1. Introduction
Last Updated: 2022-02-03
What you'll learn
- How to create a very simple Webview in Android
- How to send Webview events in to Firebase
What you'll need
- Firebase Project with Analytics SDK implemented
- Android Studio version 4.2+.
- An Android Emulator with Android 5.0+.
- Familiarity with the Java programming language.
- Familiarity with the Javascript programming language.
2. Create a simple web Webview in Android
Adding Webview in the activity layout
To add a WebView to your app in the layout, add the following code to your activity's layout XML file:
<?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=".WebActivity"
>
<WebView
android:id="@+id/webview"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
/>
</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>;
Adding a WebView in onCreate()
To load a web page in the WebView, use loadUrl(). The Webview should be created on black activity For example I will implement this on the onCreate method :
public class WebActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_web);
// Navigate to site
myWebView.loadUrl("https://bittererhu.glitch.me");
}
}
Before this works, however, your app must have access to the Internet. To get internet access, request the INTERNET permission in your manifest file. For example:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
That's all you need for a basic WebView that displays a web page.
Using Javascript in Webviews
if the web page you plan to load in your WebView uses JavaScript, you must enable JavaScript for your WebView. Once JavaScript is enabled, you can also create interfaces between your app code and your JavaScript code.
JavaScript is disabled in a WebView by default. You can enable it through the WebSettings attached to your WebView. You can retrieve WebSettings with getSettings(), then enable JavaScript with setJavaScriptEnabled().
For example:
WebView myWebView = (WebView) findViewById(R.id.webview);
WebSettings webSettings = myWebView.getSettings();
webSettings.setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
Updated Activity :
public class WebActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_web);
WebView myWebView = (WebView) findViewById(R.id.webview);
if(myWebView != null) {
WebSettings webSettings = myWebView.getSettings();
webSettings.setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
}
// Navigate to site
myWebView.loadUrl("https://bittererhu.glitch.me");
}
}
3. Implementing the Javascript bridged interface
Javacript Handler
The first step in using Google Analytics in a WebView is to create JavaScript functions to forward events and user properties to native code. The following example shows how to do this in a way that is compatible with both Android and Apple native code:
In this example I created a Javascript file named script.js that includes the following :
function logEvent(name, params) {
if (!name) {
return;
}
if (window.AnalyticsWebInterface) {
// Call Android interface
window.AnalyticsWebInterface.logEvent(name, JSON.stringify(params));
} else if (window.webkit
&& window.webkit.messageHandlers
&& window.webkit.messageHandlers.firebase) {
// Call iOS interface
var message = {
command: 'logEvent',
name: name,
parameters: params
};
window.webkit.messageHandlers.firebase.postMessage(message);
} else {
// No Android or iOS interface found
console.log("No native APIs found.");
}
}
function setUserProperty(name, value) {
if (!name || !value) {
return;
}
if (window.AnalyticsWebInterface) {
// Call Android interface
window.AnalyticsWebInterface.setUserProperty(name, value);
} else if (window.webkit
&& window.webkit.messageHandlers
&& window.webkit.messageHandlers.firebase) {
// Call iOS interface
var message = {
command: 'setUserProperty',
name: name,
value: value
};
window.webkit.messageHandlers.firebase.postMessage(message);
} else {
// No Android or iOS interface found
console.log("No native APIs found.");
}
}
Native interface
To invoke native Android code from JavaScript, implement a class with methods marked @JavaScriptInterface: In the example below I created a new Java class called : AnalyticsWebInterfcae.java:
public class AnalyticsWebInterface {
public static final String TAG = "AnalyticsWebInterface";
private FirebaseAnalytics mAnalytics;
public AnalyticsWebInterface(Context context) {
mAnalytics = FirebaseAnalytics.getInstance(context);
}
@JavascriptInterface
public void logEvent(String name, String jsonParams) {
LOGD("logEvent:" + name);
mAnalytics.logEvent(name, bundleFromJson(jsonParams));
}
@JavascriptInterface
public void setUserProperty(String name, String value) {
LOGD("setUserProperty:" + name);
mAnalytics.setUserProperty(name, value);
}
private void LOGD(String message) {
// Only log on debug builds, for privacy
if (BuildConfig.DEBUG) {
Log.d(TAG, message);
}
}
private Bundle bundleFromJson(String json) {
// ...
