Fenix: Open local html files in Fenix

[liuche]

Why/User Benefit/User Problem

Users might want to open html files on Fenix in the mobile browser.

What/Requirements

• Handle the intent filters for filetypes
• Can talk to @snorp for any questions about Gecko

Acceptance Criteria (how do I know when I’m done?)

• [ ] can open a local html file without "unknown protocol error"

[Dunexus]

Does this mean https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/4049 isn't won't fix anymore ? 😃

[buttercookie42]

Hooray indeed, although sadly the direction Google has been moving in (apps should only use content://-URIs when launching other apps, meaning for us that you cannot open any of the other local resources possibly referenced by the HTML file pointed to by the received Intent, and now the deprecation of conventional file system access in Android 10 on top) is still endangering the long-term viability of being able to properly access local HTML files.

[rbrule]

Browsing local files and opening HTML files works on my machine, with a small twist.

Write file:///storage/emulated/0/ on your address bar and notice the ///. If you don't write the /// your address bar will display it for you but it will show an error, even if you refresh the page. So make sure to have the /// on the first try, or else open a new tab.

Furthermore, once you have an HTML file opened, if you add it to your home screen, it won't be able to open it.

I use the lastest standard Firefox Preview from the Play Store on a Pixel 2 with Android 10.

Can anyone else confirm this behaviour on their device?

(Might be relevant for #4049 that is currently closed)

[AgentOak]

@rbrule Yes thank you! That URL works for me on the current stable 79.0.5 release (on Android 9). You just saved me from a very boring train ride with nothing to read. As a usability tip, after visiting file:///storage/emulated/0/ add it to the top sites so you can access it quickly and don't have to type the URL. It will show up as "Index of..." and icon only showing the letter "S".

I'm using this workaround for now, even though it is inconvenient that I cannot use my usual file manager app to browse.
There are a lot of UX issues as well, e.g. the lock icon showing insecure connection and the file list clearly not being intended for touch use.

[richardp345]

I've read through the associated bug reports and the upstream issues filed with Google and understand the difficulty. However, although it will fail to properly load local HTML files with local child content using the content:// scheme, Chrome still shows up as a viewer on Android for local HTML files and if the file has no child content it will load just fine. Since FF 80 on Android, FF doesn't even show up as a viewer. The content scheme was supported before, following https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1406903. Could we please have what we had before?