Android WebView Using Kotlin With Example

In this article, we will learn about android WebView using Kotlin. We will go through various example that demonstrates how to use different attributes of WebView. For example,

In this article, we will get answer to questions like –

What is WebView?
Why should we consider WebView while designing ui for any app?
What are possibilities using WebView while designing ui? etc.
How do we use webView to display webpage, local files etc.

We have covered only basic stuffs of webView in this post. For example,
– Display webpage of given url into WebView.
– Display Custom HTML into WebView.
– Display Local File Into WebView.

If you want to customise webView or do some settings in it, there is a separate post for it.

Output

Tutorialwing Kotlin WebView Output

Getting Started

We can define android WebView widget as below –

WebView is a widget that is used to display webpages in any android application. Using this class, you can also implement your own web browser or simply display online content within your activity in the application.

Webkit rendering engine is used in webView to provide features such as –
– 1. Display webpages
– 2. Includes methods to navigate forward and backward through history.
– 3. Zoom in zoom out
– 4. Text Searches and many more things

Now, how do we use WebView in android application ?

Creating New Project

At first, we will create an application.
So, follow steps below to create any android project in Kotlin –

Step	Description
1.	Open Android Studio (Ignore if already done).
2.	Go to File => New => New Project. This will open a new window. Then, under Phone and Tablet section, select Empty Activity. Then, click Next.
3.	In next screen, select project name as WebView. Then, fill other required details.
4.	Then, clicking on Finish button creates new project.

Newbie in Android ?

Some very important concepts (Recommended to learn before you move ahead)

Install Android Studio

Create New Project in Android Studio

Android Project Structure

Run / Debug / Test Android App

Before we move ahead, we need to setup for viewBinding to access Android WebView Using Kotlin file without using findViewById() method.

Setup ViewBinding

Add viewBinding true in app/build.gradle file.

 
 android { 
 	// OTHER CODE... 
 	buildFeatures { 
 		viewBinding true 
 	} 
 }

Now, set content in activity using view binding.
Open MainActivity.kt file and write below code in it.

 
 class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() { 
 	
 	private lateinit var binding: ActivityMainBinding 
 	
 	override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) { 
 		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState) 
 		binding = ActivityMainBinding.inflate(layoutInflater) 
 		val view = binding.root 
 		setContentView(view) 
 	} 
 }

Now, we can access view in Kotlin file without using findViewById() method.

Using WebView in Kotlin

We can load many types of pages into WebView. For example,

Showing custom HTML into WebView.
Showing Webpage of given URL into WebView.
Displaying data of given file path into WebView.

Now, we will go through each one by one –

1. Showing Custom HTML into WebView

Follow steps below to use WebView in newly created project –

Open res/values/strings.xml file. Then, add below code into it.

<resources>
    <string name="app_name">WebView</string>
</resources>

Open res/layout/activity_main.xml file. Then, add below code in it –

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout 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"
        android:text="Hello World!"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

We can also access it in Kotlin File, MainActivity.kt, as below –

package com.tutorialwing.webview

import android.os.Bundle
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import com.tutorialwing.webview.databinding.ActivityMainBinding

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

	private lateinit var binding: ActivityMainBinding

	override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
		binding = ActivityMainBinding.inflate(layoutInflater)
		val view = binding.root
		setContentView(view)

		setupHTMLWebView()
	}

	private fun setupHTMLWebView() {
		val htmlText = "<html><body>" +
				"<p>Hello, Tutorialwing!</p> <p>How are you?</p>" +
				"</body></html>"
		binding.webView.loadData(htmlText, "text/html", "UTF-8")
	}
}

Here, loadData(…) method has been used to load custom HTML data into webView.

Now, run the application. We will get output as below –

2. Showing Webpage of given URL into WebView

Follow steps below to use WebView in newly created project –

Open res/values/strings.xml file. Then, add below code into it.

<resources>
    <string name="app_name">WebView</string>
    <string name="site_url">https://tutorialwing.com</string>
</resources>

Open res/layout/activity_main.xml file. Then, add below code in it –

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout 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"
        android:text="Hello World!"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Since we are accessing webpage of given url, we need internet permission in app. So, add internet permission in AndroidManifest.xml file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.tutorialwing.webview">

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/Theme.WebView">
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:exported="true">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

We can also access WebView in Kotlin File, MainActivity.kt, as below –

package com.tutorialwing.webview

import android.os.Bundle
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import com.tutorialwing.webview.databinding.ActivityMainBinding

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

	private lateinit var binding: ActivityMainBinding

	override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
		binding = ActivityMainBinding.inflate(layoutInflater)
		val view = binding.root
		setContentView(view)

		setupURLWebView()
	}

	private fun setupURLWebView() {
		val webView = binding.webView
		webView.loadUrl(getString(R.string.site_url))
	}
}

Here, loadUrl(…) method has been used to load webpage into webView. getString(R.string.site_url) returns the url of the webpage to be loaded.

Now, run the application. We will get output as below –

3. Displaying data of given File Path into WebView

Follow steps below to use WebView in newly created project –

Add any image you wish to load into webView in res/drawable folder.
Here, we have added tutorialwing_logo.png. If you wish, you can download it from source-code.

