Is it possible to trigger Scene Viewer from a WebView?

[satputerohan]

Hey,
I am trying to achive a simple demo where I embed a webpage (an html on my webserver with nothing but a model viewer component with dependencies) in my Android and iOS Xamarin app.

I am able to view the model and interact with it, but I am getting no ar-fallback error when I try to take it to Scene Viewer. Is it possible to launch Scene Viewer from inside a Webview from my app?

[cdata]

@satputerohan this topic veers a little bit outside of my expertise, but my best answer is two parts:

1. Based on previous reports, it does not seem to be possible to launch Scene Viewer from an unmodified WebView on Android
2. It is hypothetically possible to launch Scene Viewer by manually handling the intent:// URL triggered by <model-viewer> and triggering the intent yourself with a modified WebView. See this Stack Overflow answer for an example of what I mean by "modified" in this case.

In general, it should be possible to trigger Scene Viewer so long as the actual glTF file you are loading is hosted on a secure origin.

[satputerohan]

Hi @cdata,
I was wondering what intent I should trigger as I am getting following when I try it:
No Activity found to handle Intent { act=android.intent.action.VIEW typ=model/gltf-binary flg=0x1 pkg=com.google.ar.core }
I am trying to launch the viewer.ViewerActivity. Have you got any idea about this?

[PerspectivesLab]

Hi @satputerohan @cdata you can do it this way in android java:

       @Override
        public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, String url) {


            Intent intent;
            // Perform generic parsing of the URI to turn it into an Intent.
            try {
                intent = Intent.parseUri(url, Intent.URI_INTENT_SCHEME);
            } catch (Exception ex) {
                Log.w("", "Bad URI %s");//, url, ex);
                return false;
            }
            // Sanitize the Intent, ensuring web pages can not bypass browser
            // security (only access to BROWSABLE activities).
            intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_BROWSABLE);
            //intent.setComponent(null);
            intent.setComponent(new ComponentName("com.google.ar.core", "com.google.ar.core.viewer.IntentForwardActivity"));
            Intent selector = intent.getSelector();
            if (selector != null) {
                selector.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_BROWSABLE);
                selector.setComponent(null);
            }

            // Pass the package name as application ID so that the intent from the
            // same application can be opened in the same tab.
            intent.putExtra(Browser.EXTRA_APPLICATION_ID, "com.google.chrome");
            
            try {
                view.getContext().startActivity(intent);
                return true;
            } catch (ActivityNotFoundException ex) {
                Log.w("", "No application can handle %s");
            } catch (SecurityException ex) {
                // This can happen if the Activity is exported="true", guarded by a permission, and sets
                // up an intent filter matching this intent. This is a valid configuration for an
                // Activity, so instead of crashing, we catch the exception and do nothing. See
                // https://crbug.com/808494 and https://crbug.com/889300.
                Log.w("", "SecurityException when starting intent for %s");
            }

            return false;
}

[PerspectivesLab]

try this:

Intent sceneViewerIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
Uri intentUri =
Uri.parse("https://arvr.google.com/scene-viewer/1.0").buildUpon()
.appendQueryParameter("file", "https://my_file.gltf)
.appendQueryParameter("mode", "ar_only")
.build();
sceneViewerIntent.setData(intentUri);
sceneViewerIntent.setPackage("com.google.ar.core");
startActivity(sceneViewerIntent);

[altahookah]

Hi @PerspectivesLab First of all thanks a lot for your answer. I tried it but still getting the same ERR_UNKNOWN_URL_SCHEME sadly :( -- I attach a screenshot and the complete error here:

`Página web no disponible
La página web de intent://arvr.google.com/scene-viewer/1.0?v=1654594090768&mode=ar_preferred&disable_occlusion=true&file=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.glitch.global%2Fe2d3d61e-31bb-466c-aeef-5f625d75aaf3%2Fafsetmod.glb%3Fv%3D1654594090768#Intent;scheme=https;package=com.google.ar.core;action=android.intent.action.VIEW;S.browser_fallback_url=https%3A%2F%2Fafsetup.glitch.me%2F%23model-viewer-no-ar-fallback;end; no se pudo cargar porque:

net::ERR_UNKNOWN_URL_SCHEME`

Again thanks a lot for your help and quick answer

[PerspectivesLab]

