nativescript-webview-plus

Extended WebView for NativeScript which adds many options. The code is originally based on nativescript-webview-plus

Features

Adds a custom-scheme handler for x-local:// to the webview for loading of resources inside the webview.
- Note: For iOS 11+ WKWebView is used, but for iOS <11 UIWebView is used
Adds support for capturing URLs.
- This allows the app to open external links in an external browser and handle tel-links
Added functions like:
- executeJavaScript(code: string) for executing JavaScript-code and getting result.
- executePromise(code: string) for calling promises and getting the result.
- getTitle() returns document.title.
Two-Way event listeners between NativeScript and WebView
- From NativeScript to WebView
- From WebView to NativeScript
Adds functions to inject css- and javascript-files.
- Into the current page.
- Auto-injected on page load.
Polyfills:
- Promise
- Fetch API (overrides Native API on Android to support x-local:// and file://)
Allows alert, confirm and prompt with WkWebView.
Supports:
- Android 19+
- iOS 9+

Installation

Describe your plugin installation steps. Ideally it would be something like:

tns plugin add @nota/nativescript-advanced-werbview

Angular support

Import AWebViewModule from nativescript-webview-plus/angular and add it to your NgModule.

This registers the element AWebView. Replace the tag with

Vue support

Import nativescript-webview-plus/vue in your app entry file (likely app.js or main.js).

This registers the element AWebView. Replace the tag with

Usage

Limitations

In order to intercept requests for the custom scheme, we use UIWebView for iOS 9 and 10 and WKWebView for iOS 11+.

iOS 11 added support for setting a WKURLSchemeHandler on the WKWebView. Prior to iOS 11 there isn't support for intercepting the URL with WKWebView, so we use a custom NSURLProtocol + UIWebView.

Important:

The custom NSURLProtocol used with UIWebView is shared with all instances of the AWebView, so mapping x-local://local-filename.js => file://app/full/path/local-filename.js is shared between them.

API

NativeScript View

Property	Value	Description
readonly isUIWebView	true / false	Is the native webview an UIWebView? True if `iOS <11`
readonly isWkWebView	true / false	Is the native webview an WKWebView? True if `iOS >=11`
src		Load src
autoInjectJSBridge	true / false	Should the window.nsWebViewBridge be injected on `loadFinishedEvent`? Defaults to true
builtInZoomControls	true / false	Android: Is the built-in zoom mechanisms being used
cacheMode	default / no_cache / cache_first / cache_only	Android: Set caching mode.
databaseStorage	true / false	Android: Enable/Disabled database storage API. Note: It affects all webviews in the process.
debugMode	true / false	Android: Enable chrome debugger for webview on Android. Note: Applies to all webviews in App
displayZoomControls	true / false	Android: displays on-screen zoom controls when using the built-in zoom mechanisms
domStorage	true / false	Android: Enable/Disabled DOM Storage API. E.g localStorage
scalesPageToFit	UIWebView: Should webpage scale to fit the view? Defaults to false
scrollBounce	true / false	iOS: Should the scrollView bounce? Defaults to true.
supportZoom	true / false	Android: should the webview support zoom
viewPortSize	false / view-port string / ViewPortProperties	Set the viewport metadata on load finished. Note: WkWebView sets initial-scale=1.0 by default.

