Gaia/System/Activities

Status

• Stage: Development
• Latest:
• Release target:

Team

• UX: Patryk
• UX: Josh
• Dev: Vivien
• Dev: Etienne
• B2G: Fabrice
• API: Mounir

Background

Activities facilitate app to app communications. They have the following characteristics:

Comprised of four components

Action + Type + [data] + Disposition

• Action
  • Pick
  • View
  • Edit
  • Share
  • etc...
• Type
  • image/png
  • etc...
• Data
  • URL
  • Object
  • etc...
• Disposition

Can be one-way, or round trip

One way

• 1. Browser: "Share"
• 2. Select handler app from list of apps that support that Activity (Share), type (URL), and [Data] (string)
• 3. Selected app opens (eg: Email) and presents appropriate interface (eg: Email new message composition)
• 4. User completes composition and sends.

In a one-way trip, the message composition window would then close, and take user to main window of Email app. The user would not be returned to the originating app (Browser).

Round trip

• 1. Email: "Attach"
• 2. Select attachment type from list (eg: Image, Document, Video, etc)
• 3. Select handler app from list of apps that support the Activity (Pick), type (Image), and [Data] (image object)
• 4. Selected app opens (eg: Gallery) and presents appropriate interface (eg: Image picker)
• 5. User completes activity (eg: selects one or more images, and selects "Ok")
• 6. User is returned to Email. Selected images are input into email message.

In this instance, the Activity returns the user to the originating app, along with an object.

Are tracked by OS

The system maintains a record (via a central registry in Activities API?) of which apps support which Actions & Types, and uses this record to populate the list of available handler apps when the user selects an Action.

Requirements

Please fill in the following for each app

Browser

• Share Function
  • Select from list of compatible applications that the link can be shared to:
    • Email, Compose message
      • subject line: "[name] Shared a link with you"
      • body text: includes website link
    • Messaging/SMS
      • Include link into message
  • User sends message or completes sharing operation
  • Message is sent in background and user is returned to browser

• In browser content link
  • Pattern matches typical website address links (ie: www.domain.com)
  • User clicks and navigates to link

• In browser content mailto: link
  • User clicks on email links
  • Email, Compose message
    • to: [mailto: email address]

• In browser phone number link
  • Pattern matches phone numbers (eg XXX-XXX-XXXX formatted)
  • User clicks phone number
  • Dialer application is opened with phone # added to number field.

Settings

• Background / Lock screen image picker -- opens photo gallery

Design Spec

Interaction Design Spec (Draft): https://www.dropbox.com/s/ohrypdms37tfa69/Activities.pdf