It might be essential to launch a browser separately while using an Android application to access a URL. Any action made on Views using Action Listeners has the potential to initiate the task of accessing a URL. In this article, we will learn about How we can Open a URL in Android’s Web Browser from an Android Application.
For this article, we will be using the concept of Intent.
Step by Step Implementation
Step 1: Create a New Project in Android Studio
To create a new project in Android Project just refer to this article on How to Create New Project in Android Studio. The code has been given in both Java and Kotlin Programming Language for Android.
Step 2: Working with the activity_main.xml File
Navigate to the app > res > layout > activity_main.xml and add the below code to that file. Below is the code for the activity_main.xml file.
XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent" tools:context=".MainActivity"> <LinearLayout android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_centerInParent="true" android:id="@+id/layout"> <TextView android:textSize="20dp" android:layout_marginTop="5dp" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_centerInParent="true" android:id="@+id/textview" /> <EditText android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:id="@+id/urltxt" android:textColor="@color/black" android:layout_marginEnd="20dp" android:layout_centerInParent="true" android:alpha="0.7" android:textSize="20dp" android:padding="10dp" /> </LinearLayout> <Button android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="submit" android:layout_below="@+id/layout" android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" android:layout_marginTop="10dp" android:id="@+id/gotoURL" /></RelativeLayout> |
Step 3: Working with MainActivity File
Navigate to app > java > your app’s package name > MainActivity File (Java or Kotlin) and add the below code to it. Comments are added in the code to get to know in detail.
Kotlin
import android.content.Intentimport android.net.Uriimport android.os.Bundleimport android.widget.Buttonimport android.widget.EditTextimport android.widget.TextViewimport androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivityclass MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() { private lateinit var editText: EditText private lateinit var button: Button private lateinit var textView: TextView override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState) title = "neveropen" setContentView(R.layout.activity_main) editText = findViewById(R.id.urltxt) button = findViewById(R.id.gotoURL) textView = findViewById(R.id.txtview) button.setOnClickListener { val url = editText.text.toString() val urlIntent = Intent( Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(textView.text.toString() + url) ) startActivity(urlIntent) } }} |
Java
import android.content.Intent;import android.net.Uri;import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;import android.os.Bundle;import android.widget.Button;import android.widget.EditText;import android.widget.TextView;public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity { EditText editText; Button button; TextView textView; @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setTitle("neveropen"); setContentView(R.layout.activity_main); editText = findViewById(R.id.urltxt); button = findViewById(R.id.gotoURL); textView = findViewById(R.id.txtview); button.setOnClickListener(view -> { String url = editText.getText().toString(); Intent urlIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(textView.getText().toString() + url)); startActivity(urlIntent); }); }} |
We will predefine the URL part “https://www” with underlined so that it can look like actual EditText.
Output:
