Android Tip - Displaying a PDF Document inside a WebView

One of the most requested features in Android is the ability to display a PDF document within a WebView. However, the WebView does not contain a PDF plugin that allow you to display a PDF document. One solution is to use an Intent object to launch a third-party app (such as Adobe Acrobat) which can handle the PDF document. However, this will transfer control over to the thrid-party app.

If you insists on displaying the PDF document within your own activity using a WebView, you can use the following trick. You can use Google Docs to open your PDF document and then load the URL of Google Docs using the WebView.

    @Override

    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        //setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        WebView webView=new WebView(MainActivity.this);

        webView.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);

        webView.getSettings().setPluginState(PluginState.ON);

        //---you need this to prevent the webview from

        // launching another browser when a url

        // redirection occurs---

        webView.setWebViewClient(new Callback());

       

        String pdfURL = "http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/37098169/Course%20Brochures/AND101.pdf";

        webView.loadUrl(

"http://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url=" + pdfURL);

        setContentView(webView);

    }

    private class Callback extends WebViewClient {

        @Override

        public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(

                WebView view, String url) {

            return(false);

        }

    }

The loaded PDF document will look something like this:

Remember to add in the android.permission.INTERNET permission.

Come join me in the Android Post-Conference workshop on 31 May 2013 at DevTeach 2013, Toronto.