Android Smart WebView 7.0 🎉 (Major Release)

[mgks]

Smart WebView v7.0 empowers developers to build even more dynamic and feature-rich hybrid applications. This release focuses on extensibility with a new plugin architecture, alongside improvements to core functionalities. Users will benefit from enhanced performance, streamlined file handling, and other capabilities. The update reflects a commitment to providing a versatile and efficient platform for app development.

Changelog

Major Features and Enhancements:

• Plugin Architecture:
  • Introduced a new, self-contained plugin architecture enabling developers to extend Smart WebView's functionality without modifying core files.
  • Plugins can register themselves and handle their own lifecycles, permissions, and activity results.
• File Uploads and Camera Access:
  • Refactored file upload and camera access logic into a dedicated FileProcessing class for improved code organization.
  • Dynamically handles file MIME types based on HTML input accept attributes.
  • Enhanced error handling and user feedback during file selection and camera operations.
• Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM):
  • Updated FCM implementation to use the latest Firebase SDK.
  • Resolved issues with token retrieval and onNewToken() not being called.
• Google Analytics (gtag.js):
  • Dynamically injects the gtag.js script after page load to prevent interference with page loading and improve performance.
• Permissions:
  • Refactored permission handling to request permissions on demand only when needed.
  • Added support for granular media permissions and the POST_NOTIFICATIONS permission for Android 13 and above.
  • Implemented rationale dialogs for explaining permission requests to the user.
• Security:
  • Enforced HTTPS by default and optional to disable certificate verification with alert toast in debug mode.
  • Removed the deprecated WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission, relying on Scoped Storage for file access.

Other Improvements and Updates:

• Modernized Codebase:
  • Updated project to target Android 14 (API level 35) and use the latest AndroidX libraries.
  • Adopted Java 17 source and target compatibility.
  • Refactored code for better modularity, readability, and maintainability.
• Dependency Management:
  • Updated all dependencies to their latest versions.
  • Removed deprecated Firebase dependencies.
• Bug Fixes:
  • Fixed an issue where the welcome screen would not disappear in certain scenarios.
  • Resolved several issues related to file uploads and camera access.
  • Addressed potential NullPointerExceptions related to context handling in Firebase.
• Code Cleanup:
  • Removed unused code, variables, and functions.
  • Improved comments and documentation.

API Changes:

• PluginInterface: Introduced a new PluginInterface with methods for plugin initialization, event handling, and simplified interaction with the WebView.
• PluginManager: Added a PluginManager class to handle plugin registration, lifecycle events, and communication with plugins.
• FileProcessing: Added a FileProcessing class to encapsulate file upload and camera access logic.
• Functions: Removed several methods related to printing, cookies, orientation, file access, permissions, ratings, FCM, and device info. These are either handled elsewhere or no longer needed.
• SmartWebView: Removed or modified several variables related to configuration, user agent, and permissions, and added variables related to debugging and Google Tag. Also, removed ASWP_OFFLINE logic.
• MainActivity: Refactored to use the PluginManager and FileProcessing classes. Modified onShowFileChooser(), Callback class, shouldOverrideUrlLoading(), onPageFinished(), onRequestPermissionsResult() and onActivityResult(). Removed unused methods and variables related to permissions and other features now handled by plugins or other classes.
• Firebase: Refactored to improve context handling, remove unnecessary constructor, and simplify notification handling logic.

New Files:

• MetaPull.java: Pulls device and SWV release details.
• FileProcessing.java: Handles file upload and camera access.
• PluginManager.java: Manages the plugin architecture.
• PluginInterface.java: Defines the interface for plugins.

Testing:

• Thoroughly test all features on a variety of devices and Android versions (especially API levels 23, 24, 29 and above) to ensure compatibility and proper functionality.

Migration from v6.x:

• Developers who have created custom features (now plugins) for Smart WebView v6.x can update their scripts to plugins to conform to the new PluginInterface and register them using the PluginManager.
• Any code that directly interacted with the removed methods or variables in MainActivity, Functions, or SmartWebView will need to be updated to use the new plugin architecture or the appropriate classes (e.g., FileProcessing and PluginManager).

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This discussion was created from the release Android Smart WebView 7.0 🎉 (Major Release).