Add Hyperlink at a Particular Text Span in Android using Jetpack Compose

In Android, a TextView is used to display text inside the activity on the screen. Similarly, in Jetpack Compose, a Text element is used to display text on the activity screen. By default, Text cannot create a hyperlink around the text, So, we create a hyperlink using Annonated String and display it using Clickable Text.

So in this article, we will show you how you could create a Hyperlink at a particular Text Span in Android using Jetpack Compose. Follow the below steps once the IDE is ready.

Step by Step Implementation

Step 1: Create a New Project in Android Studio

To create a new project in Android Studio please refer to How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio. While choosing the template, select Empty Compose Activity. If you do not find this template, try upgrading the Android Studio to the latest version. We demonstrated the application in Kotlin, so make sure you select Kotlin as the primary language while creating a New Project.

Step 2: Add INTERNET permission in the AndroidManifest.xml file

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.geeksforgeeks.jctextspanhyperlink">

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/Theme.JCTextSpanHyperlink">
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:exported="true"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:theme="@style/Theme.JCTextSpanHyperlink">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

Step 3: Working with the MainActivity.kt file

Go to the MainActivity.kt file and refer to the following code. Below is the code for the MainActivity.kt file. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.

Kotlin

package com.geeksforgeeks.jctextspanhyperlink

import android.os.Bundle
import androidx.activity.ComponentActivity
import androidx.activity.compose.setContent
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.*
import androidx.compose.foundation.text.ClickableText
import androidx.compose.material.*
import androidx.compose.runtime.Composable
import androidx.compose.ui.Alignment
import androidx.compose.ui.Modifier
import androidx.compose.ui.graphics.Color
import androidx.compose.ui.platform.LocalUriHandler
import androidx.compose.ui.text.SpanStyle
import androidx.compose.ui.text.buildAnnotatedString
import androidx.compose.ui.text.style.TextDecoration
import androidx.compose.ui.tooling.preview.Preview

class MainActivity : ComponentActivity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContent {
            // Calling the composable function
            // to display element and its contents
            MainContent()
        }
    }
}

// Creating a composable
// function to display Top Bar
@Composable
fun MainContent() {
    Scaffold(
        topBar = { TopAppBar(title = { Text("GFG | Text Span Hyperlink", color = Color.White) }, backgroundColor = Color(0xff0f9d58)) },
        content = { MyContent() }
    )
}

// Creating a composable function
// to create a Clickable Text
// Calling this function as content
// in the above function
@Composable
fun MyContent(){

    // Creating an annonated string
    val mAnnotatedLinkString = buildAnnotatedString {

        // creating a string to display in the Text
        val mStr = "Click this link to go to web site"

        // word and span to be hyperlinked
        val mStartIndex = mStr.indexOf("link")
        val mEndIndex = mStartIndex + 4

        append(mStr)
        addStyle(
            style = SpanStyle(
                color = Color.Blue,
                textDecoration = TextDecoration.Underline
            ), start = mStartIndex, end = mEndIndex
        )

        // attach a string annotation that
        // stores a URL to the text "link"
        addStringAnnotation(
            tag = "URL",
            annotation = "https://www.geeksforgeeks.org",
            start = mStartIndex,
            end = mEndIndex
        )

    }

    // UriHandler parse and opens URI inside
    // AnnotatedString Item in Browse
    val mUriHandler = LocalUriHandler.current

    Column(Modifier.fillMaxSize(), horizontalAlignment = Alignment.CenterHorizontally, verticalArrangement = Arrangement.Center) {

        // ???? Clickable text returns position of text
        // that is clicked in onClick callback
        ClickableText(
            text = mAnnotatedLinkString,
            onClick = {
                mAnnotatedLinkString
                    .getStringAnnotations("URL", it, it)
                    .firstOrNull()?.let { stringAnnotation ->
                        mUriHandler.openUri(stringAnnotation.item)
                    }
            }
        )
    }
}

// For displaying preview in
// the Android Studio IDE emulator
@Preview(showBackground = true)
@Composable
fun DefaultPreview() {
    MainContent()
}

Output:

You can see that the hyperlink is created on the text span displaying the word “link”.