Browser extension intercepting urls to open notification with a user defined app

[phochste]

In a decentralized Solid world many applications will provide functionality to do one or more specialised actions, such as browsing files, playing games, creating a Doodle, participating in a Quiz. In this environment users have a preference for apps they want to use to do some tasks:

• When the user wants to browse a pod , she wants to use App X
• When the user wants to play chess she wants to use App Y
• When the user wants to edit a text resource she wants to use App Z

This challenge is specific for solving "what to App to use when reading Solid pod inbox notifications".

• The user visits the inbox of a Pod
• The browser extension intercept notification URLs
• Based on the notification resources it finds it can find out the type of notification (e.g. a chess notification, an invite notification, a quiz notification)
• The user has a preference of Apps to open for a type of resource:
  • For a chess notification: open the Chess App
  • For an invite notification: open the Doodle App
  • For a quiz notfication: open the Quiz App

Actors/actresses

• User of the application
• Browser extension

Preconditions

• User has launched the extension
• User has a configuration menu to map URLs / Resource types to an application
• User can set a scanning base (e.g. based on a regex):
  • scan =~ /inbox/
• User can e.g. set a regex rule:
  • type =~ /Chess/ : http://mychess.app/?url={url}

Advanced functions implementations might consider creating (N3) rules to decide what app to open based on resources/types. In combination with well known resources (e.g. scan inbox: when it is known from the user profile where in the inbox is)

Steps

• The user browses the (Solid) web
• At some point in time, the user visits a webpage that matches the "scanning base" that was set in the browser extension
• The user clicks on a notification message
• The browser plugin will intercept opening of URLs in this scanning base (based on the rules defined above) and open the preferred application for a URL. This mimics a way how a preferred email program is opened when a URL with a mailto: scheme is found.
• The browser plugin will fill in the URL stup and open the preferred Solid App

Postconditions

• The notification is opened in the preferred Solid app based on the configured type.

[phochste]

Related to https://github.com/SolidLabResearch/Challenges/issues/44

[pheyvaer]

What do the first two steps mean? They are not clear to me.

[phochste]

@pheyvaer I've updated the text. Is it now better?

[pheyvaer]

Yes!

[phochste]

The AcmePlugin is a new Chrome extension that can be used to add a configurable dynamic context menu to every link, image, page. The context menu can be configured using a template e.g.

Open... = 
https://solideditor.patrickhochstenbach.net/?resource={resource}

This will open the current URL in context in the SolidEditor app.

Solid Apps that want to have this support need:

• A way to transport a resource URL as query parameter
• Have a nice way do a (re)login when the user follows this link

[phochste]

[phochste]

The latest version of AcmePlugin support setting wildcards on which URLs one would like to see a context menu.

[RubenVerborgh]

Excellent job, this is great 👍

[pheyvaer]

You find the report for this challenge here.