How to open Excel, .doc files in Webview in Android?

Question

How can I open Excel and .doc file in Android webview. Can google doc support it?

Answer 1

Yes Google doc support you to show doc or excel , pdf, txt or other formate.

WebView urlWebView = (WebView)findViewById(R.id.containWebView);
urlWebView.setWebViewClient(new AppWebViewClients());
urlWebView.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
urlWebView.getSettings().setUseWideViewPort(true);
urlWebView.loadUrl("http://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url="
                + "YOUR_DOC_URL_HERE"); 

public class AppWebViewClients extends WebViewClient {



    @Override
    public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, String url) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        view.loadUrl(url);
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public void onPageFinished(WebView view, String url) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        super.onPageFinished(view, url);

    }
}

Answer 2

If you want to open document file from Internal Storage like file:///data/user/0/com.sample.example/files/documents/sample.docx then you can not use

urlWebView.loadUrl("http://docs.google.com/gview?embedded=true&url="+"YOUR_DOC_URL_HERE");

You have to open docx file from external app like google docs, MS Word etc., For that you can use FileProvider

---

Add <provider> in AndroidManifest.xml file.

<application>
 <provider
   android:name="androidx.core.content.FileProvider"
   android:authorities="com.sample.example.provider" // you have to provide your package name here add add .provider after your package name
   android:exported="false"
   android:grantUriPermissions="true">
   <meta-data
      android:name="android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS"
      android:resource="@xml/file_paths" />
 </provider>
</application>

---

Add res/xml/file_paths.xml file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<paths>
  <root-path name="root" path="." />
</paths>

---

Finally Add code for opening docx file in MainActivity.java file

StrictMode.VmPolicy.Builder builder = new StrictMode.VmPolicy.Builder();
StrictMode.setVmPolicy(builder.build());
builder.detectFileUriExposure();

Uri docUri = FileProvider.getUriForFile(getApplicationContext(), 
  "com.sample.example.provider", 
  new File("/data/user/0/com.sample.example/files/documents/sample.docx")); // same as defined in Manifest file in android:authorities="com.sample.example.provider"
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setDataAndType(docUri, "application/msword");
try{
   intent.setFlags(FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION | FLAG_GRANT_WRITE_URI_PERMISSION);
   Intent chooser = Intent.createChooser(intent,"Open With..");
   startActivity(chooser);
} catch (ActivityNotFoundException e) {
   //user does not have a pdf viewer installed
   Log.d(LOG_TAG, "shouldOverrideUrlLoading: " + e.getLocalizedMessage());
   Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "No application to open file", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}