Firefox bookmarks file

[The Real Bev]

On my linux computer I export my bookmarks to an html file and use that
for my home page. Easy to just search for what I know is there. I
wanted to do the same thing with FF120/Android.

I finally found a way to copy the file from my computer to the
DCIM/Camera file that holds my photos (from which I FTB them to my
computer via wifi) using the native Pixel 'files' utility. I also
exported it to dropbox and downloaded it to the Pixel. So far, so good.

BUT now when I try to open that file with Firefox I just get a popup
asking me what I want to open it with -- Chrome, or 3 other NOT-FIREFOX
things. I suppose I could try emailing it and looking at it with
android gmail, or looking at gmail with firefox, but somehow I don't see
anything different happening. I can open it with Firefox FROM DROPBOX,
but that requires wifi access, which I generally have turned off.

Apparently Pixel2 has set the browser default to itself, and I'm
reluctant to set the default to Firefox without knowing what that will
mess up.

Has anyone actually accomplished something similar?

--
Cheers, Bev
"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea:
massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining,
and a source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you
least expect it." --Gene Spafford (1992)

[Andy Burns]

The Real Bev wrote:

> Apparently Pixel2 has set the browser default to itself, and I'm
> reluctant to set the default to Firefox without knowing what that will
> mess up.

I've 'always' set firefox as my default browser on android, with no bad
effects.

[Jörg Lorenz]

Same here since my Nexus 5X up to my current Pixel 7.
Never ever Chrome.

--
"Gutta cavat lapidem." (Ovid)

[Wally J]

Andy Burns <use...@andyburns.uk> wrote

On Android, Chrome is one of the first system apps I instantly uninstall.
C:\> adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.android.chrome

As with others, on my unrootable Samsung, I have set a different browser as
my Android default with no ill effects that I am aware of. Mine happens to
be Ungoogled Chromium at the moment, but I change it from time to time.

On Windows, my default browser is set to a crippled-on-purpose executable,
but that's mainly because the default browser only seems to pop up when
something else brings it up, and not when I want to open something up.

I would let The Real Bev know that changing the default browser won't hurt
anything that I'm aware of on Android, which would mean that the HTML file
from Linux will open in the newly-set default browser on Android.

However... maybe The Real Bev can just use the Android Firefox "File ->
Open" command, pointing to the location of the HTML file?

One caveat is that Android browsers don't have the full functionality of
the desktop browsers (in my humble assessment).

Having suggested that in a sincere attempt to help The Real Bev, I will
caveat the warning that I don't browse all that much on Android.
--
Usenet is an attempt at a community of do gooders to help each other out.

[Andy Burns]

Wally J wrote:

> I would let The Real Bev know that changing the default browser won't hurt
> anything that I'm aware of on Android, which would mean that the HTML file
> from Linux will open in the newly-set default browser on Android.

I've just tried with a .html file in the Downloads folder and
firefox/fenix doesn't offer itself as one of the options to open with.

[The Real Bev]

Crap. The reason I worry is that FF/linux frequently doesn't even see
some 'security' features offered by some websites. They just sit there
waiting for something to happen. If I copy the URL into chrome a
reCaptcha (or something) shows up and I can continue. This is easy to
do on a computer, but NOTHING is easy on a phone :-(

[Carlos E. R.]

Confirm.

I also tried typing file:///downloads/test.html and firefox called
stupid google to find it, instead of just opening it.

IMO, the support for opening local files has been removed from FF in
Android.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

[AJL]

On 11/26/23 1:41 AM, Andy Burns wrote:

>I've 'always' set firefox as my default browser on android, with no bad
>effects.

I suspect that most of us that use Gmail use the (gasp) Chrome browser as
default. (And on this Chrome Tablet I'm posting with you can't get rid of
it anyway.) For me who receives over a hundred emails a day (local
retirement group) Chrome can delete many emails at one time where the Gmail
app is stuck at one at a time. Further I use permanent Gmail drafts (like
address lists) to keep info that is easily edited when changes occur and
always available to all my devices. Very handy.

But I do use other Android browsers including Firefox. Some like Dolphin and
Samsung allow me to turn off both Javascript AND cookies. That way when I
read my news I still get the text and most pictures without any movement or
popups. Like a real newspaper. No cookies allows me unfettered use of
newspapers like the NYT who count cookies and after a few pages bug me for
a subscription.

