Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Android Intents

from: http://pallergabor.uw.hu/androidblog/
Playing with Intents
Intent-based programming is one of the most distinctive features of the Android platform. The entire
application space effectively consists of components (called Activities in Android parlance) and messages
among components (called Intents). The Android application model is therefore a simple service-oriented
architecture which is indeed an interesting approach.
Intents can used in many ways to invoke another Activity. The tutorial is not very explicit on the two main
kinds of Intents so the I had to discover them myself in the documentation of the Intent class.


Explicit intent targets a particular class that has been declared intent receiver in the
AndroidManifest.xml
Implicit intent targets an intent receiver with particular characteristics (like a particular action)
Intent-based programming is interesting that's why I decided to play around with it. I had very unpleasant
experiences with the Blogger engine rendering preformatted text like program code (in addition, the engine
swallowed inexplicably part of an XML sample document that I tried to insert into the post) so I decided to
upload the project bundles onto a download page so that I can copy into the post only the relevant code
fragments. Note that sdk-folder and android-tools properties in the build.xml files need to be updated so that
they reflect the location of your Android SDK installation directories.
I tried out three setups in the simple test program (that actually consists of two Android applications).



Explicit intent addressing with the invoked activity internal to the application (exp/int).
Explicit intent addressing with the invoked activity external to the application (IntentSender
application invokes IntentReceiver application) (exp/ext).
Implicit intent addressing with external activity invocation (imp/ext). The invoked activity is again in
the IntentReceiver application.
Download the project bundle from here, compile and install both IntentSender and IntentReceiver
applications (they are in the intentsender and intentreceiver directories, respectively. Both applications need
to be compiled with ant and need to be installed on the emulator as described in an earlier post). You can
launch IntentSender and try out the activity invocations by pressing the appropriate buttons.
The implementation of this simple application did
have its adventures. :-) The tutorial uses a simple form of explicit intent creation.
Intent i = new Intent(this, NoteEdit.class);
This was not usable for me because in the exp/ext case the target activity class was not located within the
application. The solution seemed to be simple and relied on the Intent class' setClassName( pkgName,
className ) method. Who could have thought that the right form of parametrization requires full path in
className too (after having received the package part in the pkgName parameter)? This took me something
like an hour wasted and was resolved by finding out, how the tutorial version of explicit invocation works.
The critical piece of code is the following:
Intent i = new Intent();
i.setClassName( "aexp.intentreceiver", "aexp.intentreceiver.IntentReceiver"
);
i.putExtra( "i1", new Integer( 4 ) );
i.putExtra( "i2", new Integer( 5 ) );
startSubActivity(i, ACTIVITY_INVOKE);
The target activity needs to be declared in the AndroidManifest.xml. IntentReceiver class in IntentReceiver
application happens to be the app's main intent receiver therefore no additional declaration is necessary. The
internal IntentReceiver in IntentSender needs to be declared in IntentSender's AndroidManifest.xml.
[activity class=".IntentReceiver"]
(of course, this is XML with <> characters, I just can't get it through the #&@@! blog engine).
After getting through the explicit addressing's arcane package name/class name convention, I went after the
implicit addressing which seemed similarly simple. In this case, there is an extra level of indirection between
the invoker and invoked activity. The intent does not carry the target class, it carries a set of information that
is used by the system to identify the target activity. In my example, I used only the intent action that I set to
an action string I made up myself (aexp.intentsender.add).
Invoking code is simple:
Intent i = new Intent();
i.setAction( "aexp.intentsender.add" );
i.putExtra( "i1", new Integer( 5 ) );
i.putExtra( "i2", new Integer( 6 ) );
startSubActivity(i, ACTIVITY_INVOKE);
The intent receiver is identified according to the intent filter declaration in IntentReceiver's
AndroidManifest.xml.
