geckoview-quick-start.md

layout	title	nav_order	summary	tags
default	Getting Started with GeckoView	2	How to use GeckoView in your Android app.	GeckoView Gecko mozilla android WebView mobile mozilla-central setup quick start

Building a browser? Check out Android Components, our collection of ready-to-use support libraries!

The following article is a brief guide to embedding GeckoView in an app. For a more in depth tutorial on getting started with GeckoView please read the article we have published on raywenderlich.com.

Table of contents

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1. TOC {:toc}

Configure Gradle

You need to add or edit four stanzas inside your module's build.gradle file.

1. Set the GeckoView version

Like Firefox, GeckoView has three release channels: Stable, Beta, and Nightly. Browse the Maven Repository to see currently available builds.

ext {
    geckoviewChannel = "nightly"
    geckoviewVersion = "70.0.20190712095934"
}

2. Add Mozilla's Maven repository

repositories {
    maven {
        url "https://maven.mozilla.org/maven2/"
    }
}

3. Java 8 required support

As GeckoView uses some Java 8 APIs, it requires these compatibility flags:

compileOptions {
    sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
}

4. Add GeckoView Implementations

dependencies {
    // ...
  implementation "org.mozilla.geckoview:geckoview-${geckoviewChannel}:${geckoviewVersion}"   
}

Add GeckoView to a Layout

Inside a layout .xml file, add the following:

<org.mozilla.geckoview.GeckoView
    android:id="@+id/geckoview"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent" />

Initialize GeckoView in an Activity

1. Import the GeckoView classes inside an Activity:

import org.mozilla.geckoview.GeckoRuntime;
import org.mozilla.geckoview.GeckoSession;
import org.mozilla.geckoview.GeckoView;

2. In that activity's onCreate function, add the following:

GeckoView view = findViewById(R.id.geckoview);
GeckoSession session = new GeckoSession();
GeckoRuntime runtime = GeckoRuntime.create(this);

session.open(runtime);
view.setSession(session);
session.loadUri("about:buildconfig"); // Or any other URL...

You're done!

Your application should now load and display a webpage inside of GeckoView.

To learn more about GeckoView's capabilities, review GeckoView's JavaDoc or the reference application.