BUG IN CLIENT OF UIKIT: UIApplication.openURL(_:) deprecated, migrate to UIApplication.open(_:options:completionHandler:)

[HeRo002]

My Python-Kivy apps cannot open a webbrowser on iOS. It works on Ubuntu 20.04 and Android 8.1.0.

A few months ago installing (building) Kivy-ios (on my MacOS 15.0.1) with the "toolchain build python3 kivy" command failed, so I made a copy of the newest version of the kivy-ios repository with the following commands in Terminal:

(venv) henrikroseno@MBPtilhdeHenrik ~ % git clone https://github.com/kivy/kivy-ios
(venv) henrikroseno@MBPtilhdeHenrik ~ % cd kivy-ios
(venv) henrikroseno@MBPtilhdeHenrik kivy-ios % pip3 uninstall kivy-ios
(venv) henrikroseno@MBPtilhdeHenrik kivy-ios % pip3 install -e .
(venv) henrikroseno@MBPtilhdeHenrik kivy-ios % cd ..
(venv) henrikroseno@MBPtilhdeHenrik ~ % toolchain build python3 kivy

Then the build worked, although it took several hours.

Before creating the below example Xcode project, I updated kivy-ios with the following commands in Terminal on MacOS:

henrikroseno@MBPtilhdeHenrik ~ % . venv/bin/activate
(venv) henrikroseno@MBPtilhdeHenrik ~ % cd kivy-ios
(venv) henrikroseno@MBPtilhdeHenrik kivy-ios % git pull origin master
remote: Enumerating objects: 6, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (6/6), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (5/5), done.
remote: Total 6 (delta 1), reused 5 (delta 1), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
Unpacking objects: 100% (6/6), 2.92 KiB | 272.00 KiB/s, done.
From https://github.com/kivy/kivy-ios

• branch master -> FETCH_HEAD
  09ec398..1a8d21a master -> origin/master
  Updating 09ec398..1a8d21a
  Fast-forward
  .github/workflows/pypi-release.yml | 2 +-
  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
  (venv) henrikroseno@MBPtilhdeHenrik kivy-ios % pip3 uninstall kivy-ios
  (venv) henrikroseno@MBPtilhdeHenrik kivy-ios % pip3 install -e .
  (venv) henrikroseno@MBPtilhdeHenrik kivy-ios % cd ..
  (venv) henrikroseno@MBPtilhdeHenrik ~ % toolchain build python3 kivy

Now the build finished in seconds, so I am not sure if anything was actually updated(?)

Versions

• Python : 3.11.6
• MacOS version : 15.0.1
• XCode Version : 16.1
• Cython version : 0.29.36
• Kivy v. 2.3.0

Describe the bug
I get this error message when the user presses an URL in an RST-document, trying to open a webbrowser to show the webpage, in a Python-Kivy app on an iPhone running iOS 18.1.1:

BUG IN CLIENT OF UIKIT: The caller of UIApplication.openURL(:) needs to migrate to the non-deprecated UIApplication.open(:options:completionHandler:). Force returning false (NO).

To Reproduce
Here is a minimal runnable example 'main.py' that activates the bug when the user presses the URL in the RST-document:

from kivy.app import App
from kivy.lang import Builder
from kivy.uix.boxlayout import BoxLayout
from kivy.uix.relativelayout import RelativeLayout
from kivy.utils import platform
from kivy.clock import Clock
import webbrowser

if platform == 'ios':
    import ios

from kivy.uix.scrollview import ScrollView
from kivy.properties import ColorProperty
from kivy.uix.rst import RstDocument

class MyScrollView(ScrollView):
    pass

class MyRstDoc(RstDocument):
    pass

Builder.load_string('''
#:set my_font_size sp(15)
#:set large_font_size sp(30)
#:set my_padding dp(10)
#:set my_bar_color [.3, .3, .3, .9]
#:set white 1, 1, 1, 1
#:set black 0, 0, 0, 1