But even though Chrome and Firefox can be made to turn off Javascript I
prefer to use them in their full glory...

[Ralph Fox]

On Sun, 26 Nov 2023 11:19:24 -0400, Wally J wrote:
> Andy Burns <use...@andyburns.uk> wrote
>> The Real Bev wrote:
>>
>>> Apparently Pixel2 has set the browser default to itself, and I'm
>>> reluctant to set the default to Firefox without knowing what that will
>>> mess up.
>>
>> I've 'always' set firefox as my default browser on android, with no bad
>> effects.
>

> I would let The Real Bev know that changing the default browser won't hurt
> anything that I'm aware of on Android, which would mean that the HTML file
> from Linux will open in the newly-set default browser on Android.

Not when that newly-set default browser is a current version of
Firefox for Android.

Current versions of Firefox for Android do not support opening local
files, whether they are HTML files or otherwise.
See <https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1329243>


--
Kind regards
Ralph Fox

​️HǷÆT ǷE GARDENA ın ᵹeaꞃ ꝺaᵹum þeoꝺ cẏnınᵹa þꞃẏm ᵹeꝼꞃunon hu ða æþelınᵹaꞅ ellen ꝼꞃemeꝺon.

[The Real Bev]

On 11/26/23 9:53 AM, Ralph Fox wrote:
> On Sun, 26 Nov 2023 11:19:24 -0400, Wally J wrote:
>> Andy Burns <use...@andyburns.uk> wrote
>>> The Real Bev wrote:
>>>
>>>> Apparently Pixel2 has set the browser default to itself, and I'm
>>>> reluctant to set the default to Firefox without knowing what that will
>>>> mess up.
>>>
>>> I've 'always' set firefox as my default browser on android, with no bad
>>> effects.
>>
>> I would let The Real Bev know that changing the default browser won't hurt
>> anything that I'm aware of on Android, which would mean that the HTML file
>> from Linux will open in the newly-set default browser on Android.
>
> Not when that newly-set default browser is a current version of
> Firefox for Android.
>
> Current versions of Firefox for Android do not support opening local
> files, whether they are HTML files or otherwise.
> See <https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1329243>

What kind of idiot could possibly make such a choice? Have these people
gone mad? Was it always this way? This is the first time I've ever
tried it...

--
Cheers, Bev
"Steve Balmer, CEO of Microsoft[0], recently referred to LINUX as a
cancer. Unsurprisingly, that's incorrect; LINUX was released on
August 25th, 1991 and is therefore a virgo." -- Kevin L

[Carlos E. R.]

On 2023-11-26 17:31, The Real Bev wrote:
> On 11/26/23 7:45 AM, Andy Burns wrote:
>> Wally J wrote:
>>
>>> I would let The Real Bev know that changing the default browser won't
>>> hurt
>>> anything that I'm aware of on Android, which would mean that the HTML
>>> file
>>> from Linux will open in the newly-set default browser on Android.
>>
>> I've just tried with a .html file in the Downloads folder and
>> firefox/fenix doesn't offer itself as one of the options to open with.
>
> Crap. The reason I worry is that FF/linux frequently doesn't even see
> some 'security' features offered by some websites.  They just sit there
> waiting for something to happen.  If I copy the URL into chrome a
> reCaptcha (or something) shows up and I can continue.  This is easy to
> do on a computer, but NOTHING is easy on a phone :-(
>

Hamburguer menu, "share...", and then choose "Firefox". Or the reverse.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

[The Real Bev]

Thanks. If it's that easy it's something to think about...


--
Cheers, Bev
"I used to be convinced that MicroSquish shipped crap because they
simply didn't give a flying fuck as long as the sheep kept buying
their shit. Now, I'm convinced that they really do ship the best
products they are capable of writing, and *that's* tragic."
- John C. Randolph, about MS quality control.

[Carlos E. R.]

On 2023-11-26 20:14, The Real Bev wrote:
> On 11/26/23 10:47 AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
>> On 2023-11-26 17:31, The Real Bev wrote:
>>> On 11/26/23 7:45 AM, Andy Burns wrote:
>>>> Wally J wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I would let The Real Bev know that changing the default browser
>>>>> won't hurt
>>>>> anything that I'm aware of on Android, which would mean that the
>>>>> HTML file
>>>>> from Linux will open in the newly-set default browser on Android.
>>>>
>>>> I've just tried with a .html file in the Downloads folder and
>>>> firefox/fenix doesn't offer itself as one of the options to open with.
>>>
>>> Crap. The reason I worry is that FF/linux frequently doesn't even see
>>> some 'security' features offered by some websites.  They just sit
>>> there waiting for something to happen.  If I copy the URL into chrome
>>> a reCaptcha (or something) shows up and I can continue.  This is easy
>>> to do on a computer, but NOTHING is easy on a phone :-(
>>>
>>
>> Hamburguer menu, "share...", and then choose "Firefox". Or the reverse.
>
> Thanks.  If it's that easy it's something to think about...

