Android - Use WebView to evaluate a javascript string and return the value

android webview android-scripting
Tawani picture Tawani · Dec 1, 2009 · Viewed 11.3k times · Source

Given that scripting is not natively supported in Android and wrapping libraries like javax.script.ScriptEngine into your app will make it too large, is it possible to send a javascript string to an invisible WebView and have it evaluate the string and return you the results (another string)?

I want to go this route because I want to save all my scripts to disk so my app can remain small.

Edit

I need Java code to evaluate javascript strings not the other way around. addJavascriptInterface() doesn't help.

Answer

CommonsWare picture CommonsWare · Dec 1, 2009

Can it be done? Yes, via addJavascriptInterface() and sending the browser a javascript: URL, akin to a bookmarklet.

A far simpler answer, one that will use much less memory and will execute much faster, is to not use Javascript.

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