Launch another app An iOS app can launch certain other apps on the same device. The method is called a "scheme", not to be confused with the schemes in Xcode. Briefly, you do this, NSString* url= @"http://www.apple.com";
NSURL *theUrl = [NSURL URLWithString:url];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:theUrl];
"url" is a string with the content you want. theUrl is a special form derived from the readable URL but parsed into a form iOS can use. openURL is a method the application uses to handle the request. A URL beginning with http:// is interpreted as a call to launch the browser, Safari. However, if it then requests maps.google.com, the Maps application will be launched instead of Safari. Similarly with youtube.com. A request for a map might look like this, NSString* url; url= @"http://maps.google.com/maps?ll="; url = [url stringByAppendingFormat:@"%1.3f",38.0]; //latitude url = [url stringByAppendingString:@","]; url = [url stringByAppendingFormat:@"%1.3f",-121.0];//longitude url = [url stringByAppendingString:@"&spn=0.5,0.5"]; //span of the map NSURL *theUrl = [NSURL URLWithString:url]; [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:theUrl]; Apple's documentation explains the various URL schemes they have implemented and how you can implement your own: Advanced App Tricks in the iOS App Programming Guide The page was last updated
Wednesday, May 9, 2012 11:24 AM
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