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Deep Linking in FAQs

Important
Helpshift’s Legacy SDKs (SDK Version <=7.x.x) reached their end of life on 31 Dec 2022, and end of support on 31 March 2023. Please upgrade to the Latest SDKif you haven't already.

Deep Linking in FAQs

Using custom URL schemes to support deep linking in your app

Use custom URL schemes to direct users to particular sections of your app from Helpshift FAQs. You can use these schemes to provide a more seamless experience for the user. For example, if your iOS app has a registration screen, clicking on a registration link in an FAQ can directly take the user to that screen.

Insert custom URL schemes in FAQs​

When editing your FAQ, select the text and then click on create a link.

add-ios-deep-link-1.png

In the dialog that pops up, enter your custom URL and save the FAQ.

add-ios-deep-link-2.png

If you want to use built-in support for deep links with FAQs, please use the following scheme for specifying the links

    <scheme>://helpshift/section/<publish-id>
    <scheme>://helpshift/faq/<publish-id>
Note

If your Unity application already has a subclass of the UnityAppController, please make sure your class inherits from the HsUnityAppController class.

Deep linking is handled out of the box for Helpshift related links.

The required code resides in the Helpshift/Plugins/iOS/HsUnityAppController.mm which is a subclass of the UnityAppController class.

    - (BOOL) application:(UIApplication *)application openURL:(NSURL *)url sourceApplication:(NSString *)sourceApplication annotation:(id)annotation {
    if([[url host] isEqualToString:@"helpshift"]) {
        NSArray *components = [[url path] componentsSeparatedByString:@"/"];
        if([components count] == 3) {
            if([[components objectAtIndex:1] isEqualToString:@"section"]) {
                [HelpshiftSupport showFAQSection:[components objectAtIndex:2] withController:[UIApplication sharedApplication].keyWindow.rootViewController withOptions:@{}];
            } else if([[components objectAtIndex:1] isEqualToString:@"faq"]) {
                [HelpshiftSupport showSingleFAQ:[components objectAtIndex:2] withController:[UIApplication sharedApplication].keyWindow.rootViewController withOptions:@{}];
            }
        }
        return true;
    }
    return [super application:application
                      openURL:url
            sourceApplication:sourceApplication
                   annotation:annotation];

    }

Deep links with custom URL schemes​

Deep linking is a custom linking URL that gives the developers the freedom to decide what the URL can do when the user clicks on a Custom URL. Examples of deep linking includes instances when the user needs to be redirected to a review page from the chat screen, or from the chat screen to an FAQ page or an FAQ section.

In deep linking, you are allowed to set Custom URL schemes like myscheme://example.com. For example, the URL myscheme://FAQID (where FAQID is the publish ID of an FAQ), will open up the relevant FAQ in the conversation screen. In order for the developers to handle myscheme, they will have to call showSingleFAQ api with the corresponding FAQ ID.

To handle the custom URLs in your iOS app, make sure first that your app's Info.plist supports the custom URL scheme that you've provided in the FAQs. More information

You will then need to implement,application:openURL:sourceApplication:annotation: in your app delegate, to handle and take the required action. For example:

- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application openURL:(NSURL *)url sourceApplication:(NSString *)sourceApplication annotation:(id)annotation {

    // URL is myapp://discount-scheme/id304
    if ([url.scheme isEqualToString:@"myapp"]) {
        if ([url.relativePath isEqualToString:@"/id304"]) {
            // Handle deep link in app. Do something inside your app.
            [MyApp doSomething];
        }
    }

    return YES;
}