Re: viewing local htm files on Android device

Malone <mslone@nospam.uk> Wrote in message:

On Thu-25-Jul-2024 8:40 am, Dave Royal wrote:

Malone <mslone@nospam.uk> Wrote in message:
 

>
I've created a simple (just text, no script) .htm file on a Windows
computer ("testhtm.htm") and transferred it to my Android tablet.
>
In My Files - Downloads it then appears as "testhtm.htm". Tapping it and
it opens with Chrome (my default browser) as
"content:media/external/file/1000000383".
>
Long tap and select "Add to Home Screen" and an icon appears on the home
screen titled "testhtm". And when tapping this it opens in Chrome.
>
If I now restart (reboot) the tablet and try to open the file by tapping
its icon on the home page it doesn't open and I receive the message:
"Chrome does not have access to the requested resource."
>
If I then go to My Files - Downloads I find I can open it from there.
And if I then go back to the home page it will now open from there as well.
>
Why is this?
>
I have links on my home page to .htm pages located on servers on the
internet which always open with no problems. But .htm files located on
my tablet seem to become inaccessible from the home page after a reboot
until opened from within My Files - Downloads.
>
Can someone with a better understanding of the Android OS than me
explain what's going on?

 
In the absence of an authoritative answer, and based on some
  googling (I am not a developer of Android apps), I'll offer a
  guess.
 
I suspect that for the content URI in the shortcut (which is a
  pointer to a local resource, and AFAICS not the same as a file://
  URI) can only be accessed if Chrome has access to a Content
  Provider and for some reason (maybe a bug) there isn't one after
  a reboot. Perhaps accessing the content using My Files causes a
  Content Provider to be established, which can the be used by
  Chrome to access the content URI passed as a result of tapping
  the shortcut.
 
<https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/providers/content-provider-basics>

 
Thanks for that Dave. It sounds plausible to me but it seems I'm still
going to have to go to My Files to reactive the shortcut after a reboot

It was only a guess. I hoped an Android developer would confirm or
 refute it. I would have thought that passing a usable html
 shortcut to the the app that created it is the job of what in
 Linux would be called a 'desktop manager': this Samsung tablet
 uses 'One UI'. I've read that it's possible to use alternative
 DMs on some devices - maybe you can.

On maybe you can open this file in Chrome using it's file location
(file:///Internal storage/...) Firefox doesn't allow file:// URIs
 any more - does chrome?

Opening local files in apps which did not create them (though in
 the case of your desktop shortcut Chrome /did/ create it) is IME
 the most baffling area of Android. I often want to open files (eg
 .abc music files) in editors and players which Android doesn't
 think I should and it's a constant battle.
--
Remove numerics from my email address.