Just open now a page in any of the two, then try to switch to the other
browser by "sharing" the link. Find out how it goes :-)

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

[Wally J]

The Real Bev <bashl...@gmail.com> wrote

>>> I would let The Real Bev know that changing the default browser won't hurt
>>> anything that I'm aware of on Android, which would mean that the HTML file
>>> from Linux will open in the newly-set default browser on Android.
>>
>> Not when that newly-set default browser is a current version of
>> Firefox for Android.
>>
>> Current versions of Firefox for Android do not support opening local
>> files, whether they are HTML files or otherwise.
>> See <https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1329243>
>
> What kind of idiot could possibly make such a choice? Have these people
> gone mad? Was it always this way? This is the first time I've ever
> tried it..

Drat. *Open Local HTML File on Android with Firefox*
<https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1329243>
"This option is currently unavailable in Firefox for Android.
It may be included in a future update."

I was worried about that, which is why I said that the Android browsers,
for some reason, sorely lack some basic options in the desktop browser.

I'm not sure exactly but is this the problem set that The Real Bev has?

1. The browser isn't opening automatically when a *.html file is tapped.
2. Also, the browser does seem to have a "File -> Open" menu selection.

Are those the two problems?
Or did I get it wrong?

If those are the problems, we can test, one by one, various browsers to see
if there's one that does one or both those two things missing in Firefox.

But I just tested a few and none of them have the "File -> Open" command.
a. DuckDuckGo = nope
b. Bromite = nope
c. Ungoogled Chromium = nope
d. Epic Privacy Browser = nope
e. Tor Browser = nope
f. Firefox = nope
g. Chromium = nope

The link that was proposed said "Opera" did what was being asked for.
I don't have Opera installed and there are three different Operas.
So I just installed this opera temporarily (as it has ads).
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.opera.mini.native>

In that Opera app on Android, there isn't a typical threedot menu, or a
hamburger, but there's a red "O" at the bottom right which has options.

One of those options is "Downloads" which allows you to select from
"Documents" on the file system, apparently.
<https://i.postimg.cc/9FBSkF8z/opera01.jpg>

Maybe that will work for The Real Bev?
--
The best way to use Usenet is for people to be purposefully helpful.

[Wally J]

Andy Burns <use...@andyburns.uk> wrote

BTW, there is another option but it's a bitch (modifying intents).
<https://i.postimg.cc/FzD9Lcbf/afp07.jpg>

While modifying intents might work, I don't know much about doing it.
<https://i.postimg.cc/FFfGnmkS/afp15.jpg>

I was only messing with them because I was able to get both the Aurora
Store developer and the App Finder developer on XDA Developers to add the
ability for people like me (who have no Google Account on the phone so we
can't use the Google Play Store app) to use their apps more easily.

The point is the Firefox folks _could_ make it easy for TheRealBev if
Firefox developers wanted to... but it doesn't seem like they want to.

[Andy Burns]

The Real Bev wrote:

> Ralph Fox wrote:
>
>> Current versions of Firefox for Android do not support opening local
>> files, whether they are HTML files or otherwise.
>

> What kind of idiot could possibly make such a choice?  Have these people
> gone mad?  Was it always this way?

Pretty sure it worked in firefox/fennec

[Wally J]

Andy Burns <use...@andyburns.uk> wrote

> Pretty sure it worked in firefox/fennec

I was going to help out by testing that fennec web browser functionality
for The Real Bev but there's (apparently?) no web browser of that name.
<https://play.google.com/store/search?q=fennec&c=apps>

Is it the Messenger you're speaking about?
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fennec.messenger>

Or the file manager?
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fenneky.fennecfilemanager>

Or do you mean Firefox Focus instead?
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.focus>
--
This is why I generally provide the APK URI or at least the package name.

