Saving and Restoring the Web View Navigation History Across Sessions #3996

Saifuddin53 · 2024-09-13T17:23:32Z

Fixes #398

Still in development

Enhanced history restoration by managing back and forward stacks separately and loading URLs accordingly.
The integrated room database is used to fetch and restore page history asynchronously using RxJava.
Implemented a mechanism to clear and retrieve history based on database entries.

How It Works:

When the reader fragment is paused the history is stored in the room
Upon resuming the WebView/ReaderFragment, the history is fetched from the Room database and restored.
Backward and forward navigation is re-established based on the saved history.

Screenshots

Saifuddin53 · 2024-09-19T06:22:49Z

Hello @MohitMaliFtechiz @kelson42
I've implemented a history restoration approach for WebView that loads pages sequentially from the back and forward stacks (stored in our room database) when the reader fragment is resumed. This solution is functional, but I would appreciate your feedback on the implementation and suggestions for improvement.

WhatsApp.Video.2024-09-19.at.11.05.05_9d0b7924.mp4

But it has some cons.

Currently, the time taken to restore history is directly proportional to the size of the back and forward stacks. Each URL load has a delay of 500ms, which means for a history with many items, the total restoration time could be several seconds. This could negatively impact user experience, particularly if the restoration feels too slow.
Ideally, the Reader screen should be blocked with a loading indicator until the history is fully restored to avoid interruptions.
The restoration only loads the page URLs but does not retain the user’s scroll position. When the Reader is reopened, users are taken to the top of each page, losing the context of where they left off, which can be frustrating for longer content.

On the bright side, the current approach makes sure everything is restored in order, so the navigation history stays consistent.

Also, I’ve experimented with a few other approaches to reduce the restoration time, but none of them offered the same level of accuracy. It seems like there’s a trade-off between speed and ensuring the history is restored correctly.

I’d appreciate your input on how we might address these challenges and any suggestions you have for further refinement of this approach

MohitMaliFtechiz · 2024-09-19T07:25:03Z

@Saifuddin53 Thanks for your PR, and inputs. I will test and review your PR. I have fixed the detekt issue you were facing, Now, you can continue doing your work. The codeFactor is failing can you please fix it?

kelson42 · 2024-09-19T09:45:24Z

@MohitMaliDeveloper Any news?

MohitMaliFtechiz

@Saifuddin53 For the restoration timing issue, I am seeing the possible solution. In the meantime can you please make these review changes?

MohitMaliFtechiz · 2024-09-19T12:14:48Z

.idea/codeStyles/Project.xml

@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 <component name="ProjectCodeStyleConfiguration">
  <code_scheme name="Project" version="173">
-    <option name="USE_SAME_INDENTS" value="true" />


Why we are removing these codeStyle from our project?

Automated changes probably

Please revert these changes.

MohitMaliFtechiz · 2024-09-19T12:20:26Z

core/src/main/java/org/kiwix/kiwixmobile/core/dao/PageHistoryRoomDao.kt

+import org.kiwix.kiwixmobile.core.dao.entities.PageHistoryRoomEntity
+
+@Dao
+abstract class PageHistoryRoomDao {


WebViewHistoryRoomDao would be a better name for this Dao.

MohitMaliFtechiz · 2024-09-19T12:22:07Z

core/src/main/java/org/kiwix/kiwixmobile/core/dao/entities/PageHistoryRoomEntity.kt

+import org.kiwix.kiwixmobile.core.page.history.adapter.PageHistoryItem
+
+@Entity
+data class PageHistoryRoomEntity(


WebViewHistoryEntity would be a better name for this entity class.

MohitMaliFtechiz · 2024-09-19T12:26:08Z

core/src/main/java/org/kiwix/kiwixmobile/core/data/DataSource.kt

@@ -51,4 +53,8 @@ interface DataSource {
  fun saveNote(noteListItem: NoteListItem): Completable
  fun deleteNote(noteTitle: String): Completable
  fun deleteNotes(noteList: List<NoteListItem>): Completable
+
+  fun insertPageHistoryItem(pageHistory: PageHistoryItem): Completable


The naming conventions are not good for these methods. It sounds like it is for getting the page history but which page history? These methods names should be:

insertWebViewHistoryItem() getAllWebViewPagesHistory() clearWebViewPagesHistory()

MohitMaliFtechiz · 2024-09-19T12:27:46Z

core/src/main/res/values-b+be+tarask/strings.xml

@@ -1,111 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>


Why we are removing this file?

Automated changes

MohitMaliFtechiz · 2024-09-19T12:28:26Z

core/src/main/res/values-b+be+tarask+old/strings.xml

@@ -1,8 +1,4 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
-<!-- Authors:


Please do not commit this file, it is automatically updated at runtime.

I think these files are automatically updated when I have committed

Yes, these tarask, and tarask+old files are automatically generated while the build task is ongoing. Please do not push these changes as these are automatically done via Gradle.

MohitMaliFtechiz · 2024-09-19T12:45:39Z

core/src/main/java/org/kiwix/kiwixmobile/core/main/MainRepositoryActions.kt

@@ -68,11 +73,32 @@ class MainRepositoryActions @Inject constructor(private val dataSource: DataSour
      .subscribe({}, { e -> Log.e(TAG, "Unable to save book", e) })
  }

+  fun savePageHistory(pageHistory: PageHistoryItem) {


Same for these methods.

MohitMaliFtechiz · 2024-09-19T12:46:24Z

core/src/main/java/org/kiwix/kiwixmobile/core/page/history/adapter/PageHistoryItem.kt

+
+import org.kiwix.kiwixmobile.core.dao.entities.PageHistoryRoomEntity
+
+data class PageHistoryItem(


The name should be WebViewHistoryItem.

Saifuddin53 added 3 commits September 13, 2024 22:41

Saved webbackforwardlist to room

7e733e1

Retrieving page history from room

4151ca1

Restoring the internal webbackforwardlist

5b4492f

Saifuddin53 changed the title ~~Saving the Web View Navigation History Across Sessions~~ Saving and Restoring the Web View Navigation History Across Sessions Sep 19, 2024

Fixed the detekt issue

dd20108

Merge branch 'kiwix:main' into Issue#398

16a1e2b

MohitMaliFtechiz requested changes Sep 19, 2024

View reviewed changes

Saifuddin53 added 2 commits September 19, 2024 22:56

Naming convention improved

71d066c

Code factor improvements

63da8be

Saifuddin53 requested a review from MohitMaliFtechiz September 19, 2024 17:38

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Saving and Restoring the Web View Navigation History Across Sessions #3996

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		@@ -1,8 +1,4 @@
		<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
		<!-- Authors:


		import org.kiwix.kiwixmobile.core.dao.entities.PageHistoryRoomEntity

		data class PageHistoryItem(

Saving and Restoring the Web View Navigation History Across Sessions #3996

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Saving and Restoring the Web View Navigation History Across Sessions #3996

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Saifuddin53 commented Sep 13, 2024 • edited Loading

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Saifuddin53 commented Sep 13, 2024 •

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Saifuddin53 commented Sep 19, 2024 •

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