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Mhret Aatifa

Mhret Aatifa

3 years ago

React Native Share, A Simple Tool for Share Message and File

react-native-share

React Native Share, a simple tool for share message and file to other apps.

Sponsors

If you use this library on your commercial/personal projects, you can help us by funding the work on specific issues that you choose by using IssueHunt.io!

This gives you the power to prioritize our work and support the project contributors. Moreover it’ll guarantee the project will be updated and maintained in the long run.

issuehunt-image

Getting started

If you are using react-native >= 0.60.0 please use react-native-share >= 2.0.0

Automatic Way

yarn add react-native-share

or if you’re using npm

npm install react-native-share --save

Requirements:

  1. Xcode 11 or higher
  2. iOS 13 SDK or higher

Important:

Linking is not needed anymore. react-native@0.60.0+ supports dependencies auto linking. For iOS you also need additional step to install auto linked Pods:

npx pod-install

If you are using react-native <= 0.59.10 please use react-native-share <= 1.2.1:

If you are having any problems with this library, or need to use >= 2.0.0 please refer to: jetifier.

After installing jetifier, runs a npx jetify -r and test if this works by running a react-native run-android.

Automatic Way

yarn add react-native-share
react-native link react-native-share # not needed for react-native >= 0.60.0

or if you’re using npm

npm install react-native-share --save
react-native link react-native-share # not needed for react-native >= 0.60.0

We recommend using the releases from npm, however you can use the master branch if you need any feature that is not available on NPM. By doing this you will be able to use unreleased features, but the module may be less stable. yarn:

yarn add react-native-share@git+https://git@github.com/react-native-community/react-native-share.git

LSApplicationQueriesSchemes on iOS

Remember to add instagram, facebook or whatever queries schemes you need to LSApplicationQueriesSchemes field in your Info.plist. This is required to share content directly to other apps like Instagram, Facebook etc. Values for queries schemes can be found in Social field of RNShare class.

Manual install

iOS Install

  1. yarn add react-native-share

  2. In XCode, in the project navigator, right click Libraries ➜ Add Files to [your project's name]

  3. Go to node_modules ➜ react-native-share ➜ ios and add RNShare.xcodeproj

  4. In XCode, in the project navigator, select your project. Add libRNShare.a to your project’s Build Phases ➜ Link Binary With Libraries

  5. In XCode, in the project navigator, select your project. Add Social.framework and MessageUI.framework to your project’s General ➜ Linked Frameworks and Libraries

  6. In iOS 9 or higher, you should add app list that you will share. If you want to share Whatsapp and Mailto, you should write LSApplicationQueriesSchemes in info.plist

    <key>LSApplicationQueriesSchemes</key>
<array>
  <string>whatsapp</string>
  <string>mailto</string>
</array>

  7. (Optional) Also following lines allows users to save photos, add them in info.plist

    <key>NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription</key>
<string>$(PRODUCT_NAME) wants to save photos</string>

  8. Run your project (Cmd+R)

iOS Install (using Pods)

If you wish, you can use cocopoads to use react-native-share.

You just need to add to your Podfile the react-native-share dependency.

  # React-Native-Share pod
  pod 'RNShare', :path => '../node_modules/react-native-share'

After that, just run a pod install or pod udpate to get up and running with react-native-share.

Then run a react-native link react-native-share, and doing the steps 6 and 7.

You can also see our example to see how you need to setup your podfile.

Btw, We also recommend reading this amazing article about how pods and rn work together. =D

Android Install

  1. yarn add react-native-share

  2. Open up android/app/src/main/java/[...]/MainApplication.java

    • Add import cl.json.RNSharePackage; and import cl.json.ShareApplication; to the imports at the top of the file
    • Add new RNSharePackage() to the list returned by the getPackages() method

  3. Append the following lines to android/settings.gradle:

    include ':react-native-share'
project(':react-native-share').projectDir = new File(rootProject.projectDir, 	'../node_modules/react-native-share/android')

  4. Insert the following lines inside the dependencies block in android/app/build.gradle:

      implementation project(':react-native-share')

  5. (Optional) Follow this for implementing Provider

Windows Install

Read it! :D

  1. yarn add react-native-share
  2. In Visual Studio add the RNShare.sln in node_modules/react-native-share/windows/RNShare.sln folder to their solution, reference from their app.
  3. Open up your MainPage.cs app
  • Add using Cl.Json.RNShare; to the usings at the top of the file
  • Add new RNSharePackage() to the List<IReactPackage> returned by the Packages method

Methods

open(options)

Open Simple share dialog

Returns a promise that fulfills or rejects as soon as user successfully open the share action sheet or cancelled/failed to do so. As a result you might need to further handle the rejection while necessary. e.g.