@altahookah , your welcome, be sure
https://cdn.glitch.global/e2d3d61e-31bb-466c-aeef-5f625d75aaf3/afsetmod.glb
is a valid glb file => view it here => https://gltf-viewer.donmccurdy.com/

IF it is a valid file => try another android phone, different phone dont act the same
Be sure to have updated or installed via the google play the AR plugin => "Google Play Services for AR"
because is not installed => it will not find the intent !

[altahookah]

Hi @PerspectivesLab Thanks again for your answer. I passed the afsetmod.glb to the validator and indeed had some warnings. I attach the result here:
glb validation ahsetup.pdf

..
So what i did is try to check with another glb that i could know its ok directly from another glitch app ... pasted the link of the astronaut example of model-viewer page : https://model-viewer.glitch.me/
and tried in the app .. but gives the same error (ERR::UNKNOWN_URL SCHEME)

Regarding the possibility of the actual phone or the "AR services app by google" .. i tried in this phone with no luck:

An then i tried on a REDMI NOTE 9 PRO ... still getting the same error

... This is my MainActivity.java file atm:

package com.example.altahookah;

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;

import android.content.ActivityNotFoundException;
import android.content.ComponentName;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.provider.Browser;
import android.util.Log;
import android.webkit.WebSettings;
import android.webkit.WebView;
import android.webkit.WebViewClient;


public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private WebView mywebView;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        mywebView=(WebView) findViewById(R.id.webview);
        mywebView.setWebViewClient(new WebViewClient());
        mywebView.loadUrl("https://ahapp.glitch.me/");
        WebSettings webSettings=mywebView.getSettings();
        webSettings.setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
    }

    public class mywebClient extends WebViewClient{
        @Override
        public void onPageStarted(WebView view, String url, Bitmap favicon){
            super.onPageStarted(view,url,favicon);
        }
        // @Override
        //public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view,String url){
        //    view.loadUrl(url);
        //    return true;
        //}

        @Override
        public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, String url) {
            if( url.startsWith("http:") || url.startsWith("https:") ) {
                return false;
            }
            // Otherwise allow the OS to handle things like tel, mailto, etc.
                Intent sceneViewerIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
                Uri intentUri =
                        Uri.parse("https://arvr.google.com/scene-viewer/1.0").buildUpon()
                                .appendQueryParameter("file", "https://my_file.gltf")
                                        .appendQueryParameter("mode", "ar_only")
                                        .build();
                sceneViewerIntent.setData(intentUri);
                sceneViewerIntent.setPackage("com.google.ar.core");
                startActivity(sceneViewerIntent);
                return true;
        }
    }
    @Override
    public void onBackPressed(){
        if(mywebView.canGoBack()) {
            mywebView.goBack();
        }
        else{
            super.onBackPressed();
        }
    }
}

and heres my activity_mail.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">


    <WebView
        android:id="@+id/webview"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent" />
</RelativeLayout>

Im really in the blind here i dont know what is causing the error.
Its like its not even using the shouldOverrideUrlLoading function .. like the intent its not even being tried ...

Again thanks in advance for your help

[PerspectivesLab]

hard to say,
be sure the android phone has internet, and provide a valid path to ".appendQueryParameter("file", "https://my_file.gltf")"

[cdata]

@PerspectivesLab that looks familiar :) did you borrow it from the Android Chrome source tree?

[PerspectivesLab]

@PerspectivesLab that looks familiar :) did you borrow it from the Android Chrome source tree?

ohhhhh dyeah !!!

[artob]

@PerspectivesLab Kudos for your earlier workaround suggest here, it helped me figure out a solution to this problem in my Flutter plugin that embeds <model-viewer> in an Android WebView.

[PerspectivesLab]

@artob glad to help !