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I'm working on an app which tracks a product from online shopping sites like Amazon and notifies you when there is a price drop.

But the problem is - how to take input from the user on which product to track.

i.e. How should the user let the app know which product to track?

Copying the URL of product, and pasting it in my app, would help. But this is not user friendly.

What are more user friendly ways to solve this problem? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Nikhil
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2 Answers2

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Maybe using a share button. The user will surf in any browser and when he will desire he will share the link with your app.

Gil Maimon
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  • Great idea @Gil Maimon But, how can I incorporate a share button in Amazon like sites? They won't allow me to do it, right? – Nikhil Jan 11 '15 at 13:54
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    As far as I know the moment you will register your app as shareable (for the right content of course) it will appear as option in any app that provide sharing.. – Gil Maimon Jan 11 '15 at 14:00
  • That sounds great!! Can you point me to any resources which validate that. Say, if a user is browsing amazon app in his mobile, does clicking on share button, show all the relevant apps? – Nikhil Jan 11 '15 at 14:21
  • You can validate it by registering your app as shareable look for "how to make my app shareable" and you'll se your app appears as option in share lists... If you have any problems ill publish more detailed explanation when I'll be near my computer. – Gil Maimon Jan 11 '15 at 14:29
  • Thanks @Gil Maimon for your help. Would love further info from you. – Nikhil Jan 11 '15 at 14:30
  • Ok so, I don't know if you have experience with sharing content in android. Its very easy because android is the one responsible for displaying list of apps that you can use to share a specific content with. So basically what you want is Your app on that list! You can do that using intent filter, more detailed explanation: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/23424088/make-my-android-app-appear-in-the-share-list – Gil Maimon Jan 11 '15 at 17:22
  • That's great @Gil Maimon. This is a better way to solve my problem. Thanks. – Nikhil Jan 13 '15 at 06:09
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The idea you can achieve this is by Adding / extending a webview for browsing the sites inside your app. You can implement some logic such that when user long press the item of the product grid your program can capture the url of the product and save it. Have a look on This Link

Community
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Sanjeet A
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  • Thanks, but can WebView provide interaction beyond just reading content? Android documentation states so - http://developer.android.com/reference/android/webkit/WebView.html Great suggestion, by the way! :) – Nikhil Jan 11 '15 at 14:16
  • There is method in the webview WebView.HitTestResult Which will help you most. Have a look on the docs http://developer.android.com/reference/android/webkit/WebView.HitTestResult.html There is an option- SRC_ANCHOR_TYPE HitTestResult for hitting a HTML::a tag with src=http. – Sanjeet A Jan 11 '15 at 14:17
  • That looks promising @Sanjeet Ajnabee. But this will work only on built in browser made using webview. Can I get similar functionality when the user is in other browsers? i.e getting the link, just like you mentioned. – Nikhil Jan 11 '15 at 14:33
  • I don't think it is possible to capture the url form another apps webview or from the built-in browser. – Sanjeet A Jan 11 '15 at 14:44