Open external browser on tapping on link with target=_blank Xamarin Forms WebView Android

Question

Webpage is getting loaded inside Xamarin forms webview, links with target="_blank" not working on android
<a href="https://www.badgeofownership.com/" target="_blank">badgeofownership.com</a>

I have created custom renderer as per this https://github.com/xamarin/Xamarin.Forms/issues/12917, it solves the issue, however I want all the links with target=_blank opens up external browser instead of within webview.

Please suggest

Answer 1

Hello,​

You have set Control.Settings.SetSupportMultipleWindows(true);, you need to create a WebChromeClient as well, and open the browser in the OnCreateWindow method like following code.

   Control.SetWebChromeClient(new MyWebChormeClient());  
     
   internal class MyWebChormeClient : Android.Webkit.WebChromeClient  
       {  
           public override bool OnCreateWindow(Android.Webkit.WebView view, bool isDialog, bool isUserGesture, Message resultMsg)  
           {  
               HitTestResult TestResult = view.GetHitTestResult();  
               string data = TestResult.Extra;  
               Context context = view.Context;  
               var uri = Android.Net.Uri.Parse(data);  
               Intent browserIntent = new Intent(Intent.ActionView, uri);  
               context.StartActivity(browserIntent);  
     
               return false;  
     
           }  
       }  

Note: I test this <a> in local html. I get the result "file:///android_asset/%60https://www.badgeofownership.com/%60" from string data = TestResult.Extra; line, So I need to Substring with Regex by string startString="%60" and string endString="%60", You need to handle it by your usage environment.

   public string Substring(string text, string start, string end)  
           {  
               Regex regex = new Regex("(?<=(" + start + "))[.\\s\\S]*?(?=(" + end + "))", RegexOptions.Multiline | RegexOptions.Singleline);  
               return regex.Match(text).Value;  
           }  

Best Regards,

Leon Lu

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