*For share multiple files, you must using option urls instead of url to share multiple files/images/docs. Example could be found in Example folder

  Share.open(options)
    .then((res) => { console.log(res) })
    .catch((err) => { err && console.log(err); });

Supported options:

Name Type Description
url string URL you want to share (only support base64 string in iOS & Android).
urls Array[string] array of base64 string you want to share (only support iOS & Android).
type string File mime type (optional)
message string
title string (optional)
subject string (optional)
email string Email of addressee (optional)
excludedActivityTypes string (optional)
failOnCancel boolean (defaults to true) Specifies whether promise should reject if user cancels share dialog (optional)
showAppsToView boolean (optional) only android
filename string only support base64 string in Android
saveToFiles boolean Open only Files app (optional, supports only urls (base64 string or path), requires iOS 11 or later)
filenames Array[string] array of filename for base64 urls array in Android
activityItemSources Array[Object] (optional) Array of activity item sources (iOS only). Each items should conform to ActivityItemSource type. See below.

Url format when sharing a file

Share base 64 file

When share a base 64 file, please follow the format below:

url: "data:<data_type>/<file_extension>;base64,<base64_data>"

Share file directly

When share a local file directly, please follow the format below:

url: "file://<file_path>",

Provide data to share by using activityItemSources (in iOS)

In order to share different data according to activities or to customize the share sheet, you can provide the data by using activityItemSources .

See here for more information about UIActivityItemSource.

Example
import { Platform } from 'react-native';
import Share from 'react-native-share';

const url = 'https://awesome.contents.com/';
const title = 'Awesome Contents';
const message = 'Please check this out.';
const icon = 'data:<data_type>/<file_extension>;base64,<base64_data>';
const options = Platform.select({
  ios: {
    activityItemSources: [
      { // For sharing url with custom title.
        placeholderItem: { type: 'url', content: url },
        item: {
          default: { type: 'url', content: url },
        },
        subject: {
          default: title,
        },
        linkMetadata: { originalUrl: url, url, title },
      },
      { // For sharing text.
        placeholderItem: { type: 'text', content: message },
        item: {
          default: { type: 'text', content: message },
          message: null, // Specify no text to share via Messages app.
        },
        linkMetadata: { // For showing app icon on share preview.
           title: message
        },
      },
      { // For using custom icon instead of default text icon at share preview when sharing with message.
        placeholderItem: {
          type: 'url',
          content: icon
        },
        item: {
          default: {
            type: 'text',
            content: `${message} ${url}`
          },
        },
        linkMetadata: {
           title: message,
           icon: icon
        }
      },
    ],
  },
  default: {
    title,
    subject: title,
    message: `${message} ${url}`,
  },
});

Share.open(options);
ActivityItemSource
Name Type Description
placeholderItem Object An object to use as a placeholder for the actual data. This should comform to ActivityItem type.
item Object An object that contains the final data object to be acted on for each activity types. This should be { [ActivityType]: ?ActivityItem } .
subject Object (optional) An object that contains a string to use as the contents of the subject field for each activity types. This should be { [ActivityType]: string } .
dataTypeIdentifier Object (optional) An object that contains the UTI for the item for each activity types. This should be { [ActivityType]: string } . See here for more information.
thumbnailImage Object (optional) An object that contains the URL to the image to use as a preview for the item for each activity types. This should be { [ActivityType]: string } . The URL should begin with data: and contain the data as base 64 encoded string.
linkMetadata Object (optional) An object that contains the metadata about a URL, including its title, icon, images, and video. See LinkMetadata.
ActivityType
  • addToReadingList
  • airDrop
  • assignToContact
  • copyToPasteBoard
  • mail
  • message
  • openInIBooks (iOS 9+)
  • postToFacebook
  • postToFlickr
  • postToTencentWeibo
  • postToTwitter
  • postToVimeo
  • postToWeibo
  • print
  • saveToCameraRoll
  • markupAsPDF (iOS 11+)

Also you can use default in order to specify default behavior.

