How do I determine that a link is a calendar event from an IOS App and then add it to Calendar?

Question

I have written an iPhone App that looks at a webpage. (I have authorized the App to access Calendar.) One of the links is a calendar link. When I look at that link with Safari, I get a message.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/opzhxcrg8ye2z4v/Screen%20Shot%202018-11-23%20at%201.17.15%20PM.png?dl=0

"The website is trying to show you a calendar invite. Do you want to allow it ...". I can then add it to my calendar. However, when I open that identical link inside my app, my app does not recognize it is a calendar link and then I get options to either Open, Add to Read List, copy ...".

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wd7n8n9bz764wih/Screenshot%202018-11-23%2013.20.53.png?dl=0

My question is how to get my App to recognize that a link is a calendar link?

Answer 1

One determines what should be in the file by the suffix and the MIME content type. For icalendars, the suffix is .ics and the MIME content type is text/calendar. If a link does not have .ics suffix your app can ignore it, if it has a .ics, then it should check the header for the mime-type.

What is a MIME type? https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Basics_of_HTTP/MIME_types/Complete_list_of_MIME_types

What a browser or device actually does with the file depends on what the user has set in the settings. EG: a .pdf will topen in the way that the user has told the browser to open .pdf's - either in browser or adobe reader.

EG in windows for development purposes, I have specified that calendar links (links with suffix .ics) should be opened in my editor rather than my calendar.