Pressing back button exits the app instead of navigating backwards in the WebView

Question

I am working on a WebView android app. I am unable to fix an issue in my app to back navigate. I am using this code and tried all modifications can be made to this.

public class DeviceActivity extends Activity {
    private WebView web;

    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main_layout);

        web = (WebView) findViewById(R.id.webView);
        web.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
        web.getSettings().setJavaScriptCanOpenWindowsAutomatically(false);
        web.getSettings().setPluginsEnabled(false);
        web.getSettings().setSupportMultipleWindows(false);
        web.getSettings().setSupportZoom(false);
        web.setVerticalScrollBarEnabled(false);
        web.setHorizontalScrollBarEnabled(false);

        // Our application's main page will be loaded
        web.loadUrl("file:///android_asset/fbp/index.html");

        web.setWebViewClient(new WebViewClient() {
            @Override
            public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, String url) {
                return false;
            }

            public void onBackPressed() {
                if (web.canGoBack()) {
                    web.goBack();
                } else {
                    // My exit alert code goes here.
                }
            }
        });
    }
}

This doesn't navigate back but instead, it exits the app. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Add this in your Activity code (not in onCreate() or nested anywhere else)

@Override
public void onBackPressed() {
    if (web.copyBackForwardList().getCurrentIndex() > 0) {
        web.goBack();
    }
    else {
        // Your exit alert code, or alternatively line below to finish
        super.onBackPressed(); // finishes activity
    }
}

This will navigate back through the WebView history stack until it is empty and then perform the default action (in this case it finishes the activity).

You should probably also set your WebViewClient to have shouldOverrideUrlLoading return true or you won't load any links.