<MyScrollView>:
    do_scroll_x: False
    do_scroll_y: True
    bar_color: my_bar_color
    bar_inactive_color: my_bar_color
    bar_width: 0.6 * my_padding
    canvas.before:
        Color:
            rgba: 0.9, 0.9, 0.9, 1
        Rectangle:
            size: self.size
            pos: self.pos

<RstParagraph>:
    on_ref_press: app.action_ref(args)

<MyRstDoc>:
#    base_font_size: 0.6 * my_font_size
#    base_font_size: 2 * my_font_size
    base_font_size: 30  # THAT made it work!!
    bar_color: my_bar_color
    bar_inactive_color: my_bar_color
    bar_width: 0.6 * my_padding

''')

introscreen_rst = """
Test of calling webbrowser with URL
-------------------------------------

This is a test of opening a link (URL) in a webbrowser. The link is Transformation.dk: 
[color=3333ff][ref=https://www.transformation.dk][u]https://www.transformation.dk[/u][/ref][/color]
It works on my Ubuntu 20.04.
"""


class RootLayout(RelativeLayout):
    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
        super().__init__(**kwargs)
        Clock.schedule_once(self.ios_safe_area)

    def ios_safe_area(self, _):
        if platform == 'ios':
            self.safe_area = ios.get_safe_area()
            # iPhone 12 Mini: ios.get_safe_area() =  {'top': 43.0, 'bottom': 29.0, 'right': 0.0, 'left': 0.0}
            print("ios.get_safe_area() = ", self.safe_area)
            self.scale = ios.get_scale()  # = kivy.metrics.dp(1)
            self.no_safe_area = True
            for key in self.safe_area:
                if self.safe_area[key] * self.scale > 15: self.no_safe_area = False
                # print(f"{self.safe_area[key] * self.scale=}")
            print("self.no_safe_area = ", self.no_safe_area)
            if self.no_safe_area:
                self.root_content = RootContent()
            else:
                new_x = self.scale * self.safe_area["left"]
                new_y = self.scale * self.safe_area["bottom"]
                new_width = self.width - self.scale * (self.safe_area["left"] + self.safe_area["right"])
                new_height = self.height - self.scale * (self.safe_area["bottom"] + self.safe_area["top"])
                self.root_content = RootContent(x=new_x, y=new_y, width=new_width, height=new_height,
                                                size_hint=(None, None))  # Only relevant on iOS: size_hint=(None, None)
                # Resize app Window when keyboard appears and disappears NOT working on iOS, because of ios.get_safe_area().
        else:
            self.root_content = RootContent()
        print("RootLayout(RelativeLayout): height=", self.height, "width=", self.width)
        self.add_widget(self.root_content)


class RootContent(BoxLayout):
    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
        super().__init__(**kwargs)
        print("In _init_: RootContent(BoxLayout): x =", self.x, "y =", self.y, "height =", self.height, "width =", self.width)

        # ScrollView with RST-doc
        self.scroll_view = MyScrollView(size_hint=(1, 1))
        self.rst_doc = MyRstDoc(text=introscreen_rst)
        self.scroll_view.add_widget(self.rst_doc)
        self.add_widget(self.scroll_view)

        Clock.schedule_once(self.after_init)

    def after_init(self, _):
        print("After _init_: RootContent(BoxLayout): x =", self.x, "y =", self.y, "height =", self.height, "width =", self.width)


class GeoESPTraining(App):
    def build(self):
        return RootLayout()

    def action_ref(self, args):
        print("webbrowser.open - args = ", args)
        webbrowser.open(args[1])

if __name__ == '__main__':
    GeoESPTraining().run()

The Xcode project was created with the 'toolchain create' command.

Expected behavior
I expected a webbrowser to open and show the content at the URL. That's what happens on Ubuntu 20.04 and Android 8.1.0.