Function	Description
loadUrl(src: string): Promise	Open a URL and resolves a promise once it has finished loading.
registerLocalResource(resourceName: string, path: string): void;	Map the "x-local://{resourceName}" => "{path}".
unregisterLocalResource(resourceName: string): void;	Removes the mapping from "x-local://{resourceName}" => "{path}"
getRegisteredLocalResource(resourceName: string): void;	Get the mapping from "x-local://{resourceName}" => "{path}"
loadJavaScriptFile(scriptName: string, filepath: string)	Inject a javascript-file into the webview. Should be called after the `loadFinishedEvent`
loadStyleSheetFile(stylesheetName: string, filepath: string, insertBefore: boolean)	Loads a CSS-file into document.head. If before is true, it will be added to the top of document.head otherwise as the last element
loadJavaScriptFiles(files: {resourceName: string, filepath: string}[])	Inject multiple javascript-files into the webview. Should be called after the `loadFinishedEvent`
loadStyleSheetFiles(files: {resourceName: string, filepath: string, insertBefore: boolean}[])	Loads multiple CSS-files into the document.head. If before is true, it will be added to the top of document.head otherwise as the last element
autoLoadJavaScriptFile(resourceName: string, filepath: string)	Register a JavaScript-file to be injected on `loadFinishedEvent`. If a page is already loaded, the script will be injected into the current page.
autoLoadStyleSheetFile(resourceName: string, filepath: string, insertBefore?: boolean)	Register a CSS-file to be injected on `loadFinishedEvent`. If a page is already loaded, the CSS-file will be injected into the current page.
autoExecuteJavaScript(scriptCode: string, name: string)	Execute a script on `loadFinishedEvent`. The script can be a promise
executeJavaScript(scriptCode: string)	Execute JavaScript in the webpage. Note: scriptCode should be ES5 compatible, or it might not work on 'iOS < 11'
executePromise(scriptCode: string, timeout: number = 500)	Run a promise inside the webview. Note: Executing scriptCode must return a promise.
emitToWebView(eventName: string, data: any)	Emit an event to the webview. Note: data must be stringify'able with JSON.stringify or this throws an exception.
getTitle()	Returns a promise with the current document title.

Events

Event	Description
loadFinished	Raised when a loadFinished event occurs. args is a `LoadFinishedEventData`
loadProgress	Android only: Raised during page load to indicate the progress. args is a `LoadProgressEventData`
loadStarted	Raised when a loadStarted event occurs. args is a `LoadStartedEventData`
shouldOverrideUrlLoading	Raised before the webview requests an URL. Can cancelled by setting args.cancel = true in the `ShouldOverrideUrlLoadEventData`
titleChanged	Document title changed
webAlert	Raised when `window.alert` is triggered inside the webview, needed to use customs dialogs for web alerts. args in a `WebAlertEventData`. `args.callback()` must be called to indicate alert is closed. NOTE: Not supported by UIWebView
webConfirm	Raised when `window.confirm` is triggered inside the webview, needed to use customs dialogs for web confirm boxes. args in a `webConfirmEvent`. `args.callback(boolean)` must be called to indicate confirm box is closed. NOTE: Not supported by UIWebView
webConsole	Android only: Raised when a line is added to the web console. args is a `WebConsoleEventData`.
webPrompt	Raised when `window.prompt` is triggered inside the webview, needed to use customs dialogs for web prompt boxes. args in a `webConfirmEvent`. `args.callback(string
Events emitted from the webview	Raised when nsWebViewBridge.emit(...) is called inside the webview. args in an `WebViewEventData`

WebView

Inside the WebView we have the nsWebViewBridge for sending events between the NativeScript-layer and the WebView. Note: The bridge will only be available DOMContentLoaded or onload inside the WebView.

Function	Description
window.nsWebViewBridge.on(eventName: string, cb: (data: any) => void)	Registers handlers for events from the native layer.
window.nsWebViewBridge.off(eventName: string, cb?: (data: any) => void)	Unregister handlers for events from the native layer.
window.nsWebViewBridge.emit(eventName: string, data: any)	Emits event to NativeScript layer. Will be emitted on the AWebView as any other event, data will be a part of the WebViewEventData-object

Possible features to come:

Cookie helpers?
Setting view-port metadata?
Share cache with native-layer?

Android

Settings
- AppCache?
- User agent?

iOS

Settings?

Demo and unit tests

Running the demo

To run the demo-project, the plugin must be build locally and a http-server must be running.

The easiest way to run the demo is to follow these steps:

Clone the git repository from https://github.com/Notalib/nativescript-webview-plus.git
Go into the src-folder
Use the npm-scripts:
- npm run demo.ios
- npm run demo.android

Running the unit-tests

Clone the git repository from https://github.com/Notalib/nativescript-webview-plus.git
Go into the src-folder
Use the npm-scripts:
- npm run test.ios
- npm run test.android

License

Apache License Version 2.0, January 2004

About Nota

Nota is the Danish Library and Expertise Center for people with print disabilities. To become a member of Nota you must be able to document that you cannot read ordinary printed text. Members of Nota are visually impaired, dyslexic or otherwise impaired. Our purpose is to ensure equal access to knowledge, community participation and experiences for people who're unable to read ordinary printed text.