Building a bi-directional interop bridge with WebView in Xamarin.Forms!

Let’s build an advanced communication bridge into your Xamarin.Forms WebView, talk to it, and let it talk back to us at will!? 😉 lol Yes let me show you how to pass data from Javascript environment to C# .NET run time in the Web page rendered inside your Xamarin.Forms WebView!

I’m talking about building a bi-directional communication tunnel with HTML/Javascript inside your WebView in Xamarin.Forms yo! 😀 buckle up your seatbelts!

So in my previous article, Talking to your WebView in Xamarin.Forms! I talked about, how to build a uni-directional C# .NET to Javascript environment in Xamarin.Forms WebView.

WebView in Xamarin.Forms..

In this article I’m going to take another step forward and allow the same functionality to occur the other way around as well… We’re talking about a two-way invoking between .NET run time and javascript run time in a Xamarin.Forms WebView!

Unfortunately this cannot be done by default in WebView.

Behold, Hybrid WebView!

This right here is a bit more advanced extension of the WebView with a bit of Xamarin Native magic! 😉 In order to establish an invoke bridge directly from HTML Javascript sandbox that its running inside the WebView, out to the .NET runtime, we need something more natively handled in Xamarin!

Basically we’re going to implement a device native script handler for the WebView which is going to handle the bridging between the Javascript and the .NET runtime handshake, in return giving us the opportunity to invoke calls from javascript into the .NET run time the Xamarin.Forms is execution on! 😉

Well that’s a very simplistic explanation, but there’s a whole article about it on Microsoft Xamarin Docs, Customizing a WebView if you’re interested! Since its already there, I wouldn’t be going into complete details of it, rather I would be explaining the improved implementation I have done on top of it for the Hybrid WebView.

Over there it focuses on loading Embedded HTML content, but I will extend my implementation to support for dynamic HTML content, allowing you to handle javascript loaded from a Web Source and support even run time generated javascript.

Invoking C# from Javascript in the WebView!

In order to do this, in par with Xamarin.Forms WebView, we need to implement a Custom Renderer for WebView, which we will refer to as HybridWebView.

HybridWebViewRenderer will be created across all the native platforms we intend to use our HybridWebView, in Android, iOS and Windows native environments each equipped with its own javascript handler to build a bridge on to our .NET run-time. 😉

We access the native WebViewRenderer properties and basically implement a special handler to listen to a certain pre-defined Javascript method execution. In this method which we add into the javascript that is rendered inside the WebView, we will define the parameters we need to use, in that way we can pass any number of parameters and data types as we want.

We’re going to intercept the execution of this javascript method inside our Hybrid WebViewRender, and then redirect it on to the .NET method we’ve subscribed to. So in the Hybrid WebView definition we will have an Action method that we bind to in our Xamarin.Forms level which we will subscribe to wherever we’re using this magical bits! 😉

Let the coding begin!

Let’s begin with HybridWebView Control in Xamarin.Forms! Here we;re adding an Action that we will subscribe to in order to receive data from Javascript invokes inside the WebView rendered content.

HybridWebView

namespace XFWebViewInteropDemo.Controls
{
    public class HybridWebView : WebView
    {
        private Action<string> _action;

        public void RegisterAction(Action<string> callback)
        {
            _action = callback;
        }

        public void Cleanup()
        {
            _action = null;
        }

        public void InvokeAction(string data)
        {
            if (_action == null || data == null)
            {
                return;
            }
            _action.Invoke(data);
        }
    }
}

 

InvokeAction is the method that will be used by the Native Renderer object to direct the invokes from javascript executions. Using the RegisterAction we can dynamically register the Action we need to subscribe to.  You can add any number of parameters as you wish in here, but you need to make sure to handle them in the native renderer as well.

Native Renderers…

We’re going to build native renderers for each platform we’re targeting, Android, iOS, and UWP (Windows). Basically all the renderers follow the same basic concept as we discussed before, but each of their implementation is going to be different based on the platform.

We need to make sure to handle the subscribe and unsubscribe of the Element Native properties and events properly in the renderer’s OnElementChanged() event.