[intent-filter]
[action android:value="aexp.intentsender.add"/]
[category android:value="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/]
[/intent-filter]
There is one point here to note that costed me again some half an hour wasted. :-) Although I don't use any
categories, Intent's constructor creates one category by default, the Intent.DEFAULT_CATEGORY whose
string format is android.intent.category.DEFAULT. I did not include the category originally into the
AndroidManifest.xml and that's why the intent resolution was not succesful. This problem was rectified using
the fantastic adb logcat command.
Guess, what goes into the log if there is an action match whose category does not match?
W/IntentResolver( 461): resolveIntent failed: found match, but none with Intent
.DEFAULT_CATEGORY
Thanks, emulator developers, this log message was really helpful!
Posted by Gabor Paller at 3:55 PM
Labels: intent
1 comments:
Anonymous said...
I wish to thank you for this article! I had been trying to invoke an activity across
applications and for the life of me couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong! After
altering my AndroidManifest.xml file to use the Default category, the cross activity
calling worked! The constructor for 'Intent' states that an "empty" Intent is created, but
this isn't true based on your findings which I confirmed!
Thanks for the great help!
Intents are broken up into two main categories:
● Activity Action Intents Intents used to call Activities outside of your application.
Only one Activity can handle the Intent. For example, for a web browser, you need to
open the Web Browser Activity to display a page.
● Broadcast Intents Intents that are sent out for multiple Activities to handle. An
example of a Broadcast Intent would be a message sent out by Android about the
current battery level. Any Activity can process this Intent and react accordingly—for
example, cancel an Activity if the battery level is below a certain point.
Activity Action Intent Message
ADD_SHORTCUT_ACTION Add a function shortcut to the Android Home Screen
ALL_APPS_ACTION List all the applications available on the device
ANSWER_ACTION Answer an incoming call
BUG_REPORT_ACTION Open the Bug Reporting Activity
CALL_ACTION Place a call to supplied location
DELETE_ACTION Delete the specified data
DIAL_ACTION Open the Dial Activity and dial the specified number
EDIT_ACTION Provide editable access to the supplied data
EMERGENCY_DIAL_ACTION Dial an emergency number
FACTORY_TEST_ACTION Retrieve factory test settings
GET_CONTENT_ACTION Select and return specified data
INSERT_ACTION Insert an empty item
MAIN_ACTION Establish the Activity start point
PICK_ACTION Pick an item and return the selection
PICK_ACTIVITY_ACTION Pick a given Activity (returns a class)
RUN_ACTION Execute the given data
SEARCH_ACTION Launch a search on the system
SEND_ACTION Send data without specifying the recipient
SENDTO_ACTION Send data to the recipient specified
SETTINGS_ACTION Launch System Settings
SYNC_ACTION Sync phone data with external source
VIEW_ACTION (DEFAULT_ACTION) Open a View
WALLPAPER_SETTINGS_ACTION Show settings for modifying the Android Wallpaper
WEB_SEARCH_ACTION Open Google Search, or another web page if specified
Table 7-1 Activity Action Intents
Table 7-2 lists and describes the current Broadcast Intents that are available. Refer to
this list when you need to establish a receiver for a specific Intent.
