App Shortcuts on iOS 13 and up!

[gFred]

Hi all!

I just want to share a new findings that helps with app shortcuts in BH and the (un)famous URL schemes that are now pretty hard to find since the handleopenurl.com link is now dead.

Since iOS 13 and up, there is a new Apple scripting app called Shortcuts that can do a lot of pretty cool things including the simple task of opening any app on your device. What I found out is that you can call a shortcut you made with a common URL scheme that will work in BH App shortcuts.

The basic steps are as follows:

   
• Open the Shortcuts app on you device and create an "Open App" shortcut to the app of your choice
• Once the shortcut is done, assign it a name, like "Mixer"
• In BH, add the App shortcut as usual, giving it a name like "Open Mixer"
• For the Scheme, enter the following:
                                   shortcuts://run-shortcut?name=[name] ,
              where, in this example, [name] would be replaced by the word Mixer (no brackets), the name of the shortcut we just made in Shortcuts.

See? With this method, any app can be opened with it's shortcut if it's available in Shortcuts!

For more info on Shortcuts app, visit https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/shortcuts/welcome/ios

Pro tip: Since your actually going through the Shortcuts App before the final destination App, i.e. Mixer in the above example, the quick "Back " arrow on the top left of the screen will take you back to Shortcuts instead of BandHelper. I know, a bummer so to work around this I added a shortcut to BH in Shortcuts so I don't have to go through the app switcher to go back!


It helped me a lot, so I hope it will help others too!

  Cheers!

gFred

[arlo]

Good find -- thanks for sharing!

[jcrockerman]

I am so very close to achieving what has been hours of trial and error because of this post.  So Korg Gadget 2 does not receive program changes (highly annoying).  However, through the shortcuts app I am able to create a shortcut to open the program file from the Files app and it works like. charm.  I was then able to use the process from this post to create an App inside BH which opens the program change inside Korg Gadget.  The problem is that there is no way to attach an App Shortcut to a specific song. And if I end up with a ton of songs then I end up with a long list of apps from which to choose.  Any suggestions on how to make this work in a live setting?  My goal is a single button press on BH and all iOS and hardware is loaded up for the next song. 

[arlo]

It's surprising that any substantial music app doesn't support selecting programs from incoming MIDI messages. Did you contact Korg to confirm that?

The Apps function in BandHelper wasn't meant to select specific files inside of another app, so using it for that purpose wouldn't be ideal.

[Kevin117]

This is a great feature. Does anybody know if this works with the XAir and XAir Monitor Mix apps? I'm always switching back and forth between BandHelper and those during gigs. I haven't been able to figure it out. Thanks.

[arlo]

If you're asking about the iOS Shortcuts function described here (not BandHelper's Apps function described elsewhere), then I believe that will work with any app.

[davelson]

Never used the Shortcuts feature in iOS until now..... Thanks for this info! I can now use one shortcut to turn on WIFI and Bluetooth, set Volume and brightness and launch BandHelper....

Does anyone know how I can also open a specific Setlist (or even specific Song) from within the shortcut? The BandHelper app doesn't appear in the list of Apps in Shortcuts menu...

Dave

[arlo]

You can use bandhelper://set_list/abc123, replacing abc123 with the actual ID, which you can get from the URL of the set list edit details page on the website. This is used in SMS messages generated by the Send Update function on the edit page, and it wasn't intended for other uses, but it should work. There is no way to select a specific song from an app shortcut.

[davelson]

Thanks Arlo, unfortunately that didn't work for me..... Maybe I'm doing something wrong... See attached screenshot.

The Shortcut works fine and completes all the tasks, then opens BandHelper welcome screen for a short period and then goes to a blank screen with the regular BH icons across the top, but no set list.

Any help would be appreciated

D

[arlo]

I see the problem with the blank screen when opening a set list from a shortcut, and that will be fixed in the next update.

[davelson]

Awesome, thanks!

[arlo]

The update is available now.