We’re going to inject the javascript method that we’re going to listen to in the renderers as following.

private const string JavaScriptFunction = "function invokeCSharpAction(data){....}";

 

We will be defining this in each renderer, according to the native platform. Every time a invokeCSharpAction() javascript method executes inside the WebView, it will get fetched by the Renderer and the following method call will occur.

((HybridWebView)Element).InvokeAction(value);

 

Up to the HybridWebView’s Action subscription on Xamarin.Froms run time, allowing our Action to fire up and retrieve the data coming in from javascript.

Alright now let’s get into details of each native renderer.

Android Renderer!

We’re going to use the Android’s WebViewRenderer to subclass our HyrbidWebViewRenderer.

github: /XFWebViewInteropDemo.Android/Renderers/HybridWebViewRenderer.cs

Like we discussed before for Android, we have the following script injection defined,

private const string JavascriptFunction = "function invokeCSharpAction(data){jsBridge.invokeAction(data);}";

 

For Android we need some extra bits of implementation, by creating a JavascriptWebViewClient that will set up listening to the execution of javascripts inside the WebView.

Then we have to create a JsBridge, which handles the interfacing with Javascripts, and fires up InvokeAction() method to redirect the execution flow up to the Xamarin.Forms level handlers.

Both those custom objects need to be set up in the HybridWebView in the renderer Element upon instantiation.

Control.SetWebViewClient
(new JavascriptWebViewClient($"javascript: {JavascriptFunction}"));
Control.AddJavascriptInterface
(new JsBridge(this), "jsBridge");

 

Once all that set up, and you build the Android project straight away, you might be getting a build error as following. (unless you’ve set this fix up before in your project)

Its caused by the JsBridge class we implemented with an Export attribute for the invokeAction method for our renderer, to export this into a native java method. So we need to add the Mono Android Export library.

You can fix this by going to Android Project -> References -> Add References -> Select Assemblies tab on the left panel -> tick on Mono.Android.Export Reference from the list of References.

Click Ok and rebuild, you’re all set! 😉

That’s pretty much it for the Android Renderer. Next on to iOS…

iOS Renderer!

For iOS we are going to use WkWebViewRenderer as the base renderer for our HybridWebView and in addition we have to implement IWKScriptMessageHandlder interface to handle the custom javascript execution monitoring that we target to handle.

github: /XFWebViewInteropDemo.iOS/Renderers/HybridWebViewRenderer.cs

We set up a WKWebViewConfiguration object in the constructor and we get access to the property WKWebViewConfiguration.UserContentController which allows us to set up our native bridge to Javascript execution firing up inside the WebView.

public HybridWebViewRenderer(WKWebViewConfiguration config) : base(config)
{
    _userController = config.UserContentController;
    var script = new WKUserScript(new NSString(JavaScriptFunction),
                   WKUserScriptInjectionTime.AtDocumentEnd, false);
    _userController.AddUserScript(script);
    _userController.AddScriptMessageHandler(this, "invokeAction");
}

 

Then for iOS, we have the following script injection defined using webkit API, accessing the invokeAction script that we attached and finally calling on the postMessage() method with the data parameter.

private const string JavaScriptFunction = "function invokeCSharpAction(data){window.webkit.messageHandlers.invokeAction.postMessage(data);}";

 

IWKScriptMessageHandler provides us with DidReceiveScriptMessage() method which we use to transfer the data up to the Xamarin.Forms level handler using, HybridWebView.InvokeAction(data).

Quite simple ans straight forward eh! next to Windows, or UWP as you might prefer.. 😉

UWP Renderer!

We use the Xamarin native WebViewRenderer for UWP or Windows platform.

github: /XFWebViewInteropDemo.UWP/Renderers/HybridWebViewRenderer.cs

The native default renderer grants us access to these two events NavigationCompleted and ScriptNotify. We need to make sure to subscribe to those events in our HybridWebViewRenderer in Windows as follows.

