bug: WebView Plugins's setServerBasePath doesn't work as expected on Android

[DmitrySkripkin]

Bug Report

Capacitor Version

Latest Dependencies:

  @capacitor/cli: 3.0.0
  @capacitor/core: 3.0.0
  @capacitor/android: 3.0.0
  @capacitor/electron: 3.0.0
  @capacitor/ios: 3.0.0

Installed Dependencies:

  @capacitor/cli 2.4.7
  @capacitor/android 2.4.7
  @capacitor/core 2.4.7
  @capacitor/ios 2.4.7
  @capacitor/electron not installed

Platform(s)

• Android

Current Behavior

When I call Capacitor.Plugins.WebView.getServerBasePath() on Android I get 'public'. But if I call Capacitor.Plugins.WebView.setServerBasePath({ path: 'public' }); I get this error:

2021-05-21 11:22:20.443 4196-4268/com.capacitorexample.app E/Capacitor: Unable to open index.html
    java.io.FileNotFoundException: public/index.html (No such file or directory)
        at java.io.FileInputStream.open0(Native Method)
        at java.io.FileInputStream.open(FileInputStream.java:231)
        at java.io.FileInputStream.<init>(FileInputStream.java:165)
        at com.getcapacitor.AndroidProtocolHandler.openFile(AndroidProtocolHandler.java:73)
        at com.getcapacitor.WebViewLocalServer.handleLocalRequest(WebViewLocalServer.java:246)
        at com.getcapacitor.WebViewLocalServer.shouldInterceptRequest(WebViewLocalServer.java:177)
        at com.getcapacitor.BridgeWebViewClient.shouldInterceptRequest(BridgeWebViewClient.java:18)
        at Xs.a(chromium-Monochrome.aab-stable-443021023:15)
        at org.chromium.android_webview.AwContentsBackgroundThreadClient.shouldInterceptRequestFromNative(chromium-Monochrome.aab-stable-443021023:2)

And Webpage not available page on a device.
So basically:

Capacitor.Plugins.WebView.getServerBasePath().then(data => {
  Capacitor.Plugins.WebView.setServerBasePath({ path: data.path });
});

Will cause the error.

Expected Behavior

WebView Plugin should be able to set base path back to public (www) directory

Code Reproduction

Reproducible with simple app like https://github.com/DmitrySkripkin/capacitor_example or most likely with any Capacitor app. You can start remote debugging and call WebView plugin's method.

Additional Context

iOS works as expected. If there is any workaround to get back to public folder on Android it would be great help.

[DmitrySkripkin]

Anybody?

[lincolnthree]

This is most definitely a 100% reproducible bug. Setting the path back to public causes the on-device capacitor server to 404 every time. (Caveat, this may work the absolute first time it's reset to public, but it never works subsequently -- I think I saw it work exactly once.)

Also looking for a workaround that does not require restarting the entire App.

[akvadrako]

If you look at the code for setServerBasePath() you'll see it uses the basePath field for two things. Depending on isAsset it can either be an asset path or file path. If you use setServerAssetPath("public") is should work correctly.

[lincolnthree]

@akvadrako Does this mean we should also use setServerAssetPath() when setting server path to something non-public?

[akvadrako]

As I understand it, setServerAssetPath() is only for files shipped in the app bundle, so it's relative to an internal directory and only useful to reset to the original files.

[lincolnthree]

Interesting, we got this to work thanks to your feedback. It looks like a combination of the two methods is necessary:

        if(path == "public") {
            this.bridge.setServerAssetPath(path);
        } else {
            this.bridge.setServerBasePath(path);
        }

[jcesarmobile]

Use the new setServerAssetPath
#7153

[ionitron-bot]

Thanks for the issue! This issue is being locked to prevent comments that are not relevant to the original issue. If this is still an issue with the latest version of Capacitor, please create a new issue and ensure the template is fully filled out.