}
}
Once you have created the native interface, register it with your WebView so that it is visible to JavaScript code running in the WebView:
// Only add the JavaScriptInterface on API version JELLY_BEAN_MR1 and above, due to
// security concerns, see link below for more information:
// https://developer.android.com/reference/android/webkit/WebView.html#addJavascriptInterface(java.lang.Object,%20java.lang.String)
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.JELLY_BEAN_MR1) {
mWebView.addJavascriptInterface(
new AnalyticsWebInterface(this), AnalyticsWebInterface.TAG);
} else {
Log.w(TAG, "Not adding JavaScriptInterface, API Version: " + Build.VERSION.SDK_INT);
}
Final Code :
// [START analytics_web_interface]
public class AnalyticsWebInterface {
public static final String TAG = "AnalyticsWebInterface";
private FirebaseAnalytics mAnalytics;
public AnalyticsWebInterface(Context context) {
mAnalytics = FirebaseAnalytics.getInstance(context);
}
@JavascriptInterface
public void logEvent(String name, String jsonParams) {
LOGD("logEvent:" + name);
mAnalytics.logEvent(name, bundleFromJson(jsonParams));
}
@JavascriptInterface
public void setUserProperty(String name, String value) {
LOGD("setUserProperty:" + name);
mAnalytics.setUserProperty(name, value);
}
private void LOGD(String message) {
// Only log on debug builds, for privacy
if (BuildConfig.DEBUG) {
Log.d(TAG, message);
}
}
private Bundle bundleFromJson(String json) {
// [START_EXCLUDE]
if (TextUtils.isEmpty(json)) {
return new Bundle();
}
Bundle result = new Bundle();
try {
JSONObject jsonObject = new JSONObject(json);
Iterator<String> keys = jsonObject.keys();
while (keys.hasNext()) {
String key = keys.next();
Object value = jsonObject.get(key);
if (value instanceof String) {
result.putString(key, (String) value);
} else if (value instanceof Integer) {
result.putInt(key, (Integer) value);
} else if (value instanceof Double) {
result.putDouble(key, (Double) value);
} else {
Log.w(TAG, "Value for key " + key + " not one of [String, Integer, Double]");
}
}
} catch (JSONException e) {
Log.w(TAG, "Failed to parse JSON, returning empty Bundle.", e);
return new Bundle();
}
return result;
// [END_EXCLUDE]
}
You have now set up the Javascript interface , you are now ready to start sending analytic events.
4. Sending Events through the interface
As you can see here my Webview is very simple it has three buttons two which will log an event and the other which will log a user property :
Once I click on the buttons it will call my "script.js" file and execute the following code :
document.getElementById("event1").addEventListener("click", function() {
console.log("event1");
logEvent("event1", { foo: "bar", baz: 123 });
});
document.getElementById("event2").addEventListener("click", function() {
console.log("event2");
logEvent("event2", { size: 123.456 });
});
document.getElementById("userprop").addEventListener("click", function() {
console.log("userprop");
setUserProperty("userprop", "custom_value");
});
Final script.js file :
/* If you're feeling fancy you can add interactivity
to your site with Javascript */
// prints "hi" in the browser's dev tools console
console.log("hi");
// [START log_event]
function logEvent(name, params) {
if (!name) {
return;
}
if (window.AnalyticsWebInterface) {
// Call Android interface
window.AnalyticsWebInterface.logEvent(name, JSON.stringify(params));
} else if (window.webkit
&& window.webkit.messageHandlers
&& window.webkit.messageHandlers.firebase) {
// Call iOS interface
var message = {
command: 'logEvent',
name: name,
parameters: params
};
window.webkit.messageHandlers.firebase.postMessage(message);
} else {
// No Android or iOS interface found
console.log("No native APIs found.");
}
}
// [END log_event]
// [START set_user_property]
function setUserProperty(name, value) {
if (!name || !value) {
return;
}
if (window.AnalyticsWebInterface) {
// Call Android interface
window.AnalyticsWebInterface.setUserProperty(name, value);
} else if (window.webkit
&& window.webkit.messageHandlers
&& window.webkit.messageHandlers.firebase) {
// Call iOS interface
var message = {
command: 'setUserProperty',
name: name,
value: value
};
window.webkit.messageHandlers.firebase.postMessage(message);
} else {
// No Android or iOS interface found
console.log("No native APIs found.");
}
}
// [END set_user_property]
document.getElementById("event1").addEventListener("click", function() {
console.log("event1");
logEvent("event1", { foo: "bar", baz: 123 });
});
document.getElementById("event2").addEventListener("click", function() {
console.log("event2");
logEvent("event2", { size: 123.456 });
});
document.getElementById("userprop").addEventListener("click", function() {
console.log("userprop");
setUserProperty("userprop", "custom_value");
});
This is the basic way to send events into Analytics
5. Debug Webview events in Firebase
Debugging Webview events in your app works the same way as debugging any native part of your SDK :
To Enable Debug mode please use the following commands in your android studio console:
adb shell setprop debug.firebase.analytics.app package_name
Once done you can test and see your Webview events come to life :
6. Congratulations
Congratulations, you've successfully created a webview in your android app. You can send and measure key funnel events in your app that take place via webviews. In order to make the most of this, we also suggest connecting to Google Ads, and importing these events as conversions.
You've learned
- How to Send Webview events to Firebase
- How to setup and create a simple Webview in Android