[Ralph Fox]

On Mon, 27 Nov 2023 00:33:20 -0400, Wally J wrote:
> Andy Burns <use...@andyburns.uk> wrote
>
>> Pretty sure it worked in firefox/fennec
>
> I was going to help out by testing that fennec web browser functionality
> for The Real Bev but there's (apparently?) no web browser of that name.

"Fennec" and "Fenix" are internal project names for Firefox for Android.
Fennec was the old architecture. Fenix is the new architecture.
The last Fennec-based version was version 68, which was released in July 2019,
and received bug and security fixes until July 2020.

See <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_for_Android>

--
Kind regards
Ralph Fox

𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘷𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦,
𝘞𝘢𝘺𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦, 𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘦.

[The Real Bev]

On 11/26/23 8:33 PM, Wally J wrote:
> Andy Burns <use...@andyburns.uk> wrote
>
>> Pretty sure it worked in firefox/fennec
>
> I was going to help out by testing that fennec web browser functionality
> for The Real Bev but there's (apparently?) no web browser of that name.
> <https://play.google.com/store/search?q=fennec&c=apps>

Thanks for the thought. I downloaded it from f-droid but I haven't
played with it much yet.

> Is it the Messenger you're speaking about?
> <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fennec.messenger>
>
> Or the file manager?
> <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fenneky.fennecfilemanager>
>
> Or do you mean Firefox Focus instead?
> <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.focus>


--

Cheers,Bev
aibohphobia - fear of palindromes

[Dave Royal]

See Ralph's post in a.c.s.firefox for the history of this change.
--
(Remove numerics from email address)

[Andy Burns]

Wally J wrote:

> Andy Burns wrote

>
>> Pretty sure it worked in firefox/fennec
>
> I was going to help out by testing that fennec web browser functionality
> for The Real Bev but there's (apparently?) no web browser of that name.

fennec was the code-name of firefox on android up to v68 and fenix is
the code-name from v79 onwards, I'm a bit hazy about intermediate
versions as I stuck with the old branch as long as possible.

<https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mobile/releases/68.9.0/>

[Wally J]

The Real Bev <bashl...@gmail.com> wrote

> Thanks for the thought.

I solved the stated problem (which was solved before we even started),
but I'm not actually sure why everything works so perfectly for me.
<https://i.postimg.cc/SsVLP5w1/openwith01.jpg>

Notice I can open that bookmarks.HTML file (created from Windows Firefox
and saved to Android) in any number of chromium-based Android browsers.

> I downloaded it from f-droid but I haven't
> played with it much yet.

I didn't even think of looking on F-Droid, so thanks for doing that.

<https://f-droid.org/packages/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/>
Version 120.0.0 (1200020) Added on 2023-11-24'
<https://f-droid.org/repo/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid_1200020.apk>
Name: org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid_1200020.apk
Size: 89138535 bytes (85 MiB)
SHA256: FD99BE0E310A86A3549A226769995DB8C4817455E50565E12E284EACA791E89D

From Windows, I saved that APK directly to Android and then
when I installed it on Android, I made Fennec my default web browser.

I don't ever use bookmarks (I have my own method which works for all
browsers), but on Windows, I created a bookmark file to help test it.

To test, on Windows I started Firefox & went to three arbitrary web pages:
1. https://www.kyivpost.com/
2. https://www.youtube.com/@RFU
3. https://www.youtube.com/@DenysDavydov

I rightclicked on each of the three tabs and selected "Bookmark Tab...".
But I wasn't sure where Firefox stores its bookmark file.
<https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data>

Apparently I need to "export" the bookmarks (why?) to get an HTML file.
<https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/export-firefox-bookmarks-to-backup-or-transfer>
Hamburger > Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks > Import & Backup > Export Bookmarks to HTML
<https://assets-prod.sumo.prod.webservices.mozgcp.net/media/uploads/gallery/images/2020-09-06-13-15-54-bc781c.png>

I saved that _directly_ to the Android phone, but others will need to copy
as they probably don't have their phone mounted as a Windows drive letter.

<DT><A HREF="https://www.youtube.com/@DenysDavydov" ADD_DATE="1701131372"
LAST_MODIFIED="1701131372">Denys Davydov - YouTube</A>
<DT><A HREF="https://www.youtube.com/@RFU" ADD_DATE="1701131377"
LAST_MODIFIED="1701131377">Reporting from Ukraine - YouTube</A>
<DT><A HREF="https://www.kyivpost.com/" ADD_DATE="1701131381"
LAST_MODIFIED="1701131381">Get the Latest Ukraine News Today - KyivPost</A>

I saved the bookmarks.html file to the Android external sdcard in
/storage/0000-0001/0001/url/bookmarks.html

Oh my. It was so easy, I'm wondering what I've done to make it so.
It would have worked from the very beginning had I tried it then.
No need to install anything extra. It worked perfectly from the start.
It worked so well that I could open up in _many_ web browsers!

