I am trying to load a simple pdf in a `WebView` (c...

# compose

[Todor Grudev]

I am trying to load a simple pdf in a WebView (code in 🧵) but it doesn’t seem to work, is there a potential issue with WebView and compose?

[Todor Grudev]

@Composable
fun WebPagePreview() {
  AndroidView(factory = {
    WebView(it).apply {
      layoutParams = ViewGroup.LayoutParams(
        ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
        ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT
      )
      webViewClient = object : WebViewClient() {
        override fun shouldOverrideUrlLoading(view: WebView?, url: String?): Boolean {
          return false
        }
      }
      loadUrl("<https://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tests/xhtml/testfiles/resources/pdf/dummy.pdf>")
    }
  })
}

[Csaba Szugyiczki]

Android WebView cannot display pdf documents on its own

[Csaba Szugyiczki]

try copy-pasting this url into Chrome, it will open your default pdf viewer

[Csaba Szugyiczki]

you should do the same (open an external app that is capable of displaying pdf)
Or render the pdf yourself
Or use a pdf viewer library like https://github.com/barteksc/AndroidPdfViewer

[Todor Grudev]

I see, that explains a lot, thank you @Csaba Szugyiczki

[Tgo1014]

Or use this small hack to show it on the webview https://stackoverflow.com/a/5296125/6022725 😄

[Csaba Szugyiczki]

read the comments below this… I would not use it in production. If it is a hobby project then it might be fine

[Todor Grudev]

doesn’t look like something stable, I think that the external library pdf viewer is a better option in this case

[Colton Idle]

I've used the "hack" in production apps with a million+ installs and it works fine for us. /shruggie

[ephemient]

Android includes https://developer.android.com/reference/android/graphics/pdf/PdfRenderer since API 21