A WebView is a
web browser
A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scr ...
that is embedded within an
app. Thus a WebView is a large-scale
software component
A software component is a modular unit of software that encapsulates specific functionality. The desired characteristics of a component are reusability and maintainability.
Value
Components allow software development to assemble software ...
, enabling the use of web content within apps.
In some cases, the entire functionality of the app is implemented this way.
The prominent ones are bundled in
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...
s:
*
Android System WebView, based on
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, an ...
*
Apple
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
's WebView for its devices, based on its
Safari
A safari (; originally ) is an overland journey to observe wildlife, wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called big five game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, African leopard, leopard, rhinoceros, African elephant, elep ...
browser
*
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge is a Proprietary Software, proprietary cross-platform software, cross-platform web browser created by Microsoft and based on the Chromium (web browser), Chromium open-source project, superseding Edge Legacy. In Windows 11, Edge ...
WebView2
Other examples are Microsoft's legacy WebView, based on its deprecated
EdgeHTML
EdgeHTML is a proprietary browser engine from Microsoft that was used in Microsoft Edge Legacy, which debuted in 2015 as part of Windows 10.
EdgeHTML is a fork of the MSHTML (Trident) engine of Internet Explorer. It is designed as a software ...
and
MSHTML
Trident (also known as MSHTML) is a proprietary browser engine for the Microsoft Windows version of Internet Explorer, developed by Microsoft.
MSHTML debuted with the release of Internet Explorer 4 in 1997. For versions 7 and 8 of Internet Expl ...
engines
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...
, and the WebView component in
JavaFX
JavaFX is a software platform for creating and delivering desktop applications, as well as rich web applications that can run across a wide variety of devices. JavaFX has support for desktop computers and web browsers on Microsoft Windows, Linu ...
.
See also
* &
Blink (browser engine)
Blink is a browser engine developed as part of the free and open-source Chromium project. Blink is by far the most-used browser engine, due to the market share dominance of Google Chrome and the fact that many other browsers are based on the Ch ...
**
Chromium Embedded Framework
The Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) is an open-source software framework for embedding a Chromium web browser within another application. This enables developers to add web browsing functionality to their application, as well as the ability t ...
**
Electron (software framework)
Electron (formerly known as Atom Shell) is a free and open-source software framework developed and maintained by OpenJS Foundation. The framework is designed to create desktop applications using web technologies (mainly HTML, CSS and JavaScri ...
**
Qt WebEngine
**
References
{{Reflist
External links
Build web apps in WebView , Android Developers
Web browsers