Here is a screenshot as I have to help a neighbor who just called.
<https://i.postimg.cc/SsVLP5w1/openwith01.jpg>

Notice Fennec doesn't even show up in my "Open With" but plenty of
other browsers do show up - as do other things to open it with:

1. Open with... Code Editor
2. Open with... HTML Viewer
3. Open with... Text Editor
4. Open with... AEE Text Editor
5. Open with... Amaze Text Editor
6. Open with... Bromite
7. Open with... Chromium
8. Open with... Epic
9. Open with... File Editor
10. Open with... FX Text Viewer
11. Open with... FX TextEdit
12. Open with... HTML Viewer
13. Open with... Interceptor
14. Open with... OpenContacts
15. Open with... Simple Text Editor
16. Open with... Termux
17. Open with... Text editor
18. Open with... Text viewer
19. Open with... Ungoogled Chromium

Since that was too easy, I went back to Fennec on Android
but I didn't see any "File -> Open" option in Fennec.

But I could already "Open with" to a bunch of other browsers,
namely Bromite, Chromium, Epic and Ungoogled Chromium.

It's interesting that all of those are Chrome-based browsers.
I have DuckDuckGo, Tor, Fennec, Firefox Focus, Firefox,
and Opera Mini also installed (where Opera is, I think,
a chromium-based browser but the rest are Mozilla I think).

So in summary, it seems you can "Open with" an HTML file
on a variety of chromium-based web browsers on Android 13.

[Dave Royal]

On 26 Nov 2023 22:06:17 -0800 The Real Bev wrote:
>On 11/26/23 8:33 PM, Wally J wrote:
>> Andy Burns <use...@andyburns.uk> wrote
>>
>>> Pretty sure it worked in firefox/fennec
>>

>> I was going to help out by testing that fennec [snip]

>
>Thanks for the thought. I downloaded it from f-droid but I haven't
>played with it much yet.

You can also download it from Mozilla's own archive. The latest version is
68.11.0 I still have it on a phone which emulates Android 4.4.

Not only does it accept the file:// method - so it will display your html
bookmarklet file - you can set that as a homepage like on desktop. (I used
to have a SED script which removed all the bloat - 'last visited etc' -
from that file, resequence it, and fit it on a small screen. Probably
still got it somewhere.)

But Fennec lacks 3 years of security updates, so I wouldn't use it.

[Dave Royal]

Cross-posting that back into a.c.s.firefox as in the OP. Fenix/Fennec
handling of file:// is discussed in more detail there.

Opening files from Android file managers is concerned with Android intents
and app manifests and has been discussed at length in c.m.android.

[Wally J]

Dave Royal <da...@dave123royal.com> wrote

>>>>> Pretty sure it worked in firefox/fennec
>>>>
>>>> I was going to help out by testing that fennec [snip]
>>>
>>>Thanks for the thought. I downloaded it from f-droid but I haven't
>>>played with it much yet.
>>
>>You can also download it from Mozilla's own archive. The latest version is
>>68.11.0 I still have it on a phone which emulates Android 4.4.
>>
>>Not only does it accept the file:// method - so it will display your html
>>bookmarklet file - you can set that as a homepage like on desktop. (I used
>>to have a SED script which removed all the bloat - 'last visited etc' -
>>from that file, resequence it, and fit it on a small screen. Probably
>>still got it somewhere.)
>>
>>But Fennec lacks 3 years of security updates, so I wouldn't use it.
>
> Cross-posting that back into a.c.s.firefox as in the OP. Fenix/Fennec
> handling of file:// is discussed in more detail there.

Thanks to Dave Royal for adding the Mozilla developers because this is
almost certainly an Android Mozilla bug (as the "Open With..." bug only
shows up in Mozilla-based browsers & not in Chromium-based browsers).

