Question

when I view this page on my android device’ default web browser and click the first video, it triggers the default video player of my device. It loads and play.

However when I view the same link in my app, using a WebView, it does not open the default video player. What could be the problem?

I’m using the webview code in this link.

I also made the webview in full screen mode like what was said in the docs, is used this code to go fullscreen:

requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE);
getWindow().setFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_FULLSCREEN,WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_FULLSCREEN);

EDIT: I’m now using the following code, but still not work, any ideas?

package com.example.Playmp4OnWebView;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Window;
import android.view.WindowManager;
import android.webkit.WebSettings;
import android.webkit.WebView;
import android.webkit.WebViewClient;

public class PlayMp4OnWebView extends Activity {
     /** Called when the activity is first created. */
     @Override
     public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
          super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

          requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE);
          getWindow().setFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_FULLSCREEN, WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_FULLSCREEN);

          WebView webview = new WebView(this);
          setContentView(webview);

          WebSettings webSettings = webview.getSettings();
          webSettings.setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
          webSettings.setSupportZoom(false);
          webSettings.setPluginsEnabled(true);
          webSettings.setAllowFileAccess(true);

          webview.setWebViewClient(new WebViewClient(){

              public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, String url){
                   if(url.endsWith(".mp4")){
                        Intent i = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
                        i.setData(Uri.parse(url));
                        startActivity(i); //warning no error handling will cause force close if no media player on phone.
                        return true;
                   }
                   else return false; 
              }});

       //This will load the webpage that we want to see
        webview.loadUrl("http://www.broken-links.com/2010/07/30/encoding-video-for-android/");

     }
}

Answer 1

You have to attach your own WebViewClient and override shouldOverrideUrlLoading() if you detect a URL with a supported video mimetype return true and then launch the default activity with the URL. Here is an untested sample.

mWebView.setWebViewClient(new WebViewClient(){

public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(Webview view, String url){
     if(url.endsWith(".mp4") || url.endsWith("some other supported type")){
          Intent i = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
          i.setData(Uri.parse(url));
          startActivity(i); //warning no error handling will cause force close if no media player on phone.
          return true;
     }
     else return false; 
}});

hope this helps.