Android support

[tumenor]

Hi!

I am very interested in running this on an android device, however I am a little lost at where to begin.

Anyone else had success with this? Perhaps it's a feature that could be supported? :)

[shanvood]

I try Android but not work.. I find HTML plugin here that work https://github.com/tracerinteractive/UnrealEngine hope this help

[getnamo]

To support android with BLUI we need a CEF/chromium build for it. Looking at http://opensource.spotify.com/cefbuilds/index.html it appears we only have Windows, Mac, and Linux supported atm.

Here's also an old issue about android builds: https://bitbucket.org/chromiumembedded/cef/issues/1991/add-android-support which doesn't inspire, but a newer issue: https://bitbucket.org/chromiumembedded/cef/issues/1990/linux-add-arm-build-support seems to have up to date movement with an arm64 build. It seems you can cross-compile it from e.g. ubuntu but there are no pre-compiled versions yet.

If someone is brave, consider trying to get an arm64 build following the above instructions, otherwise we have to wait for pre-built binaries.

Optionally use @shanvood's suggestion or the built-in web browser https://docs.unrealengine.com/en-US/Engine/UMG/UserGuide/WidgetTypeReference/WebBrowser/index.html

[tumenor]

Hi!
I'll take a look at that, the only problem with the unbuilt version is that the Webview on our devices is far outdated, and we require a up to date chromium.

The link Shanvood sent is what we use now, but it utilizes the devices webview. Which we have built our own version for, but we don't have the permission to install it.

I'll take a brief with the crew, perhaps we'll attempt to build an ARM64.

[tumenor]

@getnamo

We've successfully built the debug version, we're currently building the release version now.
What amount of changes to the plugin has to be done in order to load it?

For a better documentation on how to build it I found:
https://www.magpcss.org/ceforum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=16963
The last post on that thread.

I can provide whatever is needed :)

[getnamo]

Oo great stuff! Once you have a pre-build, share a link with it zipped up in this issue so it can be referenced for dev.

That said we may have a bit of work to get this fully working as the plugin currently uses a separate child process https://github.com/AaronShea/BluBrowser. For android I don't think we can do that, we'd need to setup the build such that all the code dependencies end up in .so files we can include in the final apk (via something similar to https://github.com/leapmotion/LeapUnreal/blob/master/Source/LeapMotion/LeapMotion_APL.xml).

As an aside, this plugin is definitely overdue for a refactor to modern standards, but we could do it in parts. First step would be to eliminate the sub-process and use only .dll files for windows instead and then we just add the same build for .so for android.

It's been a long time since I've touched Blubrowser (and then only to recompile for newer cef), you'd likely need get familiar with how it all links up by exploring both https://github.com/getnamo/BLUI and https://github.com/AaronShea/BluBrowser

[tumenor]

@getnamo I just found something interesting.. It's in fact in the forum thread you sent previously, this page has ARM builds:
http://chromely.org/cefbuilds/index.html

Are these sufficient if so we will stop building release as the release version has proven to require more patching and tweaking.

[getnamo]

I don't think linux arm is the same as android arm. We'll likely need android arm builds

[grindhousegaming]

I was wondering if any headway has been made on the android implementation of BLUI?

[getnamo]

This depends on cef chromium having android support, here's one location that is tracked: https://bitbucket.org/chromiumembedded/cef/issues/1991/add-android-support

Another possible option:
https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/master/docs/android_build_instructions.md

[grindhousegaming]

This depends on cef chromium having android support, here's one location that is tracked: https://bitbucket.org/chromiumembedded/cef/issues/1991/add-android-support

Another possible option:
https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/master/docs/android_build_instructions.md

Let me look into this i really don't seem to have much luck running the native webbrowser in UE4.25 on Android either. At least BLUI runs transparent where as I get a black artifact from the browser.

Thank you for such a quick response. I am very interested in the development of this plug-in. I'm am also working on C++ that can parce the HTML and be able to pull only the parts of web sites you want.

Any further info you have would be appreciated and I will let you know what I learn.

Thanks again.