From my tests (& from the OP's report) this appears to be a Mozilla
specific flaw because everything works in the chromium-based browsers.
<https://i.postimg.cc/SsVLP5w1/openwith01.jpg> MiX file mgr

Thinking that the reason Mozilla browsers don't show up in the
OpenAs/OpenWith menu might be a file-manager issue, I tested many.
<https://i.postimg.cc/C5dm8sV8/openwith02.jpg> Simple Mobile file mgr
<https://i.postimg.cc/SKqddhhk/openwith03.jpg> MK Explorer file mgr
<https://i.postimg.cc/NGPNcS1k/openwith04.jpg> FX file mgr
<https://i.postimg.cc/zGcrv1zK/openwith05.jpg> Samsung My Files file mgr

The Chromium-based browsers open an HTML file in all tested file managers.
The Mozilla-based browsers do not.

That's strange.

Since I'm like Paul, Herbert, Andy & Stan, et al., I'm a purposefully
helpful guy who tested this problem set for TheRealBev, yet I'm confused.

I first tested a whole bunch of browsers for TheRealBev, installing
OperaMini, Fennec (from F-Droid), Firefox Focus & Firefox browsers.
<https://i.postimg.cc/P5QkW1Zb/openwith06.jpg>

I "think" the problem is one of two (neither of which work for TheRealBev),
which, after copying Firefox's exported bookmarks.html from Linux to
Android, Firefox on Android had no "file -> open" capability to read it.

But when I tested _all_ the Android web browsers, none of them had it.]
Why not?

I have no clue.
Maybe you can tell me why Android browsers lack "File -> Open" menus.

In addition, I "think" the second problem was that even with the Android
Firefox set as the default for HTML files, tapping on the exported
bookmarks.html file in Android did NOT bring it up in the Firefox browser.
*Firefox bookmarks file*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/HQmZPZF9-mk>

The OP (and I) would get a plethora of chromium-based choices, but nary a
single web browser based on Mozilla code stood a chance of working right.

Why would only Chromium-based browsers show up in the "Open With..." menu
for HTML files but no Mozilla-based web browsers show up properly for HTML?

> Opening files from Android file managers is concerned with Android intents
> and app manifests and has been discussed at length in c.m.android.

While I'm pretty sure Dave Royal is completely correct that the
flaw in Mozilla's coding is in Android intents, I don't understand them.

This is a part of Android that thoroughly confuses me as I have been
successful getting the developers of two apps to make "Open With" menus
available - but they did all the work - not me. I merely had to clue them
in as to what the problem was (which I suspect is the Mozilla flaw here).

First, I had to show the App Finder developer (who is a great guy) that
people don't put Google Accounts on Android phones and so they can't use
the proprietary Google Play Store client and therefore they use the
non-proprietary open source Google Play Store clients which all use the
same "anon...@google.com" Google Play Store repository login account.
*Skyica App Finder* replacement for Google Play Store repo search engine
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=scadica.aq>

Then I had to show the Aurora Store developers (who are also wonderful)
that they needed to add a few related things to enable OpenWith also.
*Aurora Store* anonymous replacement for Google Play Store client app
<https://aurorastore.org/>

Here you see I tested the App Finder which now does the "Open With..."
correctly when used on an Android phone sans any Google Account setup.
<https://xdaforums.com/t/app-6-0-app-finder-the-most-advanced-search-engine-for-android-apps.4578809/page-10#post-89024201>

And here you see I tested the Aurora Store beta which also now does the
"Open With..." properly for those who don't use the proprietary client.
<https://xdaforums.com/t/app-5-0-aurora-store-open-source-google-play-client.3739733/page-109#post-89023947>

Notice in both cases, as here with Mozilla, the developers never tested
their code in the way that the users use that code - but - the instant
the developers were aware of the bug - they immediately fixed it for me.

The point is that someone needs to explain to the Mozilla coders that they
too have to learn how to code Android apps so that "Open With..." works.

Right now, based on my tests (which reproduced what TheRealBev complained
about initially), none of the Mozilla-based web browsers work on Android.

As for the "intents", here is more detail but it's gory so it should only
be used to forward to Mozilla app developers so they learn how to code
Mozilla-based web browsers to work properly with HTML files on Android.

