Kotlin WebView - Prevent Opening In New Chrome Browser Window

Question

I have inserted the below code into MainActivity.kt in a blank activity.


import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import android.os.Bundle
import kotlinx.android.synthetic.main.activity_main.*

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    private val url = "http://www.yahoo.com/"

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        // Get the web view settings instance
        val setting = webview.settings;

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

        webview.loadUrl(url)

    }
}

I also have inserted a WebView component into activity_main.xml with an id of @+id/webview. When the app loads, the screen redirects to a chrome browser where the Yahoo page is loaded. How do I maintain the browser within the app?

I have tried adding webview.setWebViewRenderProcessClient = webViewClient() before the URL loads, but I get an unresolved reference error when I compile the code.

EDIT

The XML is as follows:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

<WebView
    android:id="@+id/webview"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"/>

</RelativeLayout>

I have also added <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/> to the AndroidManifest.xml file.

There's nothing in your code that would make the default browser open when you load the URL. Do you have any attributes set in your XML layout perhaps? — Darwind, Jan 14 '20 at 19:12
Ok, I just tried the code and it seems like it has something to do with your URL. Try with `google.com` for instance and it shouldn't open the default browser, but just load the website. Try overriding the `WebViewClient` also as stated in this SO thread: https://stackoverflow.com/a/12802173/882251 — Darwind, Jan 14 '20 at 19:18
@Darwind correct- when I use Google, the browser loads within the app. Trying WebViewClient override now... — Mr T, Jan 14 '20 at 19:23
Changing ```webview.webViewRenderProcessClient = webViewClient()``` to ```webview.webViewClient = WebViewClient()``` has done the job! Thanks. Add it as an answer and I'll mark it as correct? — Mr T, Jan 14 '20 at 19:26
You should probably just delete the question as I found the other question and answer by a quick search on Google :-) — Darwind, Jan 14 '20 at 19:53
Does this answer your question? [Android webview launches browser when calling loadurl](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7746409/android-webview-launches-browser-when-calling-loadurl) — Darwind, Jan 14 '20 at 20:35
@Darwind I'll leave this on here as it relates to Kotlin rather than Java — Mr T, Jan 14 '20 at 22:31

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 14 '20 at 19:46

3

Implement WebView's webClient and set it before calling webView.loadUrl = "#someURL". Example:

webview.webViewClient = WebViewClient()

For further details regarding WebView check here

answered Jan 14 '20 at 19:46

Gaurav Singh

1,650
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Kotlin WebView - Prevent Opening In New Chrome Browser Window

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