Android Webview Anchor Link (Jump link) not working

It looks like the problem is that I had a WebView within a ScrollView. The WebView isn't able to scroll to an anchor link when configured like this. After refactoring my layout to eliminate the ScrollView, the anchor links work correctly.


My Solution is , Check this Answer

public class MainActivity extends Activity { 
    WebView myWebView; 
    public static boolean flag = false; 
    @Override 
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { 
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); 
        myWebView = new WebView(this); 
        myWebView.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true); 
        myWebView.loadUrl("file:///android_asset/chapters.html"); 
        setContentView(myWebView); 
        myWebView.setWebViewClient(new WebViewClient() { 
            public void onPageFinished(WebView view, String url) { 
                if (url.contains("#") && flag == false) { 
                    myWebView.loadUrl(url); 
                    flag = true; 
                } else { 
                    flag = false; 
                } 
            } 

        }); 
    } 
} 

Android Webview Anchor Link (Jump link) Not Working

True, WebView Anchor Links, or Jump Links initiated through the #LINK extension to the URL will not work when the WebView is inside of a ScrollView(*).

Still, the problem for me and apparently others is that the #LINK does work when launched from a touch in an href, but is ignored when launched via the URL. Other symptoms include navigating to the link only on the first time in a session or navigating to the bottom of the html file.

The Solution is to load the url after a short delay.

Here is an example:

My html is saved in assets: res/assets/help.html

With anchors like this:

<a name="helplinkcontacts"/>

And loaded like this:

final String baseUrl = "file:///android_asset/help.html#helplinkcontacts";
final WebView helpTextView = (WebView)findViewById(R.id.help_dialog_text);
helpTextView.loadUrl(baseUrl); // Ignores Anchor!!

I added the timer like this:

final String baseUrl = "file:///android_asset/help.html#helplinkcontacts";
final WebView helpTextView = (WebView)findViewById(R.id.help_dialog_text);
Timer timer = new Timer();
timer.schedule(new TimerTask() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        helpTextView.loadUrl(baseUrl);
    }
}, 400);

Note: Shorter delays, such as 100ms failed to navigate to the link.

(*) It turns out that so many of us have our WebViews inside of ScrollViews because we started out with a TextView rendering Spannable text which both supports some HTML and requires a ScrollView. Anyways, remove the ScrollView as soon as you convert your TextView into a WebView.