Control.NavigationCompleted += OnWebViewNavigationCompleted;
Control.ScriptNotify += OnWebViewScriptNotify;

 

NavigationCompleted, allows is to easily inject our javascript handler function, which is defined as follows for UWP or Windows,

private const string JavaScriptFunction = "function invokeCSharpAction(data){window.external.notify(data);}";

 

And then ScriptNotify, provides us the chance to redirect back the execution to Xamarin.Forms level handler using HybridWebView.InvokeAction(data).

Bingo, that completes the UWP or Windows Renderer!

Now that we’ve finished the setting up of our HybridWebView and its Native Renderer for Android, iOS and Windows, its time to consume it and taste it out! 😉

Let’s try it out!

Here’s we shall begin by consuming it in a XAML page in Xamarin.Forms!

<controls:HybridWebView
	x:Name="webViewElement"
	HorizontalOptions="FillAndExpand"
	VerticalOptions="FillAndExpand" />

github: /XFWebViewInteropDemo/HybridWebViewDemoPage.xaml

And then don’t forget to Subscribe to retrieve the data coming in from javascript inside our WebView using RegisterAction() method we created!

...
    // Subscribe for the data coming in from Javascript
    webViewElement.RegisterAction(DisplayDataFromJavascript);
}

private void DisplayDataFromJavascript(string data)
{
    Device.InvokeOnMainThreadAsync(() =>
    {
        ...
        // Do whatever you want with the data
        ...
    });
}
...

github: /XFWebViewInteropDemo/HybridWebViewDemoPage.xaml.cs

I’m just going to use the Main UI Thread’s help to execute any UI related stuff. And here’s a little demo HTML that I’m setting up in our Hyrbid WebView.

webViewElement.Source = new HtmlWebViewSource()
{
    Html =
        $@"<html>" +
        "<head>" +
            ...
            "<script type=\"text/javascript\">" +
                "function invokexamarinforms(){" +
                "    try{" +
                "        var inputvalue = 
document.getElementById(\"textInputElement\").value;" +
                "        invokeCSharpAction(inputvalue + '. This is from Javascript in the WebView!');" +
                "    }" +
                "    catch(err){" +
                "        alert(err);" +
                "    }" +
                "}" +
            "</script>" +
            ...
        "</head>" +

        "<body>" +
            "<div>" +
                "<input type=\"text\" id=\"textInputElement\" placeholder=\"type something here...\">" +
                "<button type=\"button\" onclick=\"invokexamarinforms()\">Send to Xamarin.Forms</button>" +
            "</div>" +
        "</body>" +

        "</html>"
};

github: /XFWebViewInteropDemo/HybridWebViewDemoPage.xaml.cs

As you can see I have a javascript function, invokexamarinforms() that will get invoked from a button call in the body. Once this method executes, it calls on the invokeCSharpAction() method that we defined in our Hybrid WebViews Native renderers.

In my javascript snippet I’m surrounding this call with a try catch in order to make sure the Native Renderer is properly implemented or not. Making sure this method is properly executes is a crucial step during debug if you run into any issues.

So let’s try out that sample code bits in action!

Time for some action! 😉

Hit that F5 yo! (well.. if you’re in Visual Studio! lol)

Side by side iOS, Android and UWP working like charm! 😉

As you can see in my simple Xamarin.Forms demo, I am demonstrating a simple C# .NET to Javascript call with data and Javascript to C# .NET call with data, a true bi-directional communication bridge!

Here we are typing some text in the Xamarin.Forms Entry element and sending it into the HTML inside the WebView. And then typing some text in the HTML Text Input element inside the WebView and click on HTML Button, and sending it to the Xamarin.Forms Label to be displayed, works like a charm!

I have shared the demo app code in my github as usual: github.com/XFWebViewInteropDemo

A little chat conversation between Javascript to C# and vise-versa! 😉

Yeah just a fun little demo I have added to the same repo in github! 😀

Extra tips!

Yep it’s that time, for some extra tips based on my experience with Xamarin.Forms Hybrid WebView! Although the extra tips that I already discussed in my previous article Talking to your WebView in Xamarin.Forms! still applies for this as well since we’re still extending from default Xamarin.Forms WebView, but apart from that…

Web Source, Embedded, Code HTML!? all same!

