUnitTest, AppLinks, Fossasia, GSoC, Android, Kotlin

Continue ReadingHandle app links and apply unit tests in Open Event Attendee Application