Android Web View is Very slow and not responsive When compared to browser Why?

Question

I've Tried the answers of similar questions in stack overflow but didn't work out so Please tell me whats the problem with my code and what I need to add..

In my android code I've included the following:

        webView = (WebView) findViewById(R.id.webviews);
        webView.setWebViewClient(new MyBrowser());
        webView.getSettings().setRenderPriority(WebSettings.RenderPriority.HIGH);
        webView.getSettings().setCacheMode(WebSettings.LOAD_NO_CACHE);
        webView.getSettings().setLoadsImagesAutomatically(true);
        webView.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
        webView.setScrollBarStyle(View.SCROLLBARS_INSIDE_OVERLAY);
        webView.getSettings().setDomStorageEnabled(true);

and then,

connect.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {

                connect.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);
                editText.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);
                uunnamed.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
                tv.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);

                webView.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);

                webView.loadUrl("http://192.168.1.8:8081");


            }
        });

And my webclient class :

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

what is the problem why is it slow in web view and why is it fast in chrome browser?

Answer 1

I am not a spec in apps based on web technology, but the team from the apache cordova project are.

Based on her code (https://github.com/apache/cordova-android/blob/7d61a79a78c068a7a0554b0ea5699f1cf6681d56/framework/src/org/apache/cordova/engine/SystemWebViewEngine.java) try this settings:

webView.setInitialScale(0);
webView.setVerticalScrollBarEnabled(false);
// Enable JavaScript
final WebSettings settings = webView.getSettings();
settings.setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
settings.setJavaScriptCanOpenWindowsAutomatically(true);
settings.setLayoutAlgorithm(LayoutAlgorithm.NORMAL);

// Enable AppCache
// Fix for CB-2282
settings.setAppCacheMaxSize(5 * 1048576);
settings.setAppCachePath(databasePath);
settings.setAppCacheEnabled(true);

They do a lot more but this could be the trick.

Full methode for init webView

@SuppressLint({"NewApi", "SetJavaScriptEnabled"})
@SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
private void initWebViewSettings() {
    webView.setInitialScale(0);
    webView.setVerticalScrollBarEnabled(false);
    // Enable JavaScript
    final WebSettings settings = webView.getSettings();
    settings.setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
    settings.setJavaScriptCanOpenWindowsAutomatically(true);
    settings.setLayoutAlgorithm(LayoutAlgorithm.NORMAL);

    // Set the nav dump for HTC 2.x devices (disabling for ICS, deprecated entirely for Jellybean 4.2)
    try {
        Method gingerbread_getMethod =  WebSettings.class.getMethod("setNavDump", new Class[] { boolean.class });

        String manufacturer = android.os.Build.MANUFACTURER;
        Log.d(TAG, "CordovaWebView is running on device made by: " + manufacturer);
        if(android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB &&
                android.os.Build.MANUFACTURER.contains("HTC"))
        {
            gingerbread_getMethod.invoke(settings, true);
        }
    } catch (NoSuchMethodException e) {
        Log.d(TAG, "We are on a modern version of Android, we will deprecate HTC 2.3 devices in 2.8");
    } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
        Log.d(TAG, "Doing the NavDump failed with bad arguments");
    } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
        Log.d(TAG, "This should never happen: IllegalAccessException means this isn't Android anymore");
    } catch (InvocationTargetException e) {
        Log.d(TAG, "This should never happen: InvocationTargetException means this isn't Android anymore.");
    }

    //We don't save any form data in the application
    settings.setSaveFormData(false);
    settings.setSavePassword(false);

    // Jellybean rightfully tried to lock this down. Too bad they didn't give us a whitelist
    // while we do this
    if (android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES.JELLY_BEAN) {
        settings.setAllowUniversalAccessFromFileURLs(true);
    }
    if (android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES.JELLY_BEAN_MR1) {
        settings.setMediaPlaybackRequiresUserGesture(false);
    }
    // Enable database
    // We keep this disabled because we use or shim to get around DOM_EXCEPTION_ERROR_16
    String databasePath = webView.getContext().getApplicationContext().getDir("database", Context.MODE_PRIVATE).getPath();
    settings.setDatabaseEnabled(true);
    settings.setDatabasePath(databasePath);


    //Determine whether we're in debug or release mode, and turn on Debugging!
    ApplicationInfo appInfo = webView.getContext().getApplicationContext().getApplicationInfo();
    if ((appInfo.flags & ApplicationInfo.FLAG_DEBUGGABLE) != 0 &&
        android.os.Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES.KITKAT) {
        enableRemoteDebugging();
    }

    settings.setGeolocationDatabasePath(databasePath);

    // Enable DOM storage
    settings.setDomStorageEnabled(true);

    // Enable built-in geolocation
    settings.setGeolocationEnabled(true);

    // Enable AppCache
    // Fix for CB-2282
    settings.setAppCacheMaxSize(5 * 1048576);
    settings.setAppCachePath(databasePath);
    settings.setAppCacheEnabled(true);

    // Fix for CB-1405
    // Google issue 4641
    String defaultUserAgent = settings.getUserAgentString();

    // Fix for CB-3360
    String overrideUserAgent = preferences.getString("OverrideUserAgent", null);
    if (overrideUserAgent != null) {
        settings.setUserAgentString(overrideUserAgent);
    } else {
        String appendUserAgent = preferences.getString("AppendUserAgent", null);
        if (appendUserAgent != null) {
            settings.setUserAgentString(defaultUserAgent + " " + appendUserAgent);
        }
    }
    // End CB-3360

    IntentFilter intentFilter = new IntentFilter();
    intentFilter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_CONFIGURATION_CHANGED);
    if (this.receiver == null) {
        this.receiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
            @Override
            public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
                settings.getUserAgentString();
            }
        };
        webView.getContext().registerReceiver(this.receiver, intentFilter);
    }
    // end CB-1405
}