How to run HTTP server on android?

Question

I have an Android Activity with WebView in it.
I have all my HTML, CSS and JavaScript files in assets folder.

I can run the index.html from assets in my WebView but it doesn't work correctly.
What I need is a VERY simple HTTP server running in that directory.

How can I do that?

Basically as simple as this:

SimpleHTTPServer running on a mac.

$ cd /home/somedir
$ python -m SimpleHTTPServer

If it can't be assets directory, I can use any directory as long as I can set it.

any ideas?

thank you!

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EDIT

what I mean by "it doesn't work correctly" is that the index.html and other assets files make AJAX calls and to view the HTML correctly with the calls, there needs to be a local HTTP server running on that directory.

Possible duplicate of [Create http server android](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6329468/create-http-server-android) — Tim, Oct 09 '15 at 07:42
I very highly doubt you want to create a webserver for this. Look into fixing the actual issue instead of working around the problem. — Daniël van den Berg, Oct 09 '15 at 07:43
To program your self: NanoHttpd is a very fine webserver for Android. — greenapps, Oct 09 '15 at 07:47
@pskink please see the edit for what I mean when I say correctly. — ᴛʜᴇᴘᴀᴛᴇʟ, Oct 09 '15 at 14:26
@DaniëlvandenBerg I actually do want to create a local server. I am not trying to work around the issue. Please see my edit, i tried to explain why I need this. thanks — ᴛʜᴇᴘᴀᴛᴇʟ, Oct 09 '15 at 14:27
actually `VebView` supports not only `http://` scheme but also `content://`, so all you need is a custom `ContentProvider` with overriden `openAssetFile` method, this way you can load whatever you like (even dynamic AJAX content) — pskink, Oct 09 '15 at 15:16
@pskink I did not know that but before I tried that, I was able to make it work. Please see my answer before. thanks — ᴛʜᴇᴘᴀᴛᴇʟ, Oct 09 '15 at 16:42

Marty · Answer 1 · 2015-10-09T16:23:13.150

1

You can do something like:

WebView myWebView = (WebView) findViewById(R.id.webview);
myWebView.setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
myWebView.loadUrl("file:///android_asset/index.html");

You dont need to be running a web server on your android app.

A more detailed example of this can be found here: https://developer.chrome.com/multidevice/webview/gettingstarted#loading_html_files_from_the_file_system

edited Oct 09 '15 at 16:23

answered Oct 09 '15 at 14:49

Marty

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I'm already doing that but that will not load angularJS or ajax. All my content of the html page isn't there, that is why I said "it doesn't work correctly" before. – ᴛʜᴇᴘᴀᴛᴇʟ Oct 09 '15 at 16:21
Have you tried to call `setJavaScriptEnabled` on the Web View? I have updated the answer – Marty Oct 09 '15 at 16:23
I tried that.. still doesn't work. It doesn't even work on a computer chrome browser if there is no local server there. I had to do `$ python -m SimpleHTTPServer` on mac terminal to make it work on the computer. – ᴛʜᴇᴘᴀᴛᴇʟ Oct 09 '15 at 16:28
this does not handle dynamic content like AJAX – pskink Oct 09 '15 at 16:59

ᴛʜᴇᴘᴀᴛᴇʟ · Answer 2 · 2015-10-09T16:47:38.837

0

thanks to @Marty's answer, I was able to take it a step further and make it work.

WebView myWebView = (WebView)findViewById(R.id.mainWebView);
myWebView.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
myWebView.getSettings().setAllowUniversalAccessFromFileURLs(true);
myWebView.loadUrl("file:///android_asset/index.html");

setAllowUniversalAccessFromFileURLs made it all work!

hope this helps someone. thanks!

edited Oct 09 '15 at 16:47

answered Oct 09 '15 at 16:41

ᴛʜᴇᴘᴀᴛᴇʟ

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i dont see how you can handle AJAX calls here – pskink Oct 09 '15 at 16:57
@pskink I believe what you're saying but my content is viewing properly as of right now. I'm still working on finishing it. If i run into a problem, i will try the custom `ContentProvider` option – ᴛʜᴇᴘᴀᴛᴇʟ Oct 09 '15 at 17:43

How to run HTTP server on android?

2 Answers2