Extend oCIS extensions for native clients (desktop and mobile)

[michaelstingl]

As an example, we could have a look at The Swan Service (Jupyter notebook) that can be integrated nicely in the ownCloud web UI, but what about usage on native clients on desktop and mobile…

1) [Desktop] Support to open certain file types in 3rd party app in web UI

• Swan extension registered in oCIS backend
• Swan extension registered in Phoenix web UI (additional entry in ⋯ / ︙ menu)
• API needed to announce capability for this file type to the ownCloud desktop client
• ownCloud desktop sync client then could add a custom "Use Swan…" context menu entry in the file explorer
• ownCloud desktop client then should open https://cloud.example.com/apps/swan/5032562… in system browser

2) [iOS] Support to open certain file types in 3rd party web app in app-internal web view or in system browser

• Swan extension registered in oCIS backend
• Swan extension registered in Phoenix web UI (additional entry in ⋯ / ︙ menu)
• API needed to announce server capability for this file type to the ownCloud iOS app
• ownCloud iOS app then could add a custom "Open in Swan…" action menu entry in the "More…" / ⋯ / ︙ menu
• ownCloud iOS app then should open https://cloud.example.com/apps/swan/5032562… in app-internal web view or in system browser (tbd)

3) [iOS] Support to open certain file types in 3rd party native app installed on the users device

• Swan extension registered in oCIS backend
• Swan extension registered in Phoenix web UI (additional entry in ⋯ / ︙ menu)
• API needed to announce server capability for this file type to the ownCloud iOS app
• ownCloud iOS app then could add a custom "Open in Swan app…" action menu entry in the "More…" / ⋯ / ︙ menu
• ownCloud iOS app then should open 3rd party native app, using URI/URL scheme (swan://…) or something, to let the other app know how to access the file (needs detailed concept)

Imagine also a native DICOM viewer or similar apps for special use cases…

Some technical background:

• iOS: Custom URL Scheme
• Win/UWP: Launch an app with a URI
• Ubuntu: URL protocol handlers
• Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) Schemes

Maybe related: https://github.com/owncloud/core/issues/33337

Related Epic: #54

[felix-schwarz]

From the iOS app side, this should all be doable - with one exception: since files live in the respective app's sandboxes, I'm not sure we can pass local copies of files without showing the share sheet. A quick round of research returned nothing relevant. :-/

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed in 10 days if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[michaelstingl]

From an oC010 perspective, one approach would be, to announce to native clients via the capabilities endpoint (/ocs/v1.php/cloud/capabilities?format=json):

ocs > data > capabilities > appSupport
(proposal)

The following information is needed:

platform-scope	mime-type	query-api	query-data-format	ui-text
web	application/msword	/apps/collabora/link-api	path	Edit Word file in Collabora
web	application/msword	/apps/onlyoffice/link-api	path	Edit Word file in OnlyOffice
web	application/vnd.ms-excel	/apps/collabora/link-api	path	Edit Word file in Collabora
web	application/vnd.ms-excel	/apps/onlyoffice/link-api	path	Edit Word file in OnlyOffice
web-ios
desktop	application/swan	/apps/swan/link-api	path, fileID	Edit in Swan web UI
desktop	application/msword	/apps/collabora/link-api	path	Edit Word file in Collabora web UI
desktop	application/msword	/apps/onlyoffice/link-api	path	Edit Word file in OnlyOffice web UI
desktop	application/vnd.ms-excel	/apps/collabora/link-api	path	Edit Word file in Collabora web UI
desktop	application/vnd.ms-excel	/apps/onlyoffice/link-api	path	Edit Word file in OnlyOffice web UI
desktop-windows	application/foo	/apps/foo/link-api
ios

Desktop app (all desktop platforms) would add an entry to the right-click/context menu for all file types that are associated with the Swan web editor. When clicking this entry, desktop client would query the provided endpoint with the path OR fileID and, the app endpoint would return a link that points to the opened file view in the Swan web UI.

This way, also local applications could be opened. (needs an extension for this local application). foo://some/info/here would open local application that's associated with foo custom protocol.

Limitations of this approach:

• We don't know if the local applications (desktop-word for example) is really installed on that machine
• Menu entries can't be translated if fetched dynamically from the server

[michaelstingl]

I'm not sure we can pass local copies of files without showing the share sheet

I was more thinking about passing a link to the resource, not the actual file itself.

[wkloucek]

• iOS was started in [FEATURE REQUEST] "Open in Web" for native clients ios-app#1127
• Android was started in [FEATURE REQUEST] "Open in Web" for native clients android#3672
• Desktop Client was started in "Open in Web" for native clients client#9724

[fschade]

Please open again if the ticket is still relevant