C:\> adb shell cmd activity start --user 0 -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d content://media/external/file/1000003696 -t text/html --ez from-myfiles true --eu android.intent.extra.STREAM content://media/external/file/1000003696 -f 50331649
URI=intent://media/external/file/1000003696#Intent;scheme=content;type=text/html;launchFlags=0x3000001;B.from-myfiles=true;end
ACTION=android.intent.action.VIEW
DATA=content://media/external/file/1000003696
TYPE=text/html
FLAGS=0x3000001
EXTRA=from-myfiles 0 true
EXTRA=android.intent.extra.STREAM 15 content://media/external/file/1000003696

MATCHING ACTIVITIES 21
0 LABEL HTML Viewer
NAME com.android.htmlviewer.HTMLViewerActivity
PACKAGE com.android.htmlviewer
1 LABEL Text Reader
NAME com.amaze.filemanager.ui.activities.texteditor.TextEditorActivity
PACKAGE com.amaze.filemanager
2 LABEL AEE Text Editor
NAME com.apk.editor.activities.TextEditorActivity
PACKAGE com.apkeditor.new.explorer3
3 LABEL Epic
NAME com.google.android.apps.chrome.IntentDispatcher
PACKAGE com.epic.browser
4 LABEL Text viewer
NAME com.lonelycatgames.Xplore.TextViewer
PACKAGE com.lonelycatgames.Xplore
5 LABEL Simple Text Editor
NAME com.maxistar.textpad.activities.EditorActivity
PACKAGE com.maxistar.textpad
6 LABEL Text Editor
NAME com.mixplorer.activities.TextEditorActivity
PACKAGE com.mixplorer
7 LABEL Code Editor
NAME com.mixplorer.activities.CodeEditorActivity
PACKAGE com.mixplorer
8 LABEL HTML Viewer
NAME com.mixplorer.activities.ContentViewerActivity
PACKAGE com.mixplorer
9 LABEL File Editor
NAME com.simplemobiletools.filemanager.pro.activities.ReadTextActivity
PACKAGE com.simplemobiletools.filemanager.pro
10 LABEL Termux
NAME com.termux.filepicker.TermuxFileReceiverActivity
PACKAGE com.termux
11 LABEL Interceptor
NAME io.github.muntashirakon.AppManager.intercept.ActivityInterceptor
PACKAGE io.github.muntashirakon.AppManager
12 LABEL Text editor
NAME me.zhanghai.android.files.viewer.text.TextEditorActivity
PACKAGE me.zhanghai.android.files
13 LABEL FX Text Viewer
NAME nextapp.fx.ui.viewer.TextViewerActivity
PACKAGE nextapp.fx
14 LABEL FX TextEdit
NAME nextapp.fx.ui.textedit.EditorActivity
PACKAGE nextapp.fx
15 LABEL OpenContacts
NAME opencontacts.open.com.opencontacts.activities.ImportVcardActivity
PACKAGE opencontacts.open.com.opencontacts
16 LABEL Bromite
NAME com.google.android.apps.chrome.IntentDispatcher
PACKAGE org.bromite.bromite
17 LABEL Chromium
NAME com.google.android.apps.chrome.IntentDispatcher
PACKAGE org.bromite.chromium
18 LABEL Ungoogled Chromium
NAME com.google.android.apps.chrome.IntentDispatcher
PACKAGE org.ungoogled.chromium.stable
19 LABEL Switch to work profile
NAME com.android.internal.app.ForwardIntentToManagedProfile
PACKAGE android
20 LABEL Save as
NAME org.openintents.filemanager.SaveAsActivity
PACKAGE org.openintents.filemanager

In summary, as "Dave Royal" said, it's all about a flaw in Mozilla
Android intents where only Chromium browsers "Open with..." properly.
<https://i.postimg.cc/SsVLP5w1/openwith01.jpg> MiX file mgr

Specifically, Mozilla-based browsers are all broken on Android in that none
of them perform the "Open with..." action correctly, while all the tested
Chromium-based Android browsers (except Opera Mini) worked properly.
<https://i.postimg.cc/SsVLP5w1/openwith01.jpg> MiX file mgr
<https://i.postimg.cc/C5dm8sV8/openwith02.jpg> Simple Mobile file mgr
<https://i.postimg.cc/SKqddhhk/openwith03.jpg> MK Explorer file mgr
<https://i.postimg.cc/NGPNcS1k/openwith04.jpg> FX file mgr
<https://i.postimg.cc/zGcrv1zK/openwith05.jpg> Samsung My Files file mgr
<https://i.postimg.cc/P5QkW1Zb/openwith06.jpg> Fennec doesn't work either
--
Posting a question on Usenet and helping others answer questions is an
attempt to learn from others who know more than you do (to help everyone).