Open res/layout/activity_main.xml file. Then, add below code in it –

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout 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"
        android:text="Hello World!"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

We can also access it in Kotlin File, MainActivity.kt, as below –

package com.tutorialwing.webview

import android.os.Bundle
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import com.tutorialwing.webview.databinding.ActivityMainBinding

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

	private lateinit var binding: ActivityMainBinding

	override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
		binding = ActivityMainBinding.inflate(layoutInflater)
		val view = binding.root
		setContentView(view)

		setupFilePathWebView()
	}

	private fun setupFilePathWebView() {
		var html = "<html><head><title>TITLE!!!</title></head>"
		html += "<body>" +
				"<h3>Tutorial by tutorialwing.com</h3>" +
				"<img src=\"tutorialwing_logo.png\" />" +
				"</body>" +
				"</html>"

		// Provide relative url to the base...
		val baseUrl = "file:///android_res/drawable/"
		val data = html
		val mimeType = "text/html"
		val encoding = "UTF-8"
		val historyUrl: String? = null

		binding.webView.loadDataWithBaseURL(baseUrl, data, mimeType, encoding, historyUrl)
	}
}

Here, we have used loadDataWithBaseURL(…) method to load data from local file into webView.

Now, run the application. We will get output as below –

Different Attributes of WebView in XML

Now, we will see how to use different attributes of Android WebView using Kotlin to customise it –

Set Id of WebView

Many a time, we need id of View to access it in kotlin file or create ui relative to that view in xml file. So, we can set id of WebView using android:id attribute like below –

    <WebView
        android:id="@+id/webView_ID"
        />

Here, we have set id of WebView as webView_ID using android:id=”” attribute. So, if we need to reference this WebView, we need to use this id – webView_ID.

Set Width of WebView

We use android:layout_width=”” attribute to set width of WebView.
We can do it as below –

    <WebView
        android:id="@+id/webView_ID"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        />

Width can be either “MATCH_PARENT” or “WRAP_CONTENT” or any fixed value (like 20dp, 30dp etc.).

Set Height of WebView

We use android:layout_height=”” attribute to set height of WebView.
We can do it as below –

    <WebView
        android:id="@+id/webView_ID"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        />

Height can be either “MATCH_PARENT” or “WRAP_CONTENT” or any fixed value.

Set Padding of WebView

We use android:padding=”” attribute to set padding of WebView.
We can do it as below –

    <WebView
        android:id="@+id/webView_ID"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:padding="10dp"
        />

Here, we have set padding of 10dp in WebView using android:padding=”” attribute.

Set Margin of WebView

We use android:layout_margin=”” attribute to set margin of WebView.
We can do it as below –

    <WebView
        android:id="@+id/webView_ID"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="10dp"
        />

Here, we have set margin of 10dp in WebView using android:layout_margin=”” attribute.

Set Background of WebView

We use android:background=”” attribute to set background of WebView.
We can do it as below –

    <WebView
        android:id="@+id/webView_ID"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="#ff0000"
        />

Here, we have set background of color #ff0000 in WebView using android:background=”” attribute.

Set Visibility of WebView

We use android:visibility=”” attribute to set visibility of WebView.
We can do it as below –

    <WebView
        android:id="@+id/webView_ID"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:visibility="gone"
        />

Here, we have set visibility of WebView using android:visiblity=”” attribute. Visibility can be of three types – gone, visible and invisible

Different Attributes of Android WebView Widget

Below are the various attributes that are used to customise android WebView Widget. However, you can check the complete list of attributes of WebView in it’s official documentation site. Here, we are going to list some of the important attributes of this widget –

Some of the popular attributes of android webView widget inherited from ViewGroup are –

Sr.	XML Attributes	Description
1	android:clipChildren	Specifies whether a child is limited to draw inside of its bounds or not
2	android:layoutAnimation	Specifies the layout animation to use when the viewGroup is laid out for the first time
3	android:persistentDrawingCache	Specifies the persistent of the drawing cache
4	android:layoutMode	Specifies layout mode this viewGroup

Some of the popular attributes of android WebView inherited from View are –

Sr.	XML Attributes	Description
1	android:alpha	Specifies alpha of the view
2	android:background	Specifies drawable to be used for the background
3	android:contextClickable	Specifies whether this view should react to context click event
4	android:elevation	Specifies base z depth of the view
5	android:fitsSystemWindows	It is used to adjust view layout based on system windows such as status bar etc. It accepts true or false value.
6	android:foreground	Specifies the drawable to draw over the content
7	android:foregroundGravity	Specifies the gravity of the foreground drawable

We have seen different attributes of WebView and how to use it. If you wish to visit post to learn more about it

Thus, we have seen what is WebView, how can we use android WebView using Kotlin ? etc. We also went through different attributes of android WebView.

Output

Getting Started

Creating New Project

Setup ViewBinding

Using WebView in Kotlin

1. Showing Custom HTML into WebView

2. Showing Webpage of given URL into WebView

3. Displaying data of given File Path into WebView

Different Attributes of WebView in XML

Set Id of WebView

Set Width of WebView

Set Height of WebView

Set Padding of WebView

Set Margin of WebView

Set Background of WebView

Set Visibility of WebView

Different Attributes of Android WebView Widget

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