Headless Chromium using Android Studio as a C++ library. How to build and integrate ?

[srini...@gmail.com]

Hi Team,
Looking for notes to build and integrate Headless Chromium using Android Studio as a C++ library.
I hope its possible. If yes, please share link or wiki.

Thanks,
Srini

[Srini Ananthakrishnan]

I guess I'm looking for Embedder API integration and examples using Android Studio.
Can someone please provide some pointers ? Is this supported ?

Using below link as reference:
https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/lkgr/headless/README.md

[da...@chromium.org]

Hi Srini,

I think you want to follow the example in the headless_shell: https://cs.chromium.org/chromium/src/headless/app/  It's pretty much embedding the headless chrome as a C++ library into a console app.

Not sure what exactly you mean by "using Android Studio" though. I'd guess the answer is "as any other C++ library" maybe? Any specific issues with headless?

Cheers!

[Srini Ananthakrishnan]

Hi da,
Thanks for responding. I wanted to invoke headless lib from my app via JNI. So was thinking to integrate headless as native library...but soon realized dependencies are too much. What is the best way to go about a) try build as ndk pre-built library b) as native library c) any other method ?

Srini

[dvallet (Chromium)]

The target headless_shell_lib should create a library that you can link to (that's what headless_shell and headless_example uses). This library should contain all (chrome) dependencies, so in theory you could invoke it through JNI, I think.

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[Srini Ananthakrishnan]

Thanks. Will give it a try.

[Eric Seckler]

Depending on your use case, and provided you're targeting only Android, a possible alternative option might be to rely on the system's WebView component, e.g. embed it as a hidden view and then use devtools to talk to it. Could be easier (and much more lightweight) than embedding headless into an Android app, since WebView is already present on the device.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/headless-dev/3b1cf90d-84ed-4f33-90e0-d01e4916a35a%40chromium.org.

[Srini Ananthakrishnan]

Nice suggestions..will evaluate that too..

Thanks,

Srini

[Sami Kyostila]

Right, I would also suggest looking into WebView because 1) it is automatically kept up-to-date and 2) Headless Shell hasn't been ported to Android yet.

- Sami

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/headless-dev/CEFFFCBA-277E-4D76-9AB7-72E012ED0529%40gmail.com.

[ryanyo...@gmail.com]

I think Srini meant was, does this work in android applications. I am interested if this software is supported with android myself.

[bes...@gmail.com]

No reply Since 2018 , i am interested , can we use this with android ?

[Sami Kyostila]

We do not support Headless Chromium on Android. Android WebView might be a possible solution however.

- Sami

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[bes...@gmail.com]

Android WebView is a great option but you can not call it when the app in the background. or via background service. once your application goes to the background, or the phone is locked, then your app is paused with all UI.
As you know, Android WebView is a UI Thread.

Base on your experience, how can I use AndroidWEBView form a background service?
I have a website and I want to load one page on WebView, and once the mobile is locked, I need to reload the webView and inject javascript to get DOM results on each 60 sec.

Can we do such a thing in android

[vna...@gmail.com]

I've been at it for weeks, and so far I haven't found a solution.. please help me