How to clear WebView content?

Question

I have a WebView in my app with wrap_content width and height

Before I use webview.loadData, the width and height of the it was 0, after I load a page (or I use webview.loadData) , it'll display a web page.

My question is , how can I clear the webview to recover it back to the original state, just as before it loadData?

possible duplication, http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8939530/how-do-i-clear-previous-webviews-content-before-loading-the-next-webview/25452749#25452749 — E_X, Aug 22 '14 at 17:46

score 88 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 24 '19 at 14:32

88

I found this answer, pretty helpful: How do I clear a WebView's content before loading a page?

It is for Cocoa, but basically just call:

webView.loadUrl("about:blank")

edited Oct 24 '19 at 14:32

Lii

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answered Feb 18 '11 at 20:16

Grantland Chew

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But, by using such approach, this seems to have behaviour, you need to press the back button twice (I think the extra is for blank page), in order to navigate webview previous content. There's a discussion http://stackoverflow.com/a/8939753/72437 but I don't find it works for me. – Cheok Yan Cheng Aug 05 '15 at 02:28
@CheokYanCheng i'm using webView.clearView(). I know, it's deprecated, but this only acceptable solution for me now – Dehimb Mar 15 '16 at 17:42

score 51 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 01 '14 at 20:24

51

The only complete solution is to check for SDK version.

if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < 18) {
   webView.clearView();
} else {
   webView.loadUrl("about:blank");
}

answered Feb 01 '14 at 20:24

sandalone

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this solution helped me byt with `webView.destroyDrawingCache();` now works fine on all versions. Without destroing drawing cache were old content blinks on 4.4.+ androids – Taras Mazepa Oct 02 '14 at 14:58
3

WebView.clearView() is deprecated, use loadUrl('about:blank") instead Source : http://developer.android.com/reference/android/webkit/WebView.html#clearView%28%29 – Hugo Gresse Dec 02 '14 at 09:58
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As @HugoGresse suggests, use `webView.loadUrl("about:blank")` for all SDK versions. `webView.clearView()` often isn't working correctly if Javascript is running, even in SDK versions < 18. – Oliver Hausler Apr 29 '15 at 22:44

score 10 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 25 '13 at 13:48

10

use following statement before loadData:

view.loadUrl("javascript:document.open();document.close();");

edited Feb 25 '13 at 13:48

partlov

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answered Feb 25 '13 at 13:25

Kuldip Bairagi

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the above script is god sent .... the about:blank and then going back getting screwed was really frustrating ... – Aman Satija Sep 16 '15 at 17:38
Much better than about:blank as doesn't create history. Nice trick! – MeatPopsicle Aug 20 '18 at 16:47

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 29 '12 at 06:15

5

WebView.clearView();

This will clear the view from the webview.

answered Nov 29 '12 at 06:15

Sudheesh VS

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Warning : Deprecated. Use WebView.loadUrl("about:blank") to reliably reset the view state and release page resources (including any running JavaScript). – vipsy Mar 05 '14 at 08:30

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 06 '11 at 15:24

1

I used the clearView() method, however I'm now having issues that when I loadData() right after it, it doesn't seem to load the data.

answered Jan 06 '11 at 15:24

Adam

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 11 '16 at 09:53

0

What about loadUrl("about:blank"), and then clearHistory()?

answered Nov 11 '16 at 09:53

HelloWorld

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It was a suggestion for an answer. Confidence is not at 100%. – HelloWorld Nov 13 '16 at 22:28

How to clear WebView content?

6 Answers6

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