Branch Universal Deep Link does not display custom view controller elements - uiwebview

Question

So I have a Universal link that leads to a view controller in my app. On that particular view controller I display a couple of images as well as a web view. The webView displays a url chosen by the user. How do I save this custom url so that it is displayed every time someone clicks the link? I think the code to this is under:
#synthesize deepLinkingCompletionDelegate;
-(void)configureControlWithData:(NSDictionary *)data {
NSString *string = data[#"favoriteArticle"];

Answer 1

Alex from Branch.io here:
To accomplish this, you need to do two things.
Step 1
Store the URL of the article you want to load as one of the Branch link custom parameters. Full instructions on how to do that here, but essentially:
BranchUniversalObject *branchUniversalObject = [[BranchUniversalObject alloc] initWithCanonicalIdentifier:#"item/12345"];
branchUniversalObject.title = #"My Content Title";
branchUniversalObject.contentDescription = #"My Content Description";
branchUniversalObject.imageUrl = #"https://example.com/mycontent-12345.png";
[branchUniversalObject addMetadataKey:#"favorite_article" value:#"https://example.com/path/to/article"]; // this is used to route inside the app
[branchUniversalObject addMetadataKey:#"property2" value:#"red"];
BranchLinkProperties *linkProperties = [[BranchLinkProperties alloc] init];
linkProperties.feature = #"sharing";
linkProperties.channel = #"facebook";
[linkProperties addControlParam:#"$desktop_url" withValue:#"https://example.com/path/to/article"]; // this is used for desktop visitors
[linkProperties addControlParam:#"$ios_url" withValue:#"https://example.com/path/to/article"]; // this is used for iOS mobile visitors without the app installed
Step 2
Then when the app opens after a link click, watch for that data key. Again, full instructions, but basically:
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions {
// initialize the session, setup a deep link handler
[[Branch getInstance] initSessionWithLaunchOptions:launchOptions
andRegisterDeepLinkHandler:^(NSDictionary *params, NSError *error) {
// start setting up the view controller hierarchy
UINavigationController *navC = (UINavigationController *)self.window.rootViewController;
UIStoryboard *storyboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:#"Main" bundle:nil];
UIViewController *nextVC;
// If the key 'favoriteArticle' is present in the deep link dictionary
// then load the picture screen with the appropriate picture
NSString * favoriteArticle = [params objectForKey:#"favorite_article"];
if (favoriteArticle) {
nextVC = [storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"ArticleVC"];
[nextVC setArticleUrl: favoriteArticle];
} else {
nextVC = [storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:#"MainVC"];
}
// navigate!
[navC setViewControllers:#[nextVC] animated:YES];
}];
return YES;
}
After this, in your ArticleVC, retrieve the favoriteArticle value and use it for your webview.
Step 2 (Alternate)
The configureControlWithData method you mentioned is used in the automatic deep link routing implementation. You may be able to adapt this to work with a webview, but I haven't personally tried that. It would look something like this:
#synthesize deepLinkingCompletionDelegate;
- (void)configureControlWithData:(NSDictionary *)data {
NSString *favoriteArticle = data[#"favorite_article"];
// load the webview with the URL stored inside favoriteArticle
}