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Deep linking

As part of the implementation process for your Android SDK, you will configure the ability for your app to use deep links. This article provides additional examples for deep linking use cases.

For introductory information on deep links, refer to our User Guide article.

The Android SDK provides the ability to set a single delegate object to custom handle all deep links opened by Braze across Content Cards, in-app messages, and push notifications.

Your delegate object should implement the IBrazeDeeplinkHandler interface and be set using BrazeDeeplinkHandler.setBrazeDeeplinkHandler(). In most cases, the delegate should be set in your app’s Application.onCreate().

The following is an example of overriding the default UriAction behavior with custom intent flags and custom behavior for YouTube URLs:

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public class CustomDeeplinkHandler implements IBrazeDeeplinkHandler {
  private static final String TAG = BrazeLogger.getBrazeLogTag(CustomDeeplinkHandler.class);

  @Override
  public void gotoNewsFeed(Context context, NewsfeedAction newsfeedAction) {
    newsfeedAction.execute(context);
  }

  @Override
  public void gotoUri(Context context, UriAction uriAction) {
    String uri = uriAction.getUri().toString();
    // Open YouTube URLs in the YouTube app and not our app
    if (!StringUtils.isNullOrBlank(uri) && uri.contains("youtube.com")) {
      uriAction.setUseWebView(false);
    }

    CustomUriAction customUriAction = new CustomUriAction(uriAction);
    customUriAction.execute(context);
  }

  public static class CustomUriAction extends UriAction {

    public CustomUriAction(@NonNull UriAction uriAction) {
      super(uriAction);
    }

    @Override
    protected void openUriWithActionView(Context context, Uri uri, Bundle extras) {
      Intent intent = getActionViewIntent(context, uri, extras);
      intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP);
      if (intent.resolveActivity(context.getPackageManager()) != null) {
        context.startActivity(intent);
      } else {
        BrazeLogger.w(TAG, "Could not find appropriate activity to open for deep link " + uri + ".");
      }
    }
  }
}

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class CustomDeeplinkHandler : IBrazeDeeplinkHandler {

  override fun gotoNewsFeed(context: Context, newsfeedAction: NewsfeedAction) {
    newsfeedAction.execute(context)
  }

  override fun gotoUri(context: Context, uriAction: UriAction) {
    val uri = uriAction.uri.toString()
    // Open YouTube URLs in the YouTube app and not our app
    if (!StringUtils.isNullOrBlank(uri) && uri.contains("youtube.com")) {
      uriAction.useWebView = false
    }

    val customUriAction = CustomUriAction(uriAction)
    customUriAction.execute(context)
  }

  class CustomUriAction(uriAction: UriAction) : UriAction(uriAction) {

    override fun openUriWithActionView(context: Context, uri: Uri, extras: Bundle) {
      val intent = getActionViewIntent(context, uri, extras)
      intent.flags = Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK or Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP or Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP
      if (intent.resolveActivity(context.packageManager) != null) {
        context.startActivity(intent)
      } else {
        BrazeLogger.w(TAG, "Could not find appropriate activity to open for deep link $uri.")
      }
    }
  }

  companion object {
    private val TAG = BrazeLogger.getBrazeLogTag(CustomDeeplinkHandler::class.java)
  }
}

Deep linking to app settings

To allow deep links to directly open your app’s settings, you’ll need a custom BrazeDeeplinkHandler. In the following example, the presence of a custom key-value pair called open_notification_page will make the deep link open the app’s settings page:

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BrazeDeeplinkHandler.setBrazeDeeplinkHandler(new IBrazeDeeplinkHandler() {
  @Override
  public void gotoUri(Context context, UriAction uriAction) {
    final Bundle extras = uriAction.getExtras();
    if (extras.containsKey("open_notification_page")) {
      Intent intent = new Intent();
      intent.setAction("android.settings.APP_NOTIFICATION_SETTINGS");
      intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);

      //for Android 5-7
      intent.putExtra("app_package", context.getPackageName());
      intent.putExtra("app_uid", context.getApplicationInfo().uid);

      // for Android 8 and later
      intent.putExtra("android.provider.extra.APP_PACKAGE", context.getPackageName());
      context.startActivity(intent);
    }
  }

  @Override
  public void gotoNewsFeed(Context context, NewsfeedAction newsfeedAction) {}
});

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BrazeDeeplinkHandler.setBrazeDeeplinkHandler(object : IBrazeDeeplinkHandler {
  override fun gotoUri(context: Context, uriAction: UriAction) {
    val extras = uriAction.extras
    if (extras.containsKey("open_notification_page")) {
      val intent = Intent()
      intent.action = "android.settings.APP_NOTIFICATION_SETTINGS"
      intent.flags = Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK

      //for Android 5-7
      intent.putExtra("app_package", context.packageName)
      intent.putExtra("app_uid", context.applicationInfo.uid)

      // for Android 8 and later
      intent.putExtra("android.provider.extra.APP_PACKAGE", context.packageName)
      context.startActivity(intent)
    }
  }

  override fun gotoNewsFeed(context: Context, newsfeedAction: NewsfeedAction) {}
})

Deep linking to the News Feed

To deep link to the Braze News Feed from a push notification, create a custom deep link for your News Feed activity.

Then, as you set up your push notification campaign (either through the dashboard or API), configure the notification to navigate to your News Feed deep link.

Custom WebView activity

By default, when website deeplinks are opened inside the app by Braze, they are handled by BrazeWebViewActivity. To change this:

1. Create a new Activity that handles the target URL from Intent.getExtras() with the key com.braze.Constants.BRAZE_WEBVIEW_URL_EXTRA. See BrazeWebViewActivity.java for an example.

2. Add that activity to AndroidManifest.xml and set exported to false.

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<activity
    android:name=".MyCustomWebViewActivity"
    android:exported="false" />

3. Set your custom Activity in a BrazeConfig builder object. Build the builder and pass it to Braze.configure() in your Application.onCreate()

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BrazeConfig brazeConfig = new BrazeConfig.Builder()
    .setCustomWebViewActivityClass(MyCustomWebViewActivity::class)
    ...
    .build();
Braze.configure(this, brazeConfig);

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val brazeConfig = BrazeConfig.Builder()
    .setCustomWebViewActivityClass(MyCustomWebViewActivity::class.java)
    ...
    .build()
Braze.configure(this, brazeConfig)
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