UIWebView get current URL of SPA (single page application) website - ios

Question

I want to get my UIWebView's current location when browsing an SPA (single-page-application) website.
(Yes, I am intentionally working with UIWebView instead of WKWebView.)
I know that there are multiple approaches to getting the current URL, such as:
webView.request?.url?.absoluteString
webView.request?.mainDocumentURL?.absoluteString
webView.stringByEvaluatingJavaScript(from: "window.location")
However, for an SPA website, for each of the approaches above, I am getting the initial url, even when I navigate to another page on that SPA website.
What can I do?

Answer 1

Step 1: Creating a custom URLProtocol to catch data requests
class CustomURLProtocol: URLProtocol, URLSessionDataDelegate, URLSessionTaskDelegate {
// If this returns false, the first request will basically stops at where it begins.
override class func canInit(with request: URLRequest) -> Bool {
return true
}
override class func canonicalRequest(for request: URLRequest) -> URLRequest {
return request
}
override func startLoading() {
print(self.request.url) // URL of Data requests made by UIWebView before loading.
URLSession(configuration: URLSessionConfiguration.default, delegate: self, delegateQueue: nil).dataTask(with: self.request).resume()
}
override func stopLoading() {
}
func urlSession(_ session: URLSession, dataTask: URLSessionDataTask, didReceive response: URLResponse, completionHandler: #escaping (URLSession.ResponseDisposition) -> Void) {
// Data request responses received.
self.client?.urlProtocol(self, didReceive: response, cacheStoragePolicy: .allowed)
completionHandler(.allow)
}
func urlSession(_ session: URLSession, dataTask: URLSessionDataTask, didReceive data: Data) {
// Data request data received.
self.client?.urlProtocol(self, didLoad: data)
self.urlSession(session, task: dataTask, didCompleteWithError: nil)
}
func urlSession(_ session: URLSession, task: URLSessionTask, didCompleteWithError error: Error?) {
if let error = error {
self.client?.urlProtocol(self, didFailWithError: error)
return
}
print(self.request.url) // URL of Data requests completed.
self.client?.urlProtocolDidFinishLoading(self)
}
}
Step 2: Registering your custom URLProtocol
Register your custom URLProtocol before loading your SPA in UIWebview.
URLProtocol.registerClass(CustomURLProtocol.self)
Hope this helps! Sorry for the delay, was caught up at work.