Doesn’t matter whatever the source of the HTML you’re setting in the Hybrid WebView, be it a web source directly from a URL, or loading an embedded HTML File, or even a code generated dynamic HTML content, it doesn’t make a difference.

The only thing that matters is the invokeCSharpAction() in your rendered HTML, so that the native renderers can pick it up and forward the execution to Xamarin.Forms .NET handlers!

Yes! extra parameters!

Even though I’m showcasing only a single parameter during this demo article, from javascript to C# .NET run time, you can easily extend this same implementation to pass any number of parameters as you wish! As I explained in the article make sure to define it in the following bits,

HybridWebView.InvokeAction(string data1, string data2)

Something to keep in mind is that you can only pass a single parameter into the invokeCSharpAction(data).  So in your javascript make sure to merge all the parameters into a single value and have a pipe delimiter (ex: |) like separator for them (ex: data1|data2) that you’re before to the invokeCSharpAction(data) method, which you will break it up on arrival in the native renderer and pass them up to the InvokeAction(data1, data2).

var dataBody = data;
var dataArray = dataBody.Split("|");
var data1 = dataArray[0];
var data2 = dataArray[1];

((HybridWebView)Element).InvokeAction(data1, data2);

Finally wire it all up, you’re good to go! 😉 I might share another article with some cool implementation with this in near future! 😀

Conclusion

You can easily build a communication bridge from C# .NET to javascript environment in Xamarin.Forms WebView! but the other way is not really possible out of the box!

That’s why we’re implementing this Hybrid WebView Control which allows us build a communication bridge from javascript to C# .NET environment directly during run time! 😉

So this concludes my bi-directional communication tunnel with HTML/Javascript inside your WebView in Xamarin.Forms yo!

Well that’s pretty much it!

Share the love! Cheers! 😀

Talking to your WebView in Xamarin.Forms!

Let’s build a communication bridge into your Xamarin.Forms WebView, and talk to it!? 😉 lol Yes let me show you how to pass data into the Web page rendered inside your Xamarin.Forms WebView!

I’m talking about building a uni-directional communication with Javascript inside your WebView in Xamarin.Forms yo! 😀 get your game face on!

WebView in Xamarin.Forms..

Xamarin.Forms provides a neat WebView that could render any Web HTML content efficiently similar to a browser inside your own Xamarin.Forms App.

Earlier there used to be a lots of issues that needed to be dealt with when to comes to rendering HTML content alongside Javascript inside the WebView, but with the recent update it has gotten far better with lots of features and facilities straight out of the box to be used! 😀

Invoking Javascript in the WebView!

Using the WebView straight out of the box, we can execute Javascript methods rendered inside the HTML content. Now I know this used to require a lot hacks and tricks, along side dealing with lot of run time exceptions.

But in the most recent updates of Xamarin.Forms, the WebView has gotten rock solid, and now even provides a dedicated method, EvaluateJavaScriptAsync() to invoking Javascript methods straight out of the box.

WebView.EvaluateJavaScriptAsync(String)

 

So now you can execute Javascript methods along with data parameters from you C# code in Xamarin.Forms using the default WebView control. EvaluateJavaScriptAsync() is an async method that lets you execute javascript and even await the call to response from the invoke as well.

var result = await webView
        .EvaluateJavaScriptAsync
            ("javascriptmethod('Hello world!')");

 

All you need to do is call the javascript method you’re targeting to invoke with or without the parameters you prefer using EvaluateJavaScriptAsync() in an asynchronous manner allowing you to await for a result back from the javascript into the .NET environment itself! Yep its that simple to talk to the HTML content in your WebView now! 😀

Let’s give it a try and establish a uni-directional communication with our WebView! 😉

Let the coding begin!