Broadcast Intent Message
CALL_FORWARDING_STATE_CHANGED_ACTION The phone’s call forwarding state has
changed
CAMERA_BUTTON_ACTION The camera button has been pressed
CONFIGURATION_CHANGED_ACTION The device’s configuration has changed
DATA_ACTIVITY_STATE_CHANGED_ACTION The device’s data activity state has changed
DATA_CONNECTION_STATE_CHANGED_ACTION There has been a change in the data
connection state
DATE_CHANGED_ACTION The phone’s system date has changed
FOTA_CANCEL_ACTION Cancel pending system update downloads
FOTA_INSTALL_ACTION An update has been downloaded and must
be installed immediately (sent by the system)
FOTA_READY_ACTION An update has been downloaded and can be
installed—but does not need to be installed
immediately (sent by the system)
FOTA_RESTART_ACTION Restart a system update download
FOTA_UPDATE_ACTION Begin the download of a system update
GTALK_SERVICES_CONNECTED_ACTION Sent when a GTALK session has been
successfully established
GTALK_SERVICES_DISCONNECTED_ACTION Sent when a GTALK session has been
disconnected
MEDIA_BAD_REMOVAL_ACTION Sent when an SD Memory Card was
removed but unsuccessfully unmounted from
the system
MEDIA_BUTTON_ACTION Sent when the media button has been
pressed
Broadcast Intent Message
MEDIA_EJECT_ACTION Sent when the eject action has been initiated
on an SD Memory Card
MEDIA_MOUNTED_ACTION Sent when an SD Memory Card was
successfully mounted to the system
MEDIA_REMOVED_ACTION Sent when an SD memory card was detected
as having been removed
MEDIA_SCANNER_FINISHED_ACTION Sent when the scanner has finished
MEDIA_SHARED_STARTED_ACTION Sent when the scanner has begun
MEDIA_UNMOUNTED_ACTION Sent when an SD memory card has been
detected but has not been mounted
MESSAGE_WAITING_STATE_CHANGED The “message waiting” state on the phone
has changed
NETWORK_TICKLE_RECEIVED_ACTION A new device network notification has been
received
PACKAGE_ADDED_ACTION Sent when a new package has been installed
on the device
PACKAGE_CHANGE_ACTION Sent when an existing package has been
modified
PACKAGE_INSTALL_ACTION A package can be downloaded and installed
PACKAGE_REMOVED_ACTION A package has been removed
PHONE_INTERFACE_ADDED_ACTION The device’s phone interface has been
created
PHONE_STATE_CHANGED_ACTION The device’s phone state has changed
PROVIDER_CHANGED_ACTION The device has received a notification from a
provider
PROVISIONING_CHECK_ACTION Check for the latest settings from the
provisioning service
SCREEN_OFF_ACTION The screen has been shut off (sent by the
device)
SCREEN_ON_ACTION The screen has been turned on (sent by the
device)
SERVICE_STATE_CHANGED_ACTION The service state has changed
SIGNAL_STRENGTH_CHANGED_ACTION The signal strength has changed
Table 7-2 Broadcast Intents (continued)
Broadcast Intent Message
SIM_STATE_CHANGED_ACTION The state of the SIM card has changed
TIME_CHANGED_ACTION The device’s time was set
TIME_TICK_ACTION The current time has changed
TIMEZONE_CHANGED_ACTION The device’s timezone has changed
UMS_CONNECTED_ACTION The device has connected via USB
UMS_DISCONNECTED_ACTION The device has been disconnected from its
USB host
WALLPAPER_CHANGED_ACTION The device’s wallpaper has been changed
Table 7-2 Broadcast Intents (continued)
The Intent is only one-third of the picture. An Intent is really just that, an intent to do
something; an Intent cannot actually do anything by itself. You need Intent Filters and
Intent Receivers to listen for, and interpret, the Intents.
Can I use this Intent?
Posted by Romain Guy on 05 January 2009 at 6:00 AM
Android offers a very powerful and yet easy to use tool called intents. An intent can be use to turn
applications into high-level libraries and make code re-use something even better than before. The
Android Home screen and AnyCut use intents extensively to create shortcuts for instance. While it is nice
to be able to make use of a loosely coupled API, there is no guarantee that the intent you send will be
received by another application. This happens in particular with 3rd party apps, like Panoramio and its
RADAR intent.
While working on a new application, I came up with a very simple way to find out whether the system
contains any application capable of responding to the intent you want to use. I implemented this
technique in my application to gray out the menu item that the user would normally click to trigger the
intent. The code is pretty simple and easy to follow:
/**
* Indicates whether the specified action can be used as an intent. This
* method queries the package manager for installed packages that can
* respond to an intent with the specified action. If no suitable package
is
* found, this method returns false.
*
* @param context The application's environment.
* @param action The Intent action to check for availability.
*
* @return True if an Intent with the specified action can be sent and
*
responded to, false otherwise.
