Ionic/Cordova: Add intent-filter using config.xml

Issue

I'm developing a mobile app using Ionic Framework (based on Cordova).

In Android I register my app to open *.txt files. I do it adding intent-filter in platforms/android/AndroidManifest.xml and it works. But platform folder is in .gitignore: I want to do it using config.xml.

I tried adding in config.xml:

     <platform name="android">
        <config-file target="AndroidManifest.xml" parent="/*/application/activity">
          <intent-filter><!-- ... --></intent-filter>
        </config-file>
        <!-- ... -->
     </platform>

And I tried also adding:

     <platform name="android">
        <config-file target="AndroidManifest.xml" parent="/manifest/application">
          <activity android:name="CordovaApp"> 
            <intent-filter><!-- ... --></intent-filter>
          </activity>
        </config-file>
        <!-- ... -->
     </platform>

Then I tried to update AndroidManifest launching

ionic prepare

Or also:

ionic remove platform android && ionic add platform android

But AndroidManifest.xml is always unchanged. What am I doing wrong?

I'm using Ionic 1.3.2 and Cordova 4.2.0.

Edit Here the entire config.xml:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
    <widget id="com.ionicframework.myapp551932" version="0.0.1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/ns/widgets" xmlns:cdv="http://cordova.apache.org/ns/1.0" xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
      <name>MyApp</name>
      <description>
            myApp
        </description>
      <author email="[email protected]" href="http://www.example.com/">
          A Team
        </author>
      <content src="index.html"/>
      <access origin="*"/>
      <preference name="webviewbounce" value="false"/>
      <preference name="UIWebViewBounce" value="false"/>
      <preference name="DisallowOverscroll" value="true"/>
      <preference name="BackupWebStorage" value="none"/>
      <preference name="SplashScreen" value="screen"/>
      <preference name="SplashScreenDelay" value="3000"/>
      <feature name="StatusBar">
        <param name="ios-package" value="CDVStatusBar" onload="true"/>
      </feature>
      <platform name="android">
        <config-file target="AndroidManifest.xml" parent="/manifest/application/activity">
          <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
            <data android:scheme="file" />
            <data android:mimeType="*/*" />
            <data android:pathPattern=".*\\.txt" />
            <data android:host="*" />
          </intent-filter>
          <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
            <data android:scheme="content" />
            <data android:pathPattern=".*\\.txt" />
            <data android:mimeType="*/*" />
          </intent-filter>
        </config-file>
        <icon src="resources/android/icon/drawable-ldpi-icon.png" density="ldpi"/>
        <icon src="resources/android/icon/drawable-mdpi-icon.png" density="mdpi"/>
        <icon src="resources/android/icon/drawable-hdpi-icon.png" density="hdpi"/>
        <icon src="resources/android/icon/drawable-xhdpi-icon.png" density="xhdpi"/>
        <icon src="resources/android/icon/drawable-xxhdpi-icon.png" density="xxhdpi"/>
        <icon src="resources/android/icon/drawable-xxxhdpi-icon.png" density="xxxhdpi"/>
        <splash src="resources/android/splash/drawable-land-ldpi-screen.png" density="land-ldpi"/>
        <splash src="resources/android/splash/drawable-land-mdpi-screen.png" density="land-mdpi"/>
        <splash src="resources/android/splash/drawable-land-hdpi-screen.png" density="land-hdpi"/>
        <splash src="resources/android/splash/drawable-land-xhdpi-screen.png" density="land-xhdpi"/>
        <splash src="resources/android/splash/drawable-land-xxhdpi-screen.png" density="land-xxhdpi"/>
        <splash src="resources/android/splash/drawable-land-xxxhdpi-screen.png" density="land-xxxhdpi"/>
        <splash src="resources/android/splash/drawable-port-ldpi-screen.png" density="port-ldpi"/>
        <splash src="resources/android/splash/drawable-port-mdpi-screen.png" density="port-mdpi"/>
        <splash src="resources/android/splash/drawable-port-hdpi-screen.png" density="port-hdpi"/>
        <splash src="resources/android/splash/drawable-port-xhdpi-screen.png" density="port-xhdpi"/>
        <splash src="resources/android/splash/drawable-port-xxhdpi-screen.png" density="port-xxhdpi"/>
        <splash src="resources/android/splash/drawable-port-xxxhdpi-screen.png" density="port-xxxhdpi"/>
      </platform>
      <icon src="resources/android/icon/drawable-xhdpi-icon.png"/>
    </widget>

Solution

Cordova 9 now directly supports using <config-file> and <edit-config> sections, like in plugin.xml files.

Without using any plugin or hook, you can directly do the following, for example, to add an intent filter to AndroidManifest.xml:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<widget id="yourdomain.app" version="1.7.8"
  xmlns="http://www.w3.org/ns/widgets"
  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  xmlns:cdv="http://cordova.apache.org/ns/1.0">
  <!-- ... -->
  <platform name="android">
    <!-- ... -->
    <config-file parent="application" target="AndroidManifest.xml">
      <activity android:label="webIntentFilter" android:name="yourdomain.app">
        <intent-filter android:autoVerify="true">
          <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
          <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
          <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
          <data android:host="yourdomain.com" android:scheme="https" />
        </intent-filter>
      </activity>
    </config-file>
  </platform>
  <!-- ... -->
</widget>

Don't forget to add attribute xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" into your <widget> tag to avoid unbound prefix error at build.

Answered By - Frosty Z