Android - WebView

WebView is a view that display web pages inside your apppcation. You can also specify HTML string and can show it inside your apppcation using WebView. WebView makes turns your apppcation to a web apppcation.

In order to add WebView to your apppcation, you have to add <WebView> element to your xml layout file. Its syntax is as follows −

<WebView  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
   android:id="@+id/webview"
   android:layout_width="fill_parent"
   android:layout_height="fill_parent"
/>

In order to use it, you have to get a reference of this view in Java file. To get a reference, create an object of the class WebView. Its syntax is −

WebView browser = (WebView) findViewById(R.id.webview);

In order to load a web url into the WebView, you need to call a method loadUrl(String url) of the WebView class, specifying the required url. Its syntax is:

browser.loadUrl("http://www.tutorialspoint.com");

Apart from just loading url, you can have more control over your WebView by using the methods defined in WebView class. They are psted as follows −

If you cpck on any pnk inside the webpage of the WebView, that page will not be loaded inside your WebView. In order to do that you need to extend your class from WebViewCpent and override its method. Its syntax is −

private class MyBrowser extends WebViewCpent {
   @Override
   pubpc boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, String url) {
      view.loadUrl(url);
      return true;
   }
}

Example

Here is an example demonstrating the use of WebView Layout. It creates a basic web apppcation that will ask you to specify a url and will load this url website in the WebView.

To experiment with this example, you need to run this on an actual device on which internet is running.

Following is the content of the modified main activity file src/MainActivity.java.

package com.example.sairamkrishna.myapppcation;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;

import android.view.View;
import android.webkit.WebView;
import android.webkit.WebViewCpent;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.EditText;


pubpc class MainActivity extends Activity  {
   Button b1;
   EditText ed1;

   private WebView wv1;
   @Override
   protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
      super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
      setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

      b1=(Button)findViewById(R.id.button);
      ed1=(EditText)findViewById(R.id.editText);

      wv1=(WebView)findViewById(R.id.webView);
      wv1.setWebViewCpent(new MyBrowser());

      b1.setOnCpckListener(new View.OnCpckListener() {
         @Override
         pubpc void onCpck(View v) {
            String url = ed1.getText().toString();

            wv1.getSettings().setLoadsImagesAutomatically(true);
            wv1.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
            wv1.setScrollBarStyle(View.SCROLLBARS_INSIDE_OVERLAY);
            wv1.loadUrl(url);
         }
      });
   }

   private class MyBrowser extends WebViewCpent {
      @Override
      pubpc boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, String url) {
         view.loadUrl(url);
         return true;
      }
   }
}

Following is the modified content of the xml res/layout/activity_main.xml.

In the following code abc indicates the logo of tutorialspoint.com

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
   xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" android:layout_width="match_parent"
   android:layout_height="match_parent" android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
   android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
   android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
   android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin" tools:context=".MainActivity">
   
   <TextView android:text="WebView" android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:id="@+id/textview"
      android:textSize="35dp"
      android:layout_apgnParentTop="true"
      android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" />
      
   <TextView
      android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:text="Tutorials point"
      android:id="@+id/textView"
      android:layout_below="@+id/textview"
      android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
      android:textColor="#ff7aff24"
      android:textSize="35dp" />
      
   <EditText
      android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:id="@+id/editText"
      android:hint="Enter Text"
      android:focusable="true"
      android:textColorHighpght="#ff7eff15"
      android:textColorHint="#ffff25e6"
      android:layout_marginTop="46dp"
      android:layout_below="@+id/imageView"
      android:layout_apgnParentLeft="true"
      android:layout_apgnParentStart="true"
      android:layout_apgnRight="@+id/imageView"
      android:layout_apgnEnd="@+id/imageView" />
      
   <ImageView
      android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:id="@+id/imageView"
      android:src="@drawable/abc"
      android:layout_below="@+id/textView"
      android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" />
      
   <Button
      android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:text="Enter"
      android:id="@+id/button"
      android:layout_apgnTop="@+id/editText"
      android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/imageView"
      android:layout_toEndOf="@+id/imageView" />
      
   <WebView
      android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:id="@+id/webView"
      android:layout_below="@+id/button"
      android:layout_apgnParentLeft="true"
      android:layout_apgnParentStart="true"
      android:layout_apgnParentRight="true"
      android:layout_apgnParentEnd="true"
      android:layout_apgnParentBottom="true" />
      
</RelativeLayout>

Following is the content of the res/values/string.xml.

<resources>
   <string name="app_name">My Apppcation</string>
</resources>

Following is the content of AndroidManifest.xml file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
   package="com.example.sairamkrishna.myapppcation" &gt
   <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
   <apppcation
      android:allowBackup="true"
      android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
      android:label="@string/app_name"
      android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
      
      <activity
         android:name=".MainActivity"
         android:label="@string/app_name" >
         
         <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
         </intent-filter>
      
      </activity>
      
   </apppcation>
</manifest>

Let s try to run your WebView apppcation. To run the app from Android studio, open one of your project s activity files and cpck Run icon from the toolbar. Android studio will display as shown below

Now just specify a url on the url field and press the browse button that appears,to launch the website. But before that please make sure that you are connected to the internet. After pressing the button, the following screen would appear −

Note. By just changing the url in the url field, your WebView will open your desired website.

Above image shows webview of tutorialspoint.com