Here I have prepared a small demo where I’m loading some HTML content, along with a nice little javascript bits, into my WebView using HtmlWebViewSource as follows…

webViewElement.Source = new HtmlWebViewSource()
{
    Html =
        $@"<html>" +
        "<head>" +
            ...
            "<script type=\"text/javascript\">" +
                "function updatetextonwebview(text) {" +
                "    document.getElementById
                     (\"textElement\").innerHTML = text;" +
                "}" +
            "</script>" +
            ...
        "</head>" +

        "<body>" +
        ...
        ...
        "</body>" +

        "</html>"
};

Full code on github: /XFWebViewInteropDemo/DefaultWebViewDemoPage.xaml.cs

So here in my HTML content, I have a simple Javascript method, updatetextonwebview(text) where it takes in a value and set it to an HTML text element in the body. Pretty simple and straight forward.

string result = await webViewElement
        .EvaluateJavaScriptAsync
           ($"updatetextonwebview('{textEntryElement.Text}')");

 

And then I take a Text value from an Entry Element and pass it into the updatetextonwebview() javascript method using EvaluateJavaScriptAsync() of WebView.

Alright, let’s try it out!

Hit F5!

Well if you’re on Visual Studio, just hit F5 and watch the magic!

Side by side iOS, Android and UWP with Xamarin.Forms right out of the box! 😉

As you can see in my simple Xamarin.Forms demo, I have an Entry element which I type some text into and then I click on the Button which then going to pass that text data into the WebView’s javascript method. Then inside the javascript, it takes in the data and set it to a text label in the HTML body.

I have shared the demo app code in my github as usual: github.com/XFWebViewInteropDemo

No hacks, no work arounds, no custom renders, just straight out of the box in Xamarin.Forms! Works like a charm! 😉

Extra tips!

Yep it’s that time, for some extra tips based on my experience with Xamarin.Forms WebView!

-Track invoking of Javascript

Using WebView.EvaluateJavaScriptRequested event you can track the javascript invoke calls injecting into the WebView from your .NET code, basically an monitoring mechanism of all your javascript invokes from C# which will allow you to validate them or add extra details as you prefer on demand.

-Track Navigation inside the WebView

WebView provides a whole list of events to track the navigation now, along side back and forward navigation, redirects, and even refresh events.

WebView.Navigating

This event Triggers upon the beginning of the Navigation, allowing you to cancel it on demand. This event provides a WebNavigatingEventArgs object which provides you all the details about the navigation that is about to occur, direction, url endpoint and so on.

This also provides WebNavigatingEventArgs.Cancel property which allows you to cancel that navigation on demand. So yeah a lot of cool bits you can do with it!

WebView.Navigated

This event Triggers after a Navigation completes, providing you with the same details similar to Navigating event. In addition it gives WebNavigatedEventArgs.Result property which tells you whether the navigation was success or failure.

WebView.GoBackRequested | GoForwardRequested | ReloadRequested

Now these are some simplified events thats provided by WebView, allowing you to directly hook into GoBack, GoForward and Reload events when they occur. Although they do not provide facility to cancel those events like how we get in Navigating event. Just a quick easy way to monitor those events as they occur.

-Think Creative!

Most developers miss this point, if you can send a simple text string, then you can pass anything into the WebView’s javascript. Well… in disguise of a string of course!

• Get device native data
• Location GPS data
• Proximity data
• Internet Connectivity data
• Captured File/Image data

Those are few examples, yes even an Image captured from the device camera can easily be sent as a byte array converted into a base64 string!  Imagination is the limit yo! 😉

Conclusion

Xamarin.Forms WebView has come a long way since the early days, into a complete mature sandbox environment to render any HTML Web Content inside your Xamarin.Forms app. And it provides lots of features to communicate, pass data back and forth, and even monitor and control the navigation happens inside itself.

This article basically focuses on uni-directional execution from C# .NET code to Javascript environment, while you can still await for the results from the javascript.

But there is no direct execution from Javascript environment to C# .NET yeah? So in my next article I’ll share how to build a bi-directional execution from C# .NET code to Javascript environment with Xamarin.Forms WebView. 😉

Well that’s pretty much it!

Share the love! Cheers! 😀

Alright, let’s make a Transparent Xamarin Forms Webview!

Have you ever wanted to add a WebView to your Xamarin Forms app and make it’s background transparent ? Let’s say you need to display some custom Text Label’s or some custom control with loads of customization to it’s content or sub controls ?
Whereas your first solution would be to go for a WebView control, but you need to make that WebView Transparent to match the background color of the page ? If you had gone through or going through such requirements, then this article is for you.