ActivityItem
Name Type Description
type text url
content string Text or URL to share. You can specify image with URL that begins with data and contains the data as base 64 encoded string.
LinkMetadata
Name Type Description
originalUrl string (optional) The original URL of the metadata request.
url string (optional) The URL that returns the metadata, taking server-side redirects into account.
title string (optional) A representative title for the URL.
icon string (optional) A URL of the file corresponding to a representative icon for the URL.
image string (optional) A URL of the file corresponding to a representative image for the URL.
remoteVideoUrl string (optional) A remote URL corresponding to a representative video for the URL.
video string (optional) A URL of the file corresponding to a representative video for the URL.

shareSingle(options) (in iOS & Android)

Open share dialog with specific application

This returns a promise too.

Supported options:

Name Type Description
url string URL you want to share
type string File mime type (optional)
message string
title string (optional)
subject string (optional)
email string Email of addressee (optional)
social string supported social apps: List
forceDialog boolean (optional) only android. Avoid showing dialog with buttons Just Once / Always. Useful for Instagram to always ask user if share as Story or Feed

NOTE: If both message and url are provided, url will be concatenated to the end of message to form the body of the message. If only one is provided it will be used

isPackageInstalled() (in Android)

It’s a method that checks if an app (package) is installed on Android. It returns a promise with isInstalled. e.g.

Checking if Instagram is installed on Android.

Share.isPackageInstalled('com.instagram.android')
  .then(({ isInstalled }) => console.log(isInstalled))

NOTE: in iOS you can use Linking.canOpenURL(url)

Static Values for social

These can be assessed using Share.Social property For eg.

import Share from 'react-native-share';

const shareOptions = {
    title: 'Share via',
    message: 'some message',
    url: 'some share url',
    social: Share.Social.WHATSAPP,
    whatsAppNumber: "9199999999",  // country code + phone number
    filename: 'test' , // only for base64 file in Android
};
Share.shareSingle(shareOptions);
Name Android iOS Windows
FACEBOOK yes yes no
FACEBOOK_STORIES no yes no
PAGESMANAGER yes no no
WHATSAPP yes yes no
INSTAGRAM yes yes no
INSTAGRAM_STORIES no yes no
GOOGLEPLUS yes yes no
EMAIL yes yes no
PINTEREST yes no no
SMS yes no no
SNAPCHAT yes no no
MESSENGER yes no no
LINKEDIN yes no no

How it looks:

Android IOS Windows
Simple Share Demo Android Demo iOS Demo Windows
UI Component Demo Android UI Component Demo Android UI Component TODO

Troubleshooting

Language Support (iOS)

On iOS, share component reads language value from CFBundleDevelopmentRegion at Info.plist file. By changing CFBundleDevelopmentRegion value you can change default language for component.

<key>CFBundleDevelopmentRegion</key>
<string>en</string>

For supporting multi language, you can add CFBundleAllowMixedLocalizations key to Info.plist.

<key>CFBundleAllowMixedLocalizations</key>
<string>true</string>

LinkPresentation.h file not found

  1. Check iOS SDK version running this command: xcodebuild -showsdks
  2. If your SDK is 12 or lower you need to update to Xcode 11 with iOS SDK 13
  3. Build the app with Xcode 11 and everything works ok

Share Remote PDF File with Gmail & WhatsApp (iOS)

When sharing a pdf file with base64, there are two current problems.

  1. On WhatsApp base64 wont be recognized => nothing to share
  2. In the GmailApp the file extension is wrong (.dat).

Therefore we use this “workaround” in order to handle pdf sharing for iOS Apps to mentioned Apps

  1. Install react-native-fetch-blob
  2. Set a specific path in the RNFetchBlob configurations
  3. Download the PDF file to temp device storage
  4. Share the response’s path() of the donwloaded file directly

Code:

static sharePDFWithIOS(fileUrl, type) {
  let filePath = null;
  let file_url_length = fileUrl.length;
  const configOptions = {
    fileCache: true,
    path:
      DIRS.DocumentDir + (type === 'application/pdf' ? '/SomeFileName.pdf' : '/SomeFileName.png') // no difference when using jpeg / jpg / png /
  };
  RNFetchBlob.config(configOptions)
    .fetch('GET', fileUrl)
    .then(async resp => {
      filePath = resp.path();
      let options = {
        type: type,
        url: filePath // (Platform.OS === 'android' ? 'file://' + filePath)
      };
      await Share.open(options);
      // remove the image or pdf from device's storage
      await RNFS.unlink(filePath);
    });
}

Nothing to do on Android. You can share the pdf file with base64

static sharePDFWithAndroid(fileUrl, type) {
  let filePath = null;
  let file_url_length = fileUrl.length;
  const configOptions = { fileCache: true };
  RNFetchBlob.config(configOptions)
    .fetch('GET', fileUrl)
    .then(resp => {
      filePath = resp.path();
      return resp.readFile('base64');
    })
    .then(async base64Data => {
      base64Data = `data:${type};base64,` + base64Data;
      await Share.open({ url: base64Data });
      // remove the image or pdf from device's storage
      await RNFS.unlink(filePath);
    });
}

