1047068 - Marketplace app install on android leads to "choose app to open" dialog

Status: NEW

(Web Apps :: General, defect)

Description

[Hal Wine [:hwine] use NI!]

Attachment: Screenshot_2014-07-25-19-42-21.png

When I try to install a Marketplace App on my android tablet, I get presented with a "choose app" dialog (see screenshot).

Yes, this is probably the fault of the wacko reader app I have installed, but providing a hint somewhere that they want the "Package Installer" would avoid confusing non-techies who have some similar bad app installed.

Comment 1

[Wil Clouser [:clouserw]]

Bill - is there anything we can do for this?

Comment 2

[Myk Melez [:myk] [@mykmelez]]

I think this is a dupe of another bug, although I can't find it now.  In any case, this is intentional, as we use an "intent" to launch the installer, and Android is designed to allow multiple apps to register to handle intents, at which point the user is supposed to be able to decide which app to use.

Nevertheless, I'm open to considering changing that behavior.  Or at least providing some kind of hint.  Although apps that register to handle the install intent should theoretically be able to install these packages, which are standard APKs.  So package installation should work even if the user selects another installer app.

(If it doesn't, that's a different bug.)

Comment 3

[krupa raj[:krupa]]

(In reply to Myk Melez [:myk] [@mykmelez] from comment #2)
> I think this is a dupe of another bug, although I can't find it now.  In any
> case, this is intentional, as we use an "intent" to launch the installer,
> and Android is designed to allow multiple apps to register to handle
> intents, at which point the user is supposed to be able to decide which app
> to use.
> 
> Nevertheless, I'm open to considering changing that behavior.  Or at least
> providing some kind of hint.  Although apps that register to handle the
> install intent should theoretically be able to install these packages, which
> are standard APKs.  So package installation should work even if the user
> selects another installer app.
> 
> (If it doesn't, that's a different bug.)

I think the bug is https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=976340 but i may be wrong.

Comment 4

[Myk Melez [:myk] [@mykmelez]]

(In reply to krupa raj[:krupa] from comment #3)
> I think the bug is https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=976340 but i
> may be wrong.

Ah, right!  That's the bug where selecting another package installer fails.  We should fix at least one of these bugs, maybe both.

Comment 5

[Hal Wine [:hwine] use NI!]

(In reply to Myk Melez [:myk] [@mykmelez] from comment #2)
> Although apps that register to handle the
> install intent should theoretically be able to install these packages, which
> are standard APKs.  So package installation should work even if the user
> selects another installer app.
> 
> (If it doesn't, that's a different bug.)

In my particular case, this sounds like a bug with the Helicon book reader. I tried to let Helicon install a marketplace app, and it produced an error message about not finding our apk to be a valid epub file. Both epub & apk files are zip containers at the outer layer.

Comment 6

[Katherine Cooper]

Attachment: same problem

Thanks from gelarere1979.