Logs
Xcode log output from running the RST-URL webbrowser Kivy app error 'main.py' above:

Available orientation: KIVY_ORIENTATION=Portrait
Initializing python
<string>:1: DeprecationWarning: the imp module is deprecated in favour of importlib and slated for removal in Python 3.12; see the module's documentation for alternative uses
Running main.py: /private/var/containers/Bundle/Application/36AB57BF-3AC6-47E0-8F12-27FF8D586338/rst-url.app/YourApp/main.pyc
[INFO   ] [Logger      ] Record log in /private/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/E9CB2F25-6BF2-4366-9966-EE799821EFBA/Documents/.kivy/logs/kivy_24-12-11_1.txt
[INFO   ] [Kivy        ] v2.3.0
[INFO   ] [Kivy        ] Installed at "/private/var/containers/Bundle/Application/36AB57BF-3AC6-47E0-8F12-27FF8D586338/rst-url.app/lib/python3.11/site-packages/kivy/__init__.py"
[INFO   ] [Python      ] v3.11.6 (main, Oct 27 2024, 18:07:56) [Clang 16.0.0 (clang-1600.0.26.3)]
[INFO   ] [Python      ] Interpreter at "/private/var/containers/Bundle/Application/36AB57BF-3AC6-47E0-8F12-27FF8D586338/rst-url.app/rst-url"
[INFO   ] [Logger      ] Purge log fired. Processing...
[INFO   ] [Logger      ] Purge finished!
[INFO   ] [Factory     ] 195 symbols loaded
[INFO   ] [Image       ] Providers: img_imageio, img_tex, img_sdl2 (img_dds, img_ffpyplayer, img_pil ignored)
Got dlopen error on Foundation: dlopen(/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Versions/Current/Foundation, 0x0001): tried: '/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Versions/Current/Foundation' (no such file), '/private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Versions/Current/Foundation' (no such file), '/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Versions/Current/Foundation' (no such file, not in dyld cache)
Got fallback dlopen error on Foundation: dlopen(/Groups/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Versions/Current/Foundation, 0x0001): tried: '/Groups/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Versions/Current/Foundation' (no such file), '/private/preboot/Cryptexes/OS/Groups/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Versions/Current/Foundation' (no such file), '/Groups/System/Library/Frameworks/Foundation.framework/Versions/Current/Foundation' (no such file)
[INFO   ] [Text        ] Provider: sdl2
[INFO   ] [Video       ] Provider: null(['video_ffmpeg', 'video_ffpyplayer'] ignored)
[INFO   ] [Window      ] Provider: sdl2
You need UIApplicationSupportsIndirectInputEvents in your Info.plist for mouse support
[INFO   ] [GL          ] Using the "OpenGL ES 2" graphics system
[INFO   ] [GL          ] Backend used <sdl2>
[INFO   ] [GL          ] OpenGL version <b'OpenGL ES 2.0 Metal - 101'>
[INFO   ] [GL          ] OpenGL vendor <b'Apple Inc.'>
[INFO   ] [GL          ] OpenGL renderer <b'Apple A14 GPU'>
[INFO   ] [GL          ] OpenGL parsed version: 2, 0
[INFO   ] [GL          ] Shading version <b'OpenGL ES GLSL ES 1.00'>
[INFO   ] [GL          ] Texture max size <4096>
[INFO   ] [GL          ] Texture max units <8>
[INFO   ] [Window      ] auto add sdl2 input provider
[INFO   ] [Window      ] virtual keyboard not allowed, single mode, not docked
[INFO   ] [Base        ] Start application main loop
ios.get_safe_area() =  {'top': 43.0, 'bottom': 29.0, 'right': 0.0, 'left': 0.0}
self.no_safe_area =  False
In _init_: RootContent(BoxLayout): x = 0 y = 97.875 height = 2095.0 width = 1080.0
RootLayout(RelativeLayout): height= 2338 width= 1080
[INFO   ] [GL          ] NPOT texture support is available
After _init_: RootContent(BoxLayout): x = 0 y = 97.875 height = 2095.0 width = 1080.0
webbrowser.open - args =  (<kivy.uix.rst.RstParagraph object at 0x10ae21240>, 'https://www.transformation.dk')
BUG IN CLIENT OF UIKIT: The caller of UIApplication.openURL(_:) needs to migrate to the non-deprecated UIApplication.open(_:options:completionHandler:). Force returning false (NO).

