WebView specs not honored. Showing address bar

Issue

WebView "does not include any features of a fully developed web browser, such as navigation controls or an address bar"

But when I use this code:

WebView webview = new WebView(); 
webview.loadUrl( "http://example.com");

It includes an address bar.

I am also curious to why there are posts all over the internet about how to hide the address bar in a WebView, when it seems to me that by default the WebView activity does hide the address bar.

Solution

Please see The method shouldOverrideUrlLoading method Definition:

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/webkit/WebViewClient.html#shouldOverrideUrlLoading%28android.webkit.WebView,%20java.lang.String%29

This clearly explains, that If WebViewClient is not provided, by default WebView will ask Activity Manager to choose the proper handler for the url, and that is browser.

Answered By - jeet