Downloading a file to Android WebView (without the download event or HTTPClient in the code)

Question

This is more a question out of curiosity than a real problem that needs to be solved. I made an Android app which contains a WebView. I used the should override URL method so that any link clicked would be opened in the WebView.

Later I decided that a file would be downloaded from the server to the user device. Unfortunately I had not seen the setDownloadListener method before. When the user clicks a link now the download is not initiated.

As far as I can tell I need to update the app with proper code i.e the download listener or a HttpClient, which is okay.

(At the risk of sounding like an idiot) I am wondering, is there any way through an action from the server that I can make the WebView download a file without a code change?

I guess that functionality is not in the WebView which is probably why the WebView opens a browser to download a file. Just thinking maybe I have missed something to make it work. I am pretty new to this.

Answer 1

You should be able to fire a download with DownloadManager in android via a webview JavascripInterface. I am trying this myself with no success so far. I probably have issues with the context in which the webview and DownloadManager are working. I will come back with some code if it's going to work :)

UPDATE:

The following code works very well for me. You can use something like: (just beaware you can only use DownloadManager from Android 2.3+)

myWebView.setWebViewClient(new WebViewClient() {
        @Override
        public void onReceivedError(WebView view, int errorCode,
            String description, String failingUrl) {
                Log.d("WEB_VIEW_TEST", "error code:" + errorCode + " - " + description);
        }

        @Override
        public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, String url) {
                // handle different requests for different type of files
                // this example handles downloads requests for .apk and .mp3 files
                // everything else the webview can handle normally
                if (url.endsWith(".apk")) {
                    Uri source = Uri.parse(url);
                    // Make a new request pointing to the .apk url
                    DownloadManager.Request request = new DownloadManager.Request(source);
                    // appears the same in Notification bar while downloading
                    request.setDescription("Description for the DownloadManager Bar");
                    request.setTitle("YourApp.apk");
                    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {
                        request.allowScanningByMediaScanner();
                        request.setNotificationVisibility(DownloadManager.Request.VISIBILITY_VISIBLE_NOTIFY_COMPLETED);
                    }
                    // save the file in the "Downloads" folder of SDCARD
                    request.setDestinationInExternalPublicDir(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOWNLOADS, "SmartPigs.apk");
                    // get download service and enqueue file
                    DownloadManager manager = (DownloadManager) getSystemService(Context.DOWNLOAD_SERVICE);
                    manager.enqueue(request);
                }
                else if(url.endsWith(".mp3")) {
                    // if the link points to an .mp3 resource do something else
                }
                // if there is a link to anything else than .apk or .mp3 load the URL in the webview
                else view.loadUrl(url);
                return true;                
        }
    });

In the above code I manage links to .apk files, .mp3 files and all the other links will be handled by the webview (normal HTML pages)

Answer 2

I think webview will download and render only text/html contents and the multiparts. And the rest will be directed to a download client which you are seeing.

• Herojit