Embedding Cordova WebView on Android

Beginning in Cordova 1.9, with the assistance of the CordovaActivity, you can use Cordova as a component in a larger native Android application. Android refers to this component as the CordovaWebView. New Cordova-based applications from 1.9 onwards use the CordovaWebView as its main view, regardless of whether the legacy DroidGap approach is used.

If you're unfamiliar with Android application development, please read the Android Platform Guide to developing a Cordova Application before attempting to include a WebView. It's not the main way to author Android Cordova applications. These instructions are currently manual, but may be eventually be automated.

Prerequisites

1. Cordova 1.9 or greater
2. Android SDK updated with 15

Guide to using CordovaWebView in an Android Project

1. Use bin/create to fetch the commons-codec-1.6.jar file.
2. cd into /framework and run ant jar to build the cordova jar. It creates the .jar file formed as cordova-x.x.x.jar in the /framework folder.
3. Copy the cordova jar into your Android project's /libs directory.

4. Edit your application's main.xml file (under /res/xml) to look like the following, with the layout_height, layout_width and id modified to suit your application:

   <org.apache.cordova.CordovaWebView
       android:id="@+id/tutorialView"
       android:layout_width="match_parent"
       android:layout_height="match_parent" />
   

5. Modify your activity so that it implements the CordovaInterface. You should implement the included methods. You may wish to copy them from /framework/src/org/apache/cordova/DroidGap.java, or implement them on your own. The code fragment below shows a basic application that uses the interface. Note how the referenced view id matches the id attribute specified in the XML fragment shown above:

   public class CordovaViewTestActivity extends Activity implements CordovaInterface {
       CordovaWebView cwv;
       /* Called when the activity is first created. */
       @Override
       public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
           super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
           setContentView(R.layout.main);
           cwv = (CordovaWebView) findViewById(R.id.tutorialView);
           Config.init(this);
           cwv.loadUrl(Config.getStartUrl());
       }
   
   
   If you use the camera, you should also implement this:
   

   @Override public void setActivityResultCallback(CordovaPlugin plugin) { this.activityResultCallback = plugin; } /**

   • Launch an activity for which you would like a result when it finished. When this activity exits,
   • your onActivityResult() method is called. *
   • @param command The command object
   • @param intent The intent to start

   • @param requestCode The request code that is passed to callback to identify the activity */ public void startActivityForResult(CordovaPlugin command, Intent intent, int requestCode) { this.activityResultCallback = command; this.activityResultKeepRunning = this.keepRunning;

     // If multitasking turned on, then disable it for activities that return results if (command != null) { this.keepRunning = false; }

     // Start activity super.startActivityForResult(intent, requestCode); }

   @Override /**

   • Called when an activity you launched exits, giving you the requestCode you started it with,
   • the resultCode it returned, and any additional data from it. *
   • @param requestCode The request code originally supplied to startActivityForResult(),
   • allowing you to identify who this result came from.
   • @param resultCode The integer result code returned by the child activity through its setResult().

   • @param data An Intent, which can return result data to the caller (various data can be attached to Intent "extras"). */ protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent intent) { super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, intent); CordovaPlugin callback = this.activityResultCallback; if (callback != null) { callback.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, intent); } }

     Finally, remember to add the thread pool, otherwise the plugins have no threads to run on:

   @Override public ExecutorService getThreadPool() { return threadPool; }

6. Copy your application's HTML and JavaScript files to your Android project's /assets/www directory.

7. Copy cordova.xml and plugins.xml from /framework/res/xml to your project's /res/xml folder.