How to open webview links within app android Kotlin

Question

I am facing an issue that when I click on any link in the webview it automatically opens the chrome browser and open the link there

I am pasting main avtivity class here.

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    private val url = "https://stackoverflow.com/"
    private lateinit var webView: WebView

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
        webView = findViewById(R.id.webview)
        // Get the web view settings instance
        val settings = webView.settings

        // Enable java script in web view
        settings.javaScriptEnabled = true

        // Enable and setup web view cache
        settings.setAppCacheEnabled(true)
        settings.cacheMode = WebSettings.LOAD_DEFAULT
        settings.setAppCachePath(cacheDir.path)


        // Enable zooming in web view
        settings.setSupportZoom(false)
        settings.builtInZoomControls = false
        settings.displayZoomControls = false

        // Zoom web view text
        settings.textZoom = 100

        // Enable disable images in web view
        settings.blockNetworkImage = false
        // Whether the WebView should load image resources
        settings.loadsImagesAutomatically = true


        // More web view settings
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.O) {
            settings.safeBrowsingEnabled = true  // api 26
        }
        //settings.pluginState = WebSettings.PluginState.ON
        settings.useWideViewPort = true
        settings.loadWithOverviewMode = true
        settings.javaScriptCanOpenWindowsAutomatically = true
        settings.mediaPlaybackRequiresUserGesture = false


        // More optional settings, you can enable it by yourself
        settings.domStorageEnabled = true
        settings.setSupportMultipleWindows(true)
        settings.loadWithOverviewMode = true
        settings.allowContentAccess = true
        settings.setGeolocationEnabled(true)
        settings.allowUniversalAccessFromFileURLs = true
        settings.allowFileAccess = true

        // WebView settings
        webView.fitsSystemWindows = true


        /*
            if SDK version is greater of 19 then activate hardware acceleration
            otherwise activate software acceleration
        */
        webView.setLayerType(View.LAYER_TYPE_HARDWARE, null)


        // Set web view chrome client
        webView.webChromeClient = object: WebChromeClient(){
            override fun onProgressChanged(view: WebView, newProgress: Int) {
                progress_bar.progress = newProgress

            }
        }
        webView.loadUrl(url);


        fun shouldOverrideUrlLoading(view: WebView, url: String): Boolean {
            if (url.contains("stackoverflow.com")) {
                view.loadUrl(url)
            } else {
                val i = Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(url))
                startActivity(i)
            }
            return true
        }
    }


    // Method to show app exit dialog
    private fun showAppExitDialog() {
        val builder = AlertDialog.Builder(this)

        builder.setTitle("Please confirm")
        builder.setMessage("No back history found, want to exit the app?")
        builder.setCancelable(true)

        builder.setPositiveButton("Yes") { _, _ ->

            super@MainActivity.onBackPressed()
        }

        builder.setNegativeButton("No") { _, _ ->
            // Do something when want to stay in the app
            toast("thank you.")
        }

        // Create the alert dialog using alert dialog builder
        val dialog = builder.create()

        // Finally, display the dialog when user press back button
        dialog.show()
    }

}


fun Context.toast(message: String) {
    Toast.makeText(this, message, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
}

when I click on link. chorme browser is opening. I am new in android development and not able to handel this situation. Please help.

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 11 '20 at 18:17

Try this out, I have replaced ChromeViewClient with internal WebViewClient

Reference: How to load an URL inside a WebView using Android Kotlin?

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    private val url = "https://stackoverflow.com/"
    private lateinit var webView: WebView

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
        webView = findViewById(R.id.webview)
        // Get the web view settings instance
        val settings = webView.settings

        // Enable java script in web view
        settings.javaScriptEnabled = true

        // Enable and setup web view cache
        settings.setAppCacheEnabled(true)
        settings.cacheMode = WebSettings.LOAD_DEFAULT
        settings.setAppCachePath(cacheDir.path)


        // Enable zooming in web view
        settings.setSupportZoom(false)
        settings.builtInZoomControls = false
        settings.displayZoomControls = false

        // Zoom web view text
        settings.textZoom = 100

        // Enable disable images in web view
        settings.blockNetworkImage = false
        // Whether the WebView should load image resources
        settings.loadsImagesAutomatically = true


        // More web view settings
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.O) {
            settings.safeBrowsingEnabled = true  // api 26
        }
        //settings.pluginState = WebSettings.PluginState.ON
        settings.useWideViewPort = true
        settings.loadWithOverviewMode = true
        settings.javaScriptCanOpenWindowsAutomatically = true
        settings.mediaPlaybackRequiresUserGesture = false


        // More optional settings, you can enable it by yourself
        settings.domStorageEnabled = true
        settings.setSupportMultipleWindows(true)
        settings.loadWithOverviewMode = true
        settings.allowContentAccess = true
        settings.setGeolocationEnabled(true)
        settings.allowUniversalAccessFromFileURLs = true
        settings.allowFileAccess = true

        // WebView settings
        webView.fitsSystemWindows = true


        /*
            if SDK version is greater of 19 then activate hardware acceleration
            otherwise activate software acceleration
        */
        webView.setLayerType(View.LAYER_TYPE_HARDWARE, null)


        // Set web view client
        webView.webViewClient = object : WebViewClient() {
        override fun shouldOverrideUrlLoading(view: WebView?, url: String?): Boolean {
            view?.loadUrl(url)
            return true
            }
        }
        webView.loadUrl(url);


        fun shouldOverrideUrlLoading(view: WebView, url: String): Boolean {
            if (url.contains("stackoverflow.com")) {
                view.loadUrl(url)
            } else {
                val i = Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(url))
                startActivity(i)
            }
            return true
        }
    }


    // Method to show app exit dialog
    private fun showAppExitDialog() {
        val builder = AlertDialog.Builder(this)

        builder.setTitle("Please confirm")
        builder.setMessage("No back history found, want to exit the app?")
        builder.setCancelable(true)

        builder.setPositiveButton("Yes") { _, _ ->

            super@MainActivity.onBackPressed()
        }

        builder.setNegativeButton("No") { _, _ ->
            // Do something when want to stay in the app
            toast("thank you.")
        }

        // Create the alert dialog using alert dialog builder
        val dialog = builder.create()

        // Finally, display the dialog when user press back button
        dialog.show()
    }

}


fun Context.toast(message: String) {
    Toast.makeText(this, message, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
}

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 08 '20 at 14:54

The method you need to use is called shouldOverrideUrlLoading. What worked for me was to create simple MyWebViewClient class which inherits from WebViewClient and override the shouldOverrideUrlLoading method. Then just pass it to your WebView during setup.

import android.webkit.WebResourceRequest
import android.webkit.WebView
import android.webkit.WebViewClient

class MyWebViewClient : WebViewClient() {
    override fun shouldOverrideUrlLoading(view: WebView?, request: WebResourceRequest?): Boolean {
        // Do not open new browser to load new link, load them in this webview
        return false
    }
}


// initalising webView
myWebView.webViewClient = MyWebViewClient()

quite simple and effective – The EasyLearn Academy Sep 14 '21 at 14:10 — The EasyLearn Academy, Sep 14 '21 at 14:10

How to open webview links within app android Kotlin

2 Answers2