link to narrow opens in browser, no way to open it in app

[glyph]

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• Operating System:

  • Windows
  • Linux/Ubutnu
  • macOS

• Clear steps to reproduce the issue:

• I click on https://<mydomain>.zulipchat.com/login/#narrow/stream/<stream-id>-<stream>/subject/<topic>/near/<message-id>

• It opens in my browser, which is not logged in to Zulip, because I use the app

• There's nowhere for me to paste this link in the app, so I just search for some terms that might be in the message I'm looking for

[akashnimare]

@glyph Can you reproduce this on https://chat.zulip.org ?

[akashnimare]

BTW, I can't reproduce this on *.zulipchat.com server also. Make sure you're on the latest release i.e. v2.3.6.

[abhigyank]

@akashnimare I think glyph means that if someone sends this link to him, he cannot open this link in the app. He doesn't mean that clicking this link in app opens the browser.

[glyph]

@akashnimare I think glyph means that if someone sends this link to him, he cannot open this link in the app. He doesn't mean that clicking this link in app opens the browser.

Yep! That is exactly what I meant.

[glyph]

FWIW I am on v2.3.7-beta but this has been an issue for as long as I can remember.

[abhigyank]

@glyph @akashnimare I think if we implement #470, that'd directly solve this issue.
@glyph Till then a possible workaround is - in the app, send this link as a private message to yourself and then click on the link. This will then open the message. :)

[glyph]

@abhigyank Thanks, this workaround is really helpful! :)

[akashnimare]

The workaround mentioned above is what we have been using so far.

I click on https://.zulipchat.com/login/#narrow/stream/-/subject//near/

@glyph so whenever someone sends you this kinda link you want to open them in the Zulip app, right? Do you know how other apps handle this?

[glyph]

@glyph so whenever someone sends you this kinda link you want to open them in the Zulip app, right? Do you know how other apps handle this?

on macOS,

1. register a custom URL scheme, as specified in Enhancement: zulip:// URI Scheme for electron #470
2. add a link to every page on *.zulipchat.com that says "open in app"

on iOS,

1. use "universal links" https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/General/Conceptual/AppSearch/UniversalLinks.html

[akashnimare]

@glyph thanks for the detailed info. I'm merging this issue in the #470.

register a custom URL scheme, as specified in #470

Yeah, for the starting I think we could just register a protocol so that user can open the zulip app using zulip://open.

add a link to every page on *.zulipchat.com that says "open in app"

I think we don't have such links. Can you point me to those?

[glyph]

I think we don't have such links. Can you point me to those?

I just mean the login page that you’d get by visiting a link such as the one in the description needs a zulip:// link on it to make it easy for users to go from browser to app.

[hraftery]

Do you know how other apps handle this?

Trello has a "Paste URL & Go" menu option (together with a corresponding copy current URL and keyboard shortcuts) so you can navigate to a URL that you copy from somewhere. I used it heavily and it was a fine solution for me, but yeah a custom URL scheme is the gold standard.

The workaround is effective and only a bit cumbersome. Plus it kinda gives you a list of bookmarks as a side-effect! Great to have it.

But yeah, we pass around Zulip URLs a lot and it's frustrating that you can get them from the app but not put them.

[pranav-dubey-cl]

@glyph @akashnimare I think if we implement #470, that'd directly solve this issue. @glyph Till then a possible workaround is - in the app, send this link as a private message to yourself and then click on the link. This will then open the message. :)

instead of dm'ing (if it feels like spamming and if you are a person like me who used dm's to himself to store interesting articles todo's and bunch of other things.) Just paste in chat box and go to preview, click and voila.

[nomeata]

Related: #1219