Screenshots
Not relevant.

Additional context
RST-documents need the docutils module, which I installed with:
(venv) henrikroseno@MBPtilhdeHenrik ~ % toolchain pip install docutils

ChatGPT suggests this change to the Kivy-ios project:

(ChatGPT refers to 'ios.pyx', because I had mentioned https://github.com/kivy/kivy-ios/blob/master/kivy_ios/recipes/ios/src/ios.pyx .)

Implement a Custom iOS URL Opener

If the issue persists and the library hasn’t been updated, you can create a custom function in the ios.pyx file or in your app's code to use the modern API. Here’s an example of how you might update the open_url function:

Example Update to ios.pyx

def open_url(url: str):
    from rubicon.objc import ObjCClass, objc_str

    UIApplication = ObjCClass("UIApplication")
    NSURL = ObjCClass("NSURL")
    app = UIApplication.sharedApplication()
    ns_url = NSURL.URLWithString_(objc_str(url))
    if ns_url and app:
        options = {}
        app.openURL_options_completionHandler_(ns_url, options, None)

After modifying this file, rebuild the kivy-ios project.

I look forward to hear from you guys.

[HeRo002]

I tried changing

        webbrowser.open(args[1])

to

        ios.open_url(args[1])

But I still get the same error.

[HeRo002]

ChatGPT made a workaround based on the rubicon module. But as far as I can tell, that module does not work with Kivy-ios. 'toolchain pip install rubicon' could not install it, and according to 'toolchain recipes' it has no recipe.

Then I asked ChatGPT to rewrite it for pyobjus. This result works:

from pyobjus import autoclass
from pyobjus.dylib_manager import load_framework, INCLUDE

# Load UIKit framework
load_framework(INCLUDE.GLKit)

def open_url_ios_pyobjus(url):
    # Get UIApplication class and shared instance
    UIApplication = autoclass("UIApplication")
    app = UIApplication.sharedApplication()
    
    # Get NSURL class and create an NSURL object
    NSURL = autoclass("NSURL")
    ns_url = NSURL.URLWithString_(url)
    
    # Check if NSURL and UIApplication instances are valid
    if ns_url and app:
        # Use the modern openURL:options:completionHandler: method
        options = {}  # Create an empty NSDictionary equivalent
        app.openURL_options_completionHandler_(ns_url, options, None)


class GeoESPTraining(App):
    def build(self):
        return RootLayout()

    def action_ref(self, args):
        if platform == 'ios':
            print("open_url_ios_pyobjus(args[1]): args[1] = ", args[1])
            open_url_ios_pyobjus(args[1])
#             print("ios.open_url(args[1]): args[1] = ", args[1])
#             ios.open_url(args[1]) # webbrowser.open(args[1])
        else:
            print("webbrowser.open(args[1]): args[1] = ", args[1])
            webbrowser.open(args[1])

if __name__ == '__main__':
    GeoESPTraining().run()

The only thing I had to correct was:

load_framework(INCLUDE.GLKit)

ChatGPT suggested:

load_framework(INCLUDE.UIKit)

[HeRo002]

NOTE: The code above is an addition to the 'main.py' code from my first message.

[HeRo002]

Note also that you have to insert the following keys in the Info.plist file of your Xcode project:

<key>LSApplicationQueriesSchemes</key>
<array>
    <string>http</string>
    <string>https</string>
</array>