Is it possible to use Javascript to close Android Browser?

Question

I want to put a \"close\" button in a web page (our client wants to do that)
and when I click this button, I want to close Browser (not the current tab but \"browser\" in An

Answer 1

This is not possible, and never will be.

Answer 2

Nope - and that's a Good Thing: the webpage has no business messing with the browser itself ("wait, where did my window go? I had like 30 tabs in there - poof, gone!"), not to mention a glaring vulnerability:

1. insert an XSS into legitpage.example.com
2. when it gets activated, open a pop-under window of evilpage.example.net, which looks just like legitpage.example.com
3. close legitpage.example.com (if 2&3 are fast enough, the user may be fooled that xe's still on legitpage.example.com)
4. ???
5. Profit!

Answer 3

Android browser allows JavaScript to close only popup windows. Hence there is no way to close window, unless it has been created as a popup window.

Answer 4

window.close() actually works for Web Apps that were added to the home screen (with Chrome Beta).

It cleanly closes the app and gets back to the home screen.

Answer 5

Well, a simple work-around for this would be to create an activity with full screen WebView control, display your HTML contents (local or from the Internet) there, and add a button to close this window, with a callback to Java to close this activity. Here is all the code you would need:

browser.xml layout file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
          android:orientation="vertical"
          android:layout_width="fill_parent"
          android:layout_height="fill_parent"
          android:background="#404040"
          android:id="@+id/mainLayout"
    >
    <WebView android:id="@+id/webkit"
         android:layout_width="fill_parent"
         android:layout_height="fill_parent"
         android:layout_marginBottom="2dp"
         android:layout_weight="1"
         android:scrollbars="vertical"
         android:visibility="visible"
        />

</LinearLayout>

myBrowser.java activity (remember to declare it also in AndroidManifest.xml):

public class myBrowser extends Activity {
    protected WebView webView;

    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        // if you don't want app title bar...
        requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE);
        setContentView(R.layout.browser);
        webView = (WebView) findViewById(R.id.webkit);
        WebSettings webSettings = webView.getSettings();
        webSettings.setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
        webView.addJavascriptInterface(new MyJavaCallback(), "JCB");

        // get the URL to navigate to, sent in Intent extra
        Intent intent = getIntent();
        if (intent != null) {
            String sUrl = intent.getStringExtra("url");
            if (sUrl != null)
                webView.loadUrl(sUrl);
        }
    }

    final public class MyJavaCallback {
        // this annotation is required in Jelly Bean and later:
        @JavascriptInterface
        public void finishActivity() {
            finish();
        }
    }
}

The code to start this activity elsewhere in your app would be:

    Intent intent = new Intent(context, myBrowser.class);
    intent.putExtra("url", "http://www.someaddress.com/somepage.html");
    startActivity(intent);

and your somepage.html web page could have a "Close" button with the following code:

<button onclick="JCB.finishActivity()">Close</button>

You may add as well other buttons and callbacks for them to do what's needed in your Android Java code. Calls the other way - from Java to JavaScript on the page, are also possible, e.g.:

webView.loadUrl("javascript:functionName(params)");

Also, if you want to display content from Internet, not a local file or string in your WebView control, remember to add to AndroidManifest.xml the necessary permission:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

Greg