Links in TextView

Question

I need to put a link in a TextView, I have a string that contains the tag <a href="link">Text for link</a> and some other text. The problem is that if I run the project I can see the text but it's not clickable. I tried with the <b> tag too to see if that works and it seems that it doesn't work too.

How can I make this to work without the Linkify usage?

Solution 1

Thank you for your help all.

I have managed to make this work, after I have found some examples in the android samples.

here is the code:

textView.setText(Html.fromHtml(
            "<b>text3:</b>  Text with a " +
            "<a href=\"http://www.google.com\">link</a> " +
            "created in the Java source code using HTML."));
textView.setMovementMethod(LinkMovementMethod.getInstance());

Hope this help others...

Solution 2

Getting links working from html is kind of tricky:

1. Apply your text via xml android:text="@string/… or via setText() (see other answers)

2. Use textView.setMovementMethod(LinkMovementMethod.getInstance()) to make links clickable (see other answers)

3. Do NOT add android:autoLink="web" to you XML resource (section TextView), otherwise A-tags are not rendered correctly and are not clickable any longer.

Remark 1:
The OnClickListener can be helpful, if your TextView contains only one link and you want to trigger the navigation even if the user clicks aside your link, but inside the TextView.

Remark 2:
android:linksClickable="true" still does not work (as of Android 3.2), use p. 2 instead

Solution 3

Linkify is the class you must use to create links. BTW, what is the reason for not using Linkify?

You can linkify all text in your textview for actions like visiting a website or calling a phone number based on the schema. Android provides the easiest way to do it. Consider the below code.

TextView noteView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.noteview);
noteView.setText(someContent);
Linkify.addLinks(noteView, Linkify.ALL);

For creating custom links, the same Linkify class provides various options. Google has published a blogpost on this .

Solution 4

I couldn't figure it out, but finally it started working when I did something like:

tvTermsOfUse.setText(Html.fromHtml(getString(R.string.tv_terms_of_use_html)));
Linkify.addLinks(tvTermsOfUse, Linkify.ALL);
tvTermsOfUse.setMovementMethod(LinkMovementMethod.getInstance());

Text view looks like:

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/tv_terms_of_use"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
    android:textAlignment="gravity"
    android:gravity="center"
    android:textColor="@android:color/white"
    android:textSize="15sp" />

and string res:

<string name="tv_terms_of_use_html">
    <![CDATA[This is link to <a href="http://google.com/">Google</a>.]]>
</string>

Important part: The Linkify.addLinks has to be done before tvTermsOfUse.setMovementMethod, otherwise it won't work.

No other settings are necessary in XML.

It took me around hour to figure it out myself, hope it helps someone.

EDIT:

According to @rfellons comment

Thanks. Also for me works ... BUT only with

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>

on Manifest.xml. – rfellons Sep 7 at 13:31

Make sure you check it as well.

Solution 5

Use

android:linksClickable="true"
android:autoLink="web"

View more solutions

Comments

[Jan]

Thanks for help , can you guide me how can i remove underline ?

[Renan Franca]

Absoluty Right! Thanks for the time to write it down! PEOPLE! THE ANSWER IS HERE!!!!

[iTurki]

This is the ONE. Thanks!

[prcaen]

This help me too! Thanks.

[Konstantin Konopko]

It doesn't work if add link string from resource in TextView xml. It's only works with setText(Html.fromHtml(getResources().getString(R.string.STRI‌​NG_NAME))) for me

[validcat]

Useful answer, help me a lot, thnks!

[dbm]

This solution ignores any phone number and email address links. I'm yet to find a solution which handles all kinds of links (web, phone, email, ...) in the same TextView.

[Harsha]

I have a Text View with json response data.that Response contains description and mail id and phone number how can i give click event for mail id and mobile number in that text view android.

[marson]

this is the easiest method out there and it worked fine

[JPM]

I've done this but how do I know the user clicked it for tracking purposes?

[Xebozone]

Note: this will not work if you've set in your TextView's properties to autoLink some properties! If you have, you must call textView.setAutoLinkMask(0); before you call setText()

[Asaf]

Thanks! I tried all other answers in this and other similar questions and none worked. It also didn't work without the CDATA.

[EpicPandaForce]

This doesn't work for links like <a href="http://blah.com">http://blah.com</a>.

[rfellons]

Thanks. Also for me works ... BUT only with <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/> on Manifest.xml.