How to reload webview in Flutter?

Reloading WebView in Flutter can be achieved in several ways. Assuming you are using the popular webview_flutter plugin, an intuitive approach is to utilize the reload method provided by WebViewController. Here is a brief explanation and example:

First, ensure you have a reference to a WebViewController. You can obtain this reference when the WebView widget is created:

dart
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:webview_flutter/webview_flutter.dart';

class WebViewExample extends StatefulWidget {
  @override
  _WebViewExampleState createState() => _WebViewExampleState();
}

class _WebViewExampleState extends State<WebViewExample> {
  WebViewController _controller;

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(
        title: Text('WebView Reload Example'),
        // Add a reload button
        actions: <Widget>[
          IconButton(
            icon: Icon(Icons.refresh),
            // When the button is pressed, call the reload function
            onPressed: () {
              if (_controller != null) {
                _controller.reload();
              }
            },
          ),
        ],
      ),
      body: WebView(
        initialUrl: 'https://www.example.com',
        onWebViewCreated: (WebViewController webViewController) {
          _controller = webViewController;
        },
      ),
    );
  }
}

In this example, when the user clicks the refresh button in the AppBar, the WebView reloads using the _controller.reload() method.

Additionally, if you want to reload the WebView during other events, such as pull-to-refresh, you can invoke the reload method within the corresponding event handler.

Another approach involves recreating the WebView widget using a key. This method is crude because it achieves page refresh by fully rebuilding the WebView widget. To implement this, define a state variable to force Flutter to rebuild the WebView widget:

dart
// Define a key
GlobalKey webViewKey = GlobalKey();

// When refreshing the WebView, change the key
setState(() {
  webViewKey = GlobalKey();
});

// Use the new key in the WebView constructor
WebView(
  key: webViewKey,
  // Other parameters...
)

Every time webViewKey changes, Flutter treats the WebView widget as new, triggering a rebuild and reloading the initial page. While this method is not elegant due to performance sacrifices for refresh, it can serve as a quick solution in certain scenarios.