open android calendar with html link

Question

I need to open the calendar app on my Android Device using a simple html link. I was able to do this in iOS with href=CALSHOW:// is there something similar for android?

in alternative is there any workaround?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

On Android there are a method more powerful than the ios urls schemas. Intents And it is really really more powerful!

You can open the calendar or add a calendar event with the Intents (and a lot of other uses like open twitter, share an image on whatsapp, create a note on evernote ... )

In this link you can find the solution. Take care with android <4.0 because the api of calendar changes and standardizes on Android 4.0. Read this this post too

To add a calendar event you follow the next code: (this is an example, maybe you not use all of this or perhaps your date format is different)

/**
 * Creates a calendar event
 * 
 * @param ce calendar event information
 * @return
 */
protected static boolean createCalendarEvent(Context context, CalendarEventCustomObject ce) {
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.ICE_CREAM_SANDWICH)
        return createCalendarEventIceCream(context, ce);
    else
        return createCalendarEventNormal(context, ce);
}

@SuppressLint("SimpleDateFormat")
protected static boolean createCalendarEventNormal(Context context, CalendarEventCustomObject ce) {
    try {
        Intent calIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_EDIT);
        calIntent.setType("vnd.android.cursor.item/event");

        calIntent.putExtra("title", ce.description);
        calIntent.putExtra("eventLocation", ce.location);
        calIntent.putExtra("description", ce.summary);
        calIntent.putExtra("calendar_id", ce.id);

        // Add date info
        SimpleDateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ");
        SimpleDateFormat df2 = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mmZ");
        Long start = Utils.parseDate(ce.start, df);
        if (start == null) {
            start = Utils.parseDate(ce.start, df2);
            if (start == null)
                start = System.currentTimeMillis();
        }
        Long end = Utils.parseDate(ce.end, df);
        if (end == null) {
            end = Utils.parseDate(ce.end, df2);
            if (end == null)
                end = System.currentTimeMillis();
        }
        calIntent.putExtra("beginTime", start);
        calIntent.putExtra("endTime", end);

        context.startActivity(calIntent);
        return true;
    } catch (Exception e) {
        return false;
    }
}

@SuppressLint("NewApi")
protected static boolean createCalendarEventIceCream(Context context, CalendarEventCustomObject ce) {
    try {
        Intent calIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_INSERT);
        calIntent.setType("vnd.android.cursor.item/event");

        // Create intent and add string info
        calIntent.putExtra(Events.TITLE, ce.description);
        calIntent.putExtra(Events.EVENT_LOCATION, ce.location);
        calIntent.putExtra(Events.DESCRIPTION, ce.summary);
        calIntent.putExtra(Events.CALENDAR_ID, ce.id);

        // add date info
        SimpleDateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mmZ");
        SimpleDateFormat df2 = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ");
        Long start = Utils.parseDate(ce.start, df);
        if (start == null) {
            start = Utils.parseDate(ce.start, df2);
            if (start == null)
                start = System.currentTimeMillis();
        }

        Long end = Utils.parseDate(ce.end, df);
        if (end == null) {
            end = Utils.parseDate(ce.end, df2);
            if (end == null)
                end = System.currentTimeMillis();
        }
        calIntent.putExtra(CalendarContract.EXTRA_EVENT_BEGIN_TIME, start);
        calIntent.putExtra(CalendarContract.EXTRA_EVENT_END_TIME, end);

        calIntent.setData(CalendarContract.Events.CONTENT_URI);
        ((Activity) context).startActivity(calIntent);
        return true;
    } catch (Exception e) {
        return false;
    }
}   

Answer 2

I don't know to be such link that WebView would support, but it's very easy to handle that link for yourself. I am assuming you're loading the web content (html) in a WebView . Inside the html you will have this type of link:

<a href="CALSHOW://">Open calendar</a>

In the Java code, you will overwrite that link:

myWebView.setWebViewClient(new WebViewClient(){
            @Override
            public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, String url) {
                if(url.startsWith("CALSHOW")) {
                    openCalendar();
                    return true;
                }
                return super.shouldOverrideUrlLoading(view, url);
            }
        });

And the method to open the calendar:

protected void openCalendar() {
        Intent calendarIntent = new Intent() ;
        /**
         * Set the time you need ...
         * */
        //calendarIntent.putExtra("beginTime", your_time);
        calendarIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_REORDER_TO_FRONT | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP);
        calendarIntent.setClassName("com.android.calendar","com.android.calendar.AgendaActivity");
        startActivity(calendarIntent);
    }

That is the work-around