WebView for Fancy Stuff…

We all know WebView is usually used for displaying Web Content right ? but then also we could use it to display complicated customized text or content, but then there is one problem, matching the Page background to the WebView control, because it’s impossible to set the background transparent of the WebView in Xamarin Forms.

Solution ?

Yeah you guess right! Custom Renderers for the RESCUE! WOOT!

So here is how I implemented my Transparent WebView with life-saving Custom Renderers in Xamarin Forms.

PCL implementation

So as usual we need to sub-class the default Xamarin Forms WebView control with our Transparent WebView control as follows.

namespace TransparentWebViewXamForms
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Subclassing our Transparent WebView from 
    /// the default Xamarin Forms WebView control
    /// </summary>
    public class TransparentWebView : WebView
    {

    }
}

 

Android implementation

So as of our Android implementation we need to access the native control counterpart for the Xamarin Forms WebView using the WebViewRenderer.

[assembly: ExportRenderer(typeof(TransparentWebView), typeof(TransparentWebViewRenderer))]
namespace TransparentWebViewXF.Droid
{
    public class TransparentWebViewRenderer : WebViewRenderer
    {
        protected override void OnElementChanged(ElementChangedEventArgs<WebView> e)
        {
            base.OnElementChanged(e);

            // Setting the background as transparent
            this.Control.SetBackgroundColor(Android.Graphics.Color.Transparent);
        }
    }
}

 

We access the Control property which holds the native Android WebView control which deals with the Xamarin Forms WebView. As you can see above we set the Control Background color to Transparent through SetBackgroundColor() method. BOOM! You are good to go with Android!

iOS implementation

Now let’s dive into iOS, well its the same as Android, the trick is to set the Control’s background color to Transparent.

[assembly: ExportRenderer(typeof(TransparentWebView), typeof(TransparentWebViewRenderer))]
namespace TransparentWebViewXF.iOS
{
    public class TransparentWebViewRenderer : WebViewRenderer
    {
        protected override void OnElementChanged(VisualElementChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            base.OnElementChanged(e);
			
	    // Setting the background as transparent
            this.Opaque = false;
            this.BackgroundColor = Color.Transparent.ToUIColor();
        }
    }
}

 

But also we need to set the Opaque property to false as show above, otherwise the control wouldn’t render as transparent. Then as usual we set the BackgroundColor property.

So let’s try it out!

Too lazy to try it out ? 😛 No worry, I would probably be bored to try it out unless I actually need to. haha.

So here goes the sample implementation, if you have implemented the above properly, then use the below test code and run your app!

You can see below, I’m setting the Page’s background color to Red and the StackLayout’s background color to Yellow. Now the WebView should be rendered as Transparent and the Yellow background should be visible. 🙂

MainPage = new ContentPage
{
	BackgroundColor = Color.Red,

	Content = new StackLayout
	{
		BackgroundColor = Color.Yellow,
		VerticalOptions = LayoutOptions.CenterAndExpand,
		Children = {
			new Label {
				XAlign = TextAlignment.Center,
				TextColor = Color.Red,
				FontSize = 20,
				Text = "Welcome to Xamarin Forms!"
			},

			new TransparentWebView() { 
				Source = new HtmlWebViewSource()
				{
					Html = @"<html><body>
						<center>
						<h1>Awesome Transparent WebView!</h1>
						<p>by ÇøŋfuzëÐ SøurcëÇødë</p>
						<br> call us : <a href='tel:+6576216231'>1-847-555-5555</a>
						<br> email us : <a href='mailto:webmaster@example.com'>blah@blah.com</a>
						<br> visit us : <a href='http://www.awesome.com'>Awesome.com</a>
						</center>
						</body></html>",
				},
				HeightRequest = 400
			},

			new Label {
				XAlign = TextAlignment.Center,
				TextColor = Color.Red,
				FontSize = 20,
				Text = "And that's the end of it! Have fun!"
			},
		}
	}
};

 

BOOM! THERE YOU GO! 😀

Alright! Now go crazy with it fellas!

Stay Awesome! 😉