Why the need for CORS when not even using a browser?

[ruffson]

I wanted to use Super Productivity on Linux and Android and sync it via my Nextcloud server. So naturally I stumbled over the well documented CORS problem. According to the desktop app this needs to be mitigated when one wants to make it work on the browser or MOBILE (which must mean iOS and Android).

What I don't understand is, why this is even a problem in the first place? I can understand that this needs to be sorted out when one wants to use it in a browser, but why on the apps? Why do you need to re-route traffic to your URL instead of just sharing a bunch of files via webdav like so many other programs?

Thank you all for your amazing work, SP is quite an amazing accomplishment.

[johannesjo]

Thanks for your question. We're talking about the Android app only, right? Because for the desktop app cors isn't a problem and the ios app is just a PWA.

The android app is loaded info a WebView and there the normal restrictions apply there. I am sure there is a way to disable CORS for the app, but I haven't found the time to work on it (there is always soo much to do :)). So if you happen to be versed in android development a PR to disable CORS there, would indeed be very welcome.

[ruffson]

Yes talking about Android. Thank you for your response! I haven't touched Android in over 7 years but if I get more desperate of making sync a reality I might give it a shot :)

[johannesjo]

Let me know if I can help you somehow :)

That's probably the place to put it:
https://github.com/johannesjo/super-productivity-android/blob/master/app/src/main/java/com/superproductivity/superproductivity/FullscreenActivity.java

There already is a little bit of a custom url handling going on. Maybe it's possible to do something similar for cors.

            // also needs to be done here, because new Intent otherwise will crash the app
            wv.setWebViewClient(new WebViewClient() {
                @Override
                public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, String url) {
                    Log.v("TW", url);

                    if (url != null && (url.startsWith("http://") || url.startsWith("https://"))) {
                        if (url.contains("super-productivity.com") || url.contains("localhost")) {
                            return false;
                        } else {
                            FullscreenActivity.this.startActivity(
                                    new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(url)));
                            return true;
                        }
                    } else {
                        return false;
                    }
                }
            });
            ```

[ruffson]

Awesome thank you!