[Dave Royal]

On 28 Nov 2023 11:55:37 -0400 Wally J wrote:
>Dave Royal <da...@dave123royal.com> wrote
>
>>>>>> Pretty sure it worked in firefox/fennec
>>>>>
>>>>> I was going to help out by testing that fennec [snip]
>>>>
>>>>Thanks for the thought. I downloaded it from f-droid but I haven't
>>>>played with it much yet.
>>>
>>>You can also download it from Mozilla's own archive. The latest version is
>>>68.11.0 I still have it on a phone which emulates Android 4.4.
>>>
>>>Not only does it accept the file:// method - so it will display your html
>>>bookmarklet file - you can set that as a homepage like on desktop. (I used
>>>to have a SED script which removed all the bloat - 'last visited etc' -
>>>from that file, resequence it, and fit it on a small screen. Probably
>>>still got it somewhere.)
>>>
>>>But Fennec lacks 3 years of security updates, so I wouldn't use it.
>>
>> Cross-posting that back into a.c.s.firefox as in the OP. Fenix/Fennec
>> handling of file:// is discussed in more detail there.
>
>Thanks to Dave Royal for adding the Mozilla developers because this is
>almost certainly an Android Mozilla bug (as the "Open With..." bug only
>shows up in Mozilla-based browsers & not in Chromium-based browsers).

There _isn't_ a bug in Firefox for Android (Fenix) or in the way Firefox
uses intents and fails to allow html files to be opened. The reasons have
been explained in the part of this thread which stayed in a.c.s.firefox.

We may not like it (I don't) but it's by design.

[Wally J]

Dave Royal <da...@dave123royal.com> wrote

> There _isn't_ a bug in Firefox for Android (Fenix) or in the way Firefox
> uses intents and fails to allow html files to be opened. The reasons have
> been explained in the part of this thread which stayed in a.c.s.firefox.
>

What thread? Looking that up...

It's too bad there isn't an autoarchive for dejanews for this newsgroup:
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.software.firefox>
As in <https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android>

If I had a Message-ID, I could use the HowardKnight lookup mechanism.
<http://al.howardknight.net/>

But maybe it's in the narkive?
<https://alt.comp.software.firefox.narkive.com/>
As in <https://comp.mobile.android.narkive.com>

But that fails, for some reason (typo?).

> We may not like it (I don't) but it's by design.'

It is a bug. No doubt about it. You can't be claiming that only Chromium
browsers can open HTML files but not Mozilla browsers is not a bug.

The reason it's a bug is easy to figure out:
a. All the chromium-based browsers work this way
b. And everyone would want it to work this way
c. Plus, there's no good reason for it to NOT work this way

For a Mozilla browser to be incapable of opening up an HTML file is kind of
like what Apple does (e.g., it restricts everything the user wants to do).

I think if the Firefox people know about this bug, they don't have to fix
it as they may have higher priority issues to deal with (and that's OK).

But don't try to tell me it's a bug that you can't open an HTML file on
Android using a Mozilla browser (and yet you easily can do it with
chromium-based browsers).

I suspect the Mozilla developers just don't understand what is happening
(just like the App Finder & Aurora Store developers didn't understand it).

In summary, the fact you can't open an HTML file using Mozilla browsers on
Android, is a bug (nobody is gonna convince me otherwise of that fact).

Unless...

You have a _better_ way of opening an HTML file using Mozilla browsers.
That I would be willing to listen to.... as that wouldn't be a bug.

Opening up an HTML file on Android can either be done, or it can't be done.
a. If it can't be done, it's a bug.
b. If it can be done, it's a use model issue (that is done some other way).

Which is it?

[Carlos E. R.]

On 2023-11-28 21:04, Wally J wrote:
> Dave Royal <da...@dave123royal.com> wrote
>
>> There _isn't_ a bug in Firefox for Android (Fenix) or in the way Firefox
>> uses intents and fails to allow html files to be opened. The reasons have
>> been explained in the part of this thread which stayed in a.c.s.firefox.
>>
>
> What thread? Looking that up...

This same thread. Just subscribe in Thunderbird and open it.

Oh, wait...! :-DD

>> We may not like it (I don't) but it's by design.'
>
> It is a bug. No doubt about it. You can't be claiming that only Chromium
> browsers can open HTML files but not Mozilla browsers is not a bug.

It is intentional. Don't conjeture, just read the other part of this
thread and find out.

...

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.