Static Values for Instagram Stories

These can be assessed using Share.Social property For eg.

import Share from 'react-native-share';

const shareOptions = {
    method: Share.InstagramStories.SHARE_BACKGROUND_AND_STICKER_IMAGE,
    backgroundImage: 'http://urlto.png',
    stickerImage: 'data:image/png;base64,<imageInBase64>', //or you can use "data:" link
    backgroundBottomColor: '#fefefe',
    backgroundTopColor: '#906df4',
    attributionURL: 'http://deep-link-to-app', //in beta
    social: Share.Social.INSTAGRAM_STORIES
};
Share.shareSingle(shareOptions);

Supported options for INSTAGRAM_STORIES:

Name Type Description
backgroundImage string URL you want to share
stickerImage string URL you want to share
method string List
backgroundBottomColor string (optional) default #837DF4
backgroundTopColor string (optional) default #906df4
attributionURL string (optional) facebook beta-test

Instagram stories method list

Name Required options
SHARE_BACKGROUND_IMAGE backgroundImage
SHARE_STICKER_IMAGE stickerImage
SHARE_BACKGROUND_AND_STICKER_IMAGE backgroundImage, stickerImage

Static Values for Facebook Stories

These can be assessed using Share.Social property For eg.

import Share from 'react-native-share';

const shareOptions = {
    method: Share.FacebookStories.SHARE_BACKGROUND_AND_STICKER_IMAGE,
    backgroundImage: 'http://urlto.png', // url or an base64 string
    stickerImage: 'data:image/png;base64,<imageInBase64>', //or you can use "data:" url
    backgroundBottomColor: '#fefefe',
    backgroundTopColor: '#906df4',
    attributionURL: 'http://deep-link-to-app', //in beta
    appId: '219376304', //facebook appId
    social: Share.Social.FACEBOOK_STORIES
};
Share.shareSingle(shareOptions);

Supported options for FACEBOOK_STORIES:

Name Type Description
appId string (required) facebook appId
backgroundImage string URL you want to share
stickerImage string URL you want to share
method string List
backgroundBottomColor string (optional) default #837DF4
backgroundTopColor string (optional) default #906df4
attributionURL string (optional) facebook beta-test

Facebook stories method list

Name Required options
SHARE_BACKGROUND_IMAGE backgroundImage
SHARE_STICKER_IMAGE stickerImage
SHARE_BACKGROUND_AND_STICKER_IMAGE backgroundImage, stickerImage

Adding your implementation of FileProvider

Android guide.

  • applicationId should be defined in the defaultConfig section in your android/app/build.gradle:

  • File: android/app/build.gradle

    defaultConfig {
    applicationId "com.yourcompany.yourappname"
    ...
}

  • Add this <provider> section to your AndroidManifest.xml

    File: AndroidManifest.xml

    <application>
    <provider
        android:name="androidx.core.content.FileProvider"
        android:authorities="${applicationId}.provider"
        android:grantUriPermissions="true"
        android:exported="false">
        <meta-data
            android:name="android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS"
            android:resource="@xml/filepaths" />
    </provider>
</application>

  • Create a filepaths.xml under this directory: android/app/src/main/res/xml.

    In this file, add the following contents:

    File: android/app/src/main/res/xml/filepaths.xml

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<paths xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
  <external-path name="myexternalimages" path="Download/" />
</paths>

  • Edit your MainApplication.java class to add implements ShareApplication and getFileProviderAuthority

  • The getFileProviderAuthority function returns the android:authorities value added in the AndroidManifest.xml file

  • applicationId is defined in the defaultConfig section of your android/app/build.gradle and referenced using BuildConfig.APPLICATION_ID

    import cl.json.ShareApplication
public class MainApplication extends Application implements ShareApplication, ReactApplication {

     @Override
     public String getFileProviderAuthority() {
            return BuildConfig.APPLICATION_ID + ".provider";
     }

     // ...Your own code

}

Mocking with Jest

  • To mock when using Jest. Add the below line on your __mock__ directory.
jest.mock('react-native-share', () => ({
  default: jest.fn(),
}));

Download Details:

Author: react-native-community

GitHub: https://github.com/react-native-community/react-native-share

#react-native #reactjs #programming

React Native Share, A Simple Tool for Share Message and File
223.05 GEEK