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Displaying Web Pages

Bharat Signage offers the flexibility to show live websites, dashboards, and even custom HTML content directly on your screen using Android’s WebView component. This enables seamless integration of online resources such as charts, news feeds, and more — right into your digital signage setup.

⚙️ WebView Engine and Updates​

The rendering engine used for displaying web pages is Android's WebView, which functions like a lightweight browser embedded inside Bharat Signage.

  • 📲 Updatable independently from the app and Android OS.
  • 🔄 Keep it updated via Google Play (Android System WebView or Chrome).
  • 🔧 You can switch the WebView provider from:

    Developer Options → WebView implementation

🧾 Customizing the User-Agent​

The User-Agent string used in HTTP requests can be configured:

  • 🧠 Default: Automatically uses the best string based on the WebView version.
  • ✏️ Optional: Customize it in the app settings under User agent for HTTP requests.

This is useful when you want web servers to serve specific content for Bharat Signage devices.

🌍 Showing a Website via .url Files​

Bharat Signage can render full websites by detecting .url files in your content folder. These files contain the web address of the site to be displayed.

✅ Supported Formats​

  • A plain text file with a single line:
    https://example.com
  • A .url file created or edited via Bharat Signage File Manager.
  • .url file generated on Windows.

🔗 The device must have internet access to load external websites.

🔐 Password-Protected Websites​

Two methods are supported for loading secured pages:

  1. HTTP Basic Authentication
    Include credentials in the URL:
    https://username:password@domain.com

    Make sure special characters are URL-encoded.

  2. Login Form Authentication
    Use the Enter web page editor in File Manager:

    • Click Scan page, enter login details, then click Save.
    • ⚠️ Compatibility may vary depending on the site's login implementation.

🌐 Domain Restrictions​

You can restrict allowable domains using the “Available domains” field in the Enter web page editor:

  • Leave empty to allow all domains.
  • Specify one or more domains (comma-separated) to restrict redirects.
  • Subdomains are automatically included.
  • External assets like JavaScript, fonts, and CSS are not restricted.

🧱 Displaying .html Files​

You can also serve custom HTML content:

  • Upload .html files to your device.
  • Supports HTML5, JavaScript, iframes, and CSS (based on WebView version).
  • Transparent background by default – to show overlays.

To set a solid background:

<body style="background-color: white"></body>

✍️ Edit HTML in the Web Interface​

You can edit HTML files directly in the Bharat Signage web interface:

  • WYSIWYG (CKEditor) – Visual HTML editing
  • Plain Text (TextArea)

Go to File Manager → Right click on an HTML file → Edit file.

💡 Example: Twitter Feed Widget​

You can use HTML widgets such as Twitter timelines, weather feeds, etc. Below is an example of embedding a Twitter feed:

Example twitter.html

<html>
  <style>
    body,
    html {
      margin: 0;
    }
  </style>
  <body>
    <a
      class="twitter-timeline"
      data-lang="en"
      data-width="960"
      data-height="1080"
      data-theme="dark"
      href="https://twitter.com/BharatSignage?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
    >
      Tweets by BharatSignage
    </a>
    <script
      async
      src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"
      charset="utf-8"
    ></script>
  </body>
</html>

Save this file and add it to your layout. The Twitter feed will be live and interactive on your signage screen!