Open links in safari instead of inside webview

Question

I am a beginner in making iOS applications. I have made a simple webview showing my web page. The problem is that every link that is pressed in my web page opens in the webview. I want some links to open in safari. I would like links starting with "..something" to be opened inside the webview and every other link to be opened in safari. I also have a button for email and dial which i want to open in the dial app and email app on the phone. Is this a possibility? please explain simple.

ViewController.h

#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface ViewController : UIViewController

@property (nonatomic, strong) IBOutlet UIWebView *webView;

@end

ViewController.m

#import "ViewController.h"

@interface ViewController ()

@end

@implementation ViewController

@synthesize webView;

- (void)viewDidLoad
{

NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://MyWebPage"];
NSURLRequest *requestURL = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
[webView loadRequest:requestURL];

[super viewDidLoad];
// Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
}

- (void)didReceiveMemoryWarning
{
[super didReceiveMemoryWarning];
// Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}

@end

I made the same application for android using java with this code below

@Override
    public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, String url) {
        try{
            System.out.println("url called:::" + url);
            if (url.startsWith("tel:")) {
                Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_DIAL, Uri.parse(url));
                startActivity(intent);
            }  else if (url.startsWith("http:")
                    || url.startsWith("https:")) {

                 Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(url)); 
                 startActivity(intent);

            }  else if (url.startsWith("mailto:")) {

                MailTo mt=MailTo.parse(url);

                send_email(mt.getTo());

            }
            else {
                return false;
            }
        }catch(Exception e){
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        return true;
    }

}

Answer 1

You'll need to make your controller a UIWebViewDelegate and implement the webView: shouldStartLoadWithRequest:navigationType: method.

@interface ViewController () <UIWebViewDelegate>

viewDidLoad should look like this:

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];

    // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
    NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://MyWebPage"];
    NSURLRequest *requestURL = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
    webView.delegate = self;
    [webView loadRequest:requestURL];
}


- (BOOL)webView:(UIWebView *)inWeb shouldStartLoadWithRequest:(NSURLRequest *)inRequest navigationType:(UIWebViewNavigationType)inType {
    if ( inType == UIWebViewNavigationTypeLinkClicked && [self shouldOpenInSafari:[inRequest URL]]) {
        [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[inRequest URL]];
        return NO;
    }

    return YES;
}

- (BOOL)shouldOpenInSafari:(NSURL*)url
{
    if ([url.scheme isEqualToString:@"mailto"]) {
        return YES;
    }
    else if ([url.scheme isEqualToString:@"tel"]) {
        return YES;
    }
    else if (([url.scheme isEqualToString:@"http"] || [url.scheme isEqualToString:@"https"]) && [url.host isEqualToString:@"example.com"]) {
        return YES;
    }

    return NO;
}

Then you'll need to implement the shouldOpenInSafari: method. The openURL: method can also handle tel: and mailto: links.

Some code from here.

Answer 2

For the urls which you want to open in web view, use the same code which you have.

For opening in safari, use this

NSString* launchUrl = @"URL to open in safari";

[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString: launchUrl]];