Android WebView Tab Browsing with Cookies

Question

My app has a 3-tabbed ActionBar layout. The 3 tabs are Dashboard , Feed and Messages .

When you click any of the three, the application is supposed to create a WebView of www.flyalaskava.org/incog/mobile/ which - if you do not have an active session for - will display an image and a "log-in with facebook" button.

The problem is, when I load the first tab ( Dashboard ) and cliek Log-In with Facebook, it logs me in - but as soon as I click onto another tab, I lose my session and am re-prompted.

Please keep in mind that currently all of these are using the same php file and that the log-in system works perfectly outside of Android. Sorry if this is a newbie question - any help is appreciated.

package com.example.testing;

import android.app.ActionBar;
import android.app.FragmentTransaction;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity;
import android.support.v4.app.NavUtils;
import android.view.Gravity;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.webkit.WebView;
import android.webkit.WebViewClient;
import android.net.ConnectivityManager;
import android.net.NetworkInfo;
import android.app.AlertDialog;
import android.app.Dialog;
import android.content.DialogInterface;

import com.handmark.pulltorefresh.library.PullToRefreshWebView;

public class Main extends FragmentActivity implements ActionBar.TabListener {

    PullToRefreshWebView mPullRefreshWebView;
    WebView mWebView;

    /**
     * The serialization (saved instance state) Bundle key representing the
     * current tab position.
     */
    private static final String STATE_SELECTED_NAVIGATION_ITEM = "selected_navigation_item";

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        mPullRefreshWebView = (PullToRefreshWebView) findViewById(R.id.pull_refresh_webview);
        mWebView = mPullRefreshWebView.getRefreshableView();

        mWebView.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
        mWebView.setWebViewClient(new SampleWebViewClient());
        mWebView.loadUrl("http://www.google.com");

        // Set up the action bar to show tabs.
        final ActionBar actionBar = getActionBar();
        actionBar.setNavigationMode(ActionBar.NAVIGATION_MODE_TABS);

        // For each of the sections in the app, add a tab to the action bar.
        actionBar.addTab(actionBar.newTab().setText(R.string.title_section1)
            .setTabListener(this));
        actionBar.addTab(actionBar.newTab().setText(R.string.title_section2)
            .setTabListener(this));
        actionBar.addTab(actionBar.newTab().setText(R.string.title_section3)
            .setTabListener(this));
    }

    private static class SampleWebViewClient extends WebViewClient {
        @Override
        public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, String url) {
            view.loadUrl(url);
            return true;
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onRestoreInstanceState(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        // Restore the previously serialized current tab position.
        if (savedInstanceState.containsKey(STATE_SELECTED_NAVIGATION_ITEM)) {
            getActionBar().setSelectedNavigationItem(
                savedInstanceState.getInt(STATE_SELECTED_NAVIGATION_ITEM)
            );
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState) {
        // Serialize the current tab position.
        outState.putInt(STATE_SELECTED_NAVIGATION_ITEM, getActionBar()
            .getSelectedNavigationIndex());
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.activity_main, menu);
        return true;
    }

    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        switch (item.getItemId()) {
            case R.id.menu_settings:
                displayAlert();
                break;
            case R.id.menu_exit:
                displayExit();
                break;
            default:; 
        }
        return(super.onOptionsItemSelected(item));
    }

    public  void displayAlert() {
        new AlertDialog.Builder(this)
            .setMessage("This Application was created by Grant Adkins")
            .setTitle("About")  
            .setCancelable(false)  
            .setNeutralButton(android.R.string.ok,  
                new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {  
                    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int whichButton){
                        dialog.cancel();
                    }  
                }
            )  
            .show(); 
    }

    public  void displayExit() {
        new AlertDialog.Builder(this).setMessage("Exit the application")  
            .setTitle("Are you sure?")  
            .setCancelable(false)  
            .setNeutralButton(android.R.string.no,  
                new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {  
                    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int whichButton){
                        dialog.cancel();
                    }  
                }).setPositiveButton(android.R.string.yes,  
                    new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {  
                        public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int whichButton){
                            finish();
                        }  
                    }
                ) 
            .show(); 
    }
    public boolean isOnline() {
        ConnectivityManager cm = 
            (ConnectivityManager) getSystemService(CONNECTIVITY_SERVICE);
        NetworkInfo netInfo = cm.getActiveNetworkInfo();
        if (netInfo != null && netInfo.isConnectedOrConnecting()) {
            return true;
        }
        String summary = "<html><body>No Network Connection.</body></html>";
        mWebView.loadData(summary, "text/html", null);
        return false;
    }

    @Override
    public void onTabSelected(ActionBar.Tab tab, FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction) {
        // When the given tab is selected, show the tab contents in the
        // container view
        int page = tab.getPosition() + 1;
        if(page == 1) {
            /// eventually is going to load index.php?content=dashboard
            mWebView.loadUrl("http://www.flyalaskava.org/incog/mobile/");
            isOnline();
        } else if (page == 2) {
            /// eventually is going to load index.php?content=messages
            mWebView.loadUrl("http://www.flyalaskava.org/incog/mobile/");
            isOnline();
        } else if (page == 3) {
            /// eventually is going to load index.php?content=feed
            mWebView.loadUrl("http://www.flyalaskava.org/incog/mobile/");
            isOnline();
        } else {
            mWebView.loadUrl("http://www.google.com");
            isOnline();
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onTabUnselected(ActionBar.Tab tab, FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction) {
    }

    @Override
    public void onTabReselected(ActionBar.Tab tab, FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction) {
    }

    /**
     * A dummy fragment representing a section of the app, but that simply
     * displays dummy text.
     */
    public static class DummySectionFragment extends Fragment {
        /**
         * The fragment argument representing the section number for this
         * fragment.
         */
        public static final String ARG_SECTION_NUMBER = "section_number";

        public DummySectionFragment() {
        }

        @Override
        public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
            // Create a new TextView and set its text to the fragment's section
            // number argument value.
            TextView textView = new TextView(getActivity());
            textView.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER);
            textView.setText(
                Integer.toString(getArguments().getInt(ARG_SECTION_NUMBER))
            );

            return textView;
        }
    }
}`

*\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\UPDATE\\\\\\\\\\\\*

I found this article which seems to be a similar problem, maybe because im using mWebView.loadUrl("http://www.flyalaskava.org/incog/mobile/"); it is acting like a new browser, is there any way to change urls without using that method.

Here is a picture of the problem.

Answer 1

Consider using a Service instead of cookies. A Service will allow you to maintain a connection to your server in the background of your application. Services are easily referenced once created (read about Services and Intents). The Service would then act as your session to your server.

Answer 2

Add the following lines after having created your WebView :

CookieSyncManager.createInstance(mWebView.getContext()).sync();
CookieManager.getInstance().acceptCookie();