*/
public static boolean isIntentAvailable(Context context, String action) {
final PackageManager packageManager = context.getPackageManager();
final Intent intent = new Intent(action);
List<ResolveInfo> list =
packageManager.queryIntentActivities(intent,
PackageManager.MATCH_DEFAULT_ONLY);
return list.size() > 0;
}
Here is how I use it:
@Override
public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
final boolean scanAvailable = isIntentAvailable(this,
"com.google.zxing.client.android.SCAN");
MenuItem item;
item = menu.findItem(R.id.menu_item_add);
item.setEnabled(scanAvailable);
return super.onPrepareOptionsMenu(menu);
}
In this example, the menu is grayed out if the Barcode Scanner application is not installed. Another,
simpler, way to do this is to catch the ActivityNotFoundException when calling startActivity()
but it only lets you react to the problem, you cannot predict it and update the UI accordingly to prevent the
user from doing something that won't work. The technique described here can also be used at startup
time to ask the user whether he'd like to install the missing package, you can then simply redirect him to
the Android Market by using the appropriate URI.
Intent Broadcast & Receiver
In this post we will see about the IntentReceivers.
Android Intent receivers are part of the event handling mechanism. The intent receiver can
handle the broadcast intents and thus can be used as event handler.
Creating Intent Receivers:
android has defined a ‘BroadcastReceiver’ class. All the intent receivers have to inherit from
this class. Following is the example of the intent receiver
package com.wissen.testApp.receiver;
public class MyIntentReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
/**
* @see adroid.content.BroadcastReceiver#onReceive(android.content.Context,
android.content.Intent)
*/
@Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
...
}
}
The intent receiver has to override the method onReceive as shown above. The onReceive
method gets called when intent receiver’s intent is broadcasted, and thus onReceive() method is
the entry point for the intent receiver.
The intent receiver entry has to be done in the android Manifest.xml file. The intent receiver
can be defined in manifest xml as follows:
<intent-filter>
android :name=”com.wissen.testApp.MY_INTENT_RECEIVER” />
</intent-filter>
</receiver>
The intent receiver can also be registered dynamically with the help of
Context.registerReceiver() method as follows:
..
MyIntentReceiver intentReceiver = new MyIntentReceiver();
IntentFilter intentFilter = new IntentFilter(”com.wissen.testApp.MY_INTENT_RECEIVER”);
registerReceiver(intentReceiver, intentFilter);
..
Broadcasting Intent:
The intent can be broadcasted with the help of sendBroadcast() and sendOrderedBroadcast()
method of the Context class. The sendBroadcast method will send the broadcast to all the
registered Intent Receivers, on the other hand sendOrderedBroadcast() method calls the intent
receivers one at a time. This gives the intent receivers ability to exchange result of previous
intent receiver or to abort the broadcast. The order of execution is controls by the android
:priority attribute defined in the tag of AndroidManifext.xml file.
Receiver Lifecycle:
There is only one lifecycle method for the intent receiver as onReceive(). The method gets called
when intent is broadcasted. The receiver object is only valid for the duration of the onReceive()
method, after the method ends the object is considered to be non-active and can be garbage
collected. Because of this the intent receiver onReceive() method should not handle any
asynchronous operation.
To receiver an intent by the intent receiver the application does not need to be running. When the
intent is broadcasted the system will start the application to call the intent receiver.
Permissions:
Sometimes for defining intent receivers for some intent, permissions need to be specified by the
intent receiver. The intent receiver can specify the required permission in the android
Manifest.xml file with the help of tag. While registering the intent receiver dynamically, the
permission can be specified as the parameter of the registerReceiver method.
To enforce a permission while broadcasting an intent, a non-null permission argument need to be
specified for the sendBroadcast() or sendOrderedBroadcast() method.
This is all on the intent receivers. In next post we will see android services and content
providers.
Simple Class for Holding Data
public methods for access
class StationData {
public String title = "";
public String url = "";
public String toString() {
return title;
}
}

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