Call external app bundled with my own?

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

OK: Heres a thought.

Helper apps.
If I or someone else can produce a ‘helper’ app, could it be bundled with the deployed app to an Apple device, and launched from within a Corona app?

My specific needs are to do something with an image, but this could also extend to zipping up a file before emailing.

So, I get a helper app, bundle it into resourceDirectory.
Call it from inside the Corona app with a couple of parameters such as source and target file names.
Then it dies , and afterwards we have a target file result to do something with.

Allowable?
Possible?
Don’t be stupid?
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#2

You mean a non-corona app? [import]uid: 127106 topic_id: 24530 reply_id: 99332[/import]

#3

Exactly.
Something perhaps written in Objective C…

If Corona can’t do the extras I need, maybe it delegate the task to another app?

[import]uid: 108660 topic_id: 24530 reply_id: 99347[/import]

#4

Actually this may be easier than you think. Two words: URL Scheme’s

Corona supports giving your app a URL scheme, just like you’re familiar with http:, mailto: ftp:, etc. Apple supports custom ones. We use them to launch the app store within our app to rate our app. Cororna SDK back in December introduced the ability for us to give our app our own URL scheme so other apps can launch our app.

So lets say your app’s name is Barney Rubblemesiter, you might setup a URL scheme rubble: to launch your app.

So app A (Fred Flintstonium) opens a URL rubble://somevalue

App B (Barney Rubblemeister) fires up and calling URL is available to it.

See this blog post for more information:

http://blog.anscamobile.com/2011/12/using-app-url-schemes-in-ios/
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#5

URL schemes… Interesting idea.
I don’t think that will work for me, even if it does launch another app.
Mainly due to sand boxing.
I’d need to supply and receive files.
If I could write web apps I might be able to post data and get returned Jason or XML

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#6

Cororna SDK back in December introduced the ability for us to give our app our own URL scheme so other apps can launch our app

Is the reverse possible.

Is it possible to launch another app from our Corona app using the other app’s URL schema.
Something like

[lua]system.openURL(“TheOtherAPP://”)[/lua]

It doesn’t seem to work. [import]uid: 64174 topic_id: 24530 reply_id: 112460[/import]

#7

Hey wait, CAN we do the reverse like open like Instagram from our App? I was just postulating over here http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/37838-posting-image-to-instagram/?hl=instagram and had never thought twice about it (cause the need had never arisen). Is this possible??

-Mario

#8

Hey wait, CAN we do the reverse like open like Instagram from our App? I was just postulating over here http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/37838-posting-image-to-instagram/?hl=instagram and had never thought twice about it (cause the need had never arisen). Is this possible??

-Mario