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From: Dave Royal <dave@dave123royal.com>
Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android
Subject: Re: viewing local htm files on Android device
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2024 23:06:08 +0100 (GMT+01:00)
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Dave Royal <dave@dave123royal.com> Wrote in message:

> 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.

I tried to reproduce your case - Android 14 on a Samsung tablet.

I can send a local html file from the 'My Files' app to Chrome
 (but not to Firefox) using 'Open with' and it displays as
 content://media/external/file/1000015925. But I see no way to
 'Add to home screen' in Chrome (which I can do for an ordinary
 URL in both Chrome and Firefox). 

But do see 'Add to home screen' in the 'My Files' app and the
 shortcut appears with a 'My Files' sub-icon. I suppose that's
 what you did. And that opens in Chrome, even though Firefox is my
 default browser. So My Files owns that content, and it seems it
 must open it first. I think my guess about it creating a Content
 Provider is correct-ish.

Neither Firefox nor Chrome will open a file:/// URI (by design -
 CVE-2015-7186). 

Firefox will not open a content:// URI.
-- 
Remove numerics from my email address.