Shortcut App

[marcusquinn]

I couldn't find the original thread on this, but I would like a revisit to the conversation.

We now have s few dozen Surfer apps being used as shortcut redirects to external URLs — but, because Server keeps being updated, and we run all updates manually — it's a f load of work each time - and the meta redirect html is just ugly and unnecessarily slower.

Perhaps we just have and app called "Shortcut"?

We only need to enter the URL &, logo (Display), and Access Control. All other Settings can be hidden.

I almost can't imagine anyone not using this feature in in some way as Cloudron becomes a hub for webapps sharing.

[timconsidine]

@marcusquinn : are you meaning something like Flame (https://github.com/pawelmalak/flame) or Heimdahl (https://github.com/linuxserver/Heimdall) ... or something simpler ?

[marcusquinn]

@timconsidine Nice apps, but nope, just looking for a simpler zero-maintenance way of doing what we're currently doing this way: https://forum.cloudron.io/topic/3739/how-to-create-an-app-tile-on-the-my-apps-dashboard-with-a-redirect/5?_=1652981447691

[timconsidine]

@marcusquinn : ah ok

Not sure how to do it without a redirect.

[marcusquinn]

@timconsidine At present, the meta redirect is the only way. It's just a PITA to manually update dozens of Surfer apps each time for no specific benefit.

[timconsidine]

@marcusquinn hmmm
working on a PoC (proof of concept) ....

[jdaviescoates]

I'm pretty sure I've seen @girish say this is coming soon, I guess in 7.3... yep here it is:

@girish said in What's coming in 7.3:

External app links in Dashboard

[timconsidine]

@marcusquinn I am not sure I understand the requirement fully, but I have knocked up a simple app.

https://git.cloudron.io/timconsidine/shortcut-app

When installed, it shows a "Tile" on the Cloudron My Apps.
When clicked, it goes to a URL which is specified in /app/data/.env which you can edit using the app's File Manager or Terminal.

As a custom app, no backups and no prompts to update it.

There's nothing much special about this.
I just hacked the Cloudron tutorial-node-js app.

If you clone the repo, there is a build script cld.sh.
Assumes you have Docker and Coudron CLI installed.

If I have misunderstood the requirement, do say.

EDIT : restart the app after changing the .env file.

EDIT (2) : if you have dozens of these single-click-shortcuts, you will probably want to replace the icon after install for visual differentiation to avoid a sea of identical icons, and change the Display name. Manual process but a one-time task for each. Other than that, it should be "set and forget".

[timconsidine]

@jdaviescoates said in Shortcut App:

I'm pretty sure I've seen @girish say this is coming soon, I guess in 7.3

And I am sure they will do a much better job than my hack.

But as we're not yet fully at 7.2, maybe it can be an interim solution if someone is feeling pain on this issue.

[d19dotca]

@marcusquinn I suppose if redirect is the only point of the deployment of the Surfer app, then it could beneficial to make a simple app that does that yourself which would basically never need to be updated since its scope is so narrow. But like @jdaviescoates said, I think it's coming in a future version anyways.

[robi]

@timconsidine said in Shortcut App:

https://git.cloudron.io/timconsidine/shortcut-app

Great effort, however, having dozens of redirects in 1 place is the goal.

This is the one to one vs one to many problem.

I too have 50+ Surfer Apps for various things, some of which are redirects, hence a domain level redirect at the nginx level would be much more efficient than populating the dashboard with tiles of Apps.

I suppose there may be a way to add as many domain and subdomain aliases to a single instance of the Shortcut App, but then the app would need to be able to process each header and support multiple redirects to different destinations.

@marcusquinn you can turn updates off and not worry about those redirect instances, even filter them out from the dash with groups.

[timconsidine]

@robi I kinda agree, which is why I asked whether a dashboard app like Flame or Heimdal would work. But the response suggested that the requirement was specifically for dozens of tiles/apps in the app dashboard.

Maybe the admin's dashboard would be full but individual users would only see a subset making it more viable for them.

I don't know enough about the 'use case' and just knocked the shortcut-app as a proof of concept.

I'm actually using it myself as a 1-click access to a Flame instance running on another VPS, so my Cloudron Dashboard can provide quick access to non-Cloudron apps.

[marcusquinn]

@timconsidine Filters already help here for those with lots of apps. I also suggested a more compact list view: https://forum.cloudron.io/topic/3465/dashboard-customize-buttons-on-the-sides-of-apps/4?_=1608519749716