initSession behavior onPlatformResume and onPlatformReady

Hey,

I used the following code snippet which is called both on platform.ready and in platform.resume.subscribe

    Branch.initSession((data) => {
      alert('initSession Deep Link Data: ' + JSON.stringify(data));
    }).then((res) => {
      alert('Response: ' + JSON.stringify(res))
    }).catch((err) => {
      alert('Error: ' + JSON.stringify(err))
    });

and I observed the following behavior using ionic 3:

1. When the app starts:

• a: without clicked deeplink: only Response is called
• b: with clicked deeplink: BOTH initSession AND Response are called

1. When the app resumes:

• a: without clicked deeplink: NOTHING is called
• b: with clicked deeplink: initSession is called but not Response

My first question is, if this is the intended behavior?

My most pressing question is: If this is the intended behavior: why is nothing called in case 2a? I want to handle this case in my app

A minor question is: If it is the intended behavior: why are 1b and 2b inconsistent?

I am looking forward to your response 😃

[ethanneff]

Hello everybody!

I apologize for the delay. I got pull into another team so the Branch Cordova SDK hasn’t seen much love. The good news is I just updated the Branch Cordova SDK. I would recommend updating to the latest 2.7.0 version. You can use this guide to update the SDK. Keep in mind, this version has a breaking change. The following change will need to be done to your code to read the deep link data. You can find more infomation about reading deep link data here.

  // Branch initialization
- Branch.initSession(function(data) {
+ Branch.initSession().then(function(data) {
    if (data["+clicked_branch_link"]) {
      // read deep link data on click
      alert("Deep Link Data: " + JSON.stringify(data));
    }
  });

Thanks,

[FlorianWetschoreck]

I would like to stress a small extension to the post of @codinronan

While the .then() helps you in cases, when the app is closed, it does not help you when the app resumes (as I stated in my initial post under scenario 2a).

Thus, you can not find out in a deterministic way if there might be a link clicked or not. The result is, that if you open special content, there will always be a delay until you actually know which content to show. (This delay is caused by the link evaluation by the branch SDK.) In my tests, this delay ranged between 500-1500ms. However, I also tested in cases with bad Internet connection and received the special response after 5000-10000ms which alienated the user.

Summing up, it would help us developers to deliver a seamless experience if the branch SDK could handle all four cases (see my original post) in a deterministic way.