Android WebView: Handle arrow keys in JavaScript

Question

I have a simple WebView application which I want to control with the keyboard. Is it possible to catch arrow keys in Javascript?

I have tried the following code without any luck:

function handleArrowKeys(evt) {
    console.info('key');                                                                                         
}

document.onkeyup = handleArrowKeys;
document.onkedown = handleArrowKeys;
document.onkepress = handleArrowKeys;

Javascript is enabled in the webview

WebSettings webSettings = webview.getSettings();
webSettings.setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
webSettings.setDomStorageEnabled(true);

Yes and I do get key events from normal keys but no events from the arrow keys. The WebView does not trigger those. — bara
– bara, Commented Apr 17, 2012 at 10:16
I have found shouldOverrideKeyEvent the WebViewClient. I think this is going to the right direction — bara
– bara, Commented Apr 17, 2012 at 10:58
OK, cool. onkeypress will never trigger for arrow keys, incidentally. You have to use down/up for special keys. — Lee Kowalkowski
– Lee Kowalkowski, Commented Apr 17, 2012 at 15:14

Nightfirecat · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-06 08:12:02Z

4

You should overwrite the onKeyDown method of WebView. See: http://blog.csdn.net/focusxi/article/details/6780965

@Override 
public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent event){
    int valKey = 0;
    System.out.println("Web KEY:"); 
    System.out.println(keyCode);    

    switch(keyCode){
        //UP
        case 50:
        case 19:
            valKey = 19;
            break;
        //DOWN
        case 83:
        case 20:
            valKey = 20;        
            break;
        //LEFT
        case 81:
        case 21:
            valKey = 21;
            break;
        //RIGHT
        case 69:
        case 22:
            valKey = 22;    
            break;
    }

    if (valKey!=0)
    {
        //new KeyEvent(KeyEvent.ACTION_DOWN,KeyEvent.KEYCODE_SHIFT_LEFT);
        KeyEvent event1 = new KeyEvent(KeyEvent.ACTION_DOWN, valKey);

        System.out.println(event1.getKeyCode());    

        return super.onKeyDown(38, event1);
    }
    else
    {
        return super.onKeyDown(keyCode, event);
    }

}
}

edited Aug 6, 2012 at 8:12

Nightfirecat

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answered Aug 6, 2012 at 7:19

Dynamic Content

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2 Comments

ncubica Over a year ago

You have to write in javascript document.onkeydown = function(event){ //do something }; For me I couldnt use jquery $(document).on("keydown"). to be able to listen this on javascript thanks this actually works

Alex Over a year ago

crashes when an <input> field has focus.

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