Develop Reference

Android cant tell intents apart

In my main activity (where everything happens in my application) I call a variety as of now just two other activities which end up calling back to my MainActivity via button press. How do I distinguish between these two Intents back to my MainActivity? I have seperate operations I want to prefrom based on things I did back in the two seperate activites.
Heres what I tried:
Intent intent = getIntent();
String s_message = intent.getStringExtra(AppSettings.EXTRA_MESSAGE);
String f_message = intent.getStringExtra(ViewFavorites.EXTRA_MESSAGE);
if(s_message != null) {
//do something
} else if (f_message != null) {
//do something
}
But when I run my application I find when exiting the two activities that they are prefroming the methods I do not wish them to...am I going about this wrong?

What I do is simply set an Extra in my passing Intent then compare that. Something like this. When creating the Intent add an Extra to compare to
intent.putExtra("source", "appSettings");
then in your Activity check what that value is
Intent intent = getIntent();
String source = intent.getStringExtra("source"); // get that value here
if(s_message != null) {
if ("appSettings".equals(source)){
//do something
} else if (viewFavorites.equals(source)) {
//do something else
}
}
You could use variations of this as far as how you assign the Extra but this is a simple example that works well for me, especially when there are just a few Activites that will be calling this one.

Set a different ACTION on each intent, then use if(getIntent().getAction().equals(ACTION)) to distinguish between intents.
public class MainActivity extends Activity {
public static final String ACTION_ONE = "com.yourpackage.ACTION_ONE";
public static final String ACTION_TWO = "com.yourpackage.ACTION_TWO";
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState){
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
Intent intent = getIntent();
if(intent.getAction() != null){
if(intent.getAction.equals(ACTION_ONE){
//DO SOMETHING
} else if (intent.getAction.equals(ACTION_TWO){
//DO SOMETHING
}
}
}
.....
}
Then when you start your main activity with an intent:
Intent intent = new Intent(MY_CURRENT_CONTEXT, MainActivity.class); //Or MainActivity subclass
add
intent.setAction(ACTION_ONE);
or whichever action is specific to what your intent is trying to accomplish.

How to pass interface to constructor when creating an Intent

I have two Activities: the MainActivity starts the NewReminderActivity. The first one will be notified when a new reminder has been created. Therefore it implements the interface OnEventAddedListener.
Do I need to use serialization to add the MainActivity to the intent or is there a better solution? I've never seen any examples using serialization to accomplish this and I'm sure it's very common to pass an interface from one activity to another in order to communicate.
public class MainActivity extends Activity implements OnEventAddedListener {
#Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item)
{
if(item.getItemId() == R.id.action_addReminder)
{
// NewReminderActivity c = new NewReminderActivity(this);
// Intent intent = new Intent(this, c.getClass()); // this won't work
Intent intent = new Intent(this, NewReminderActivity.class);
startActivity(intent);
return true;
} else {
return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}
}
}

You absolutely should not try to pass one activity to another, whether it's by serializing it (which won't even work for a number of reasons) or setting a reference.
Android will take care of cleaning up old activities out of memory, but won't be able to do so as long as you're holding on to a reference from it. Never hold on to other activities or fragments outside of their context!
You should follow the documentation on starting activities and getting results by using startActivityForResult() and provide that activity's result through onActivityResult(int, int, Intent).

Handling onNewIntent in Fragment

I am writing an application that uses NFC to read some data stored on it. My application uses Fragments and Fragment don't come with onNewIntent() method. Since, the data I am reading is done with my separate class which handles NFC related operation, the only thing I need to do is update the TextView inside the Fragment. However this implementation can also be used to pass new Intent to the Fragment.
Here is my current implementation which makes use of an interface. I am calling the listener after new Intent is received and NFC related checks succeeds. This is the FragmentActivity which hosts Fragment.
public class Main extends FragmentActivity implements
ActionBar.OnNavigationListener {
private Bundle myBalanceBundle;
private NFC nfcObj;
private NewBalanceListener newBlanceListener;
#Override
public void onNewIntent(Intent intent) {
setIntent(intent);
}
#Override
protected void onResume() {
getNFCState();
super.onResume();
}
private void getNFCState() {
//Other NFC related codes
else if (nfc_state == NFC.NFC_STATE_ENABLED){
readNFCTag();
}
}
private void readNFCTag() {
//Other NFC related codes
if (getIntent().getAction().equals(NfcAdapter.ACTION_TECH_DISCOVERED)) {
nfcObj.setTag((Tag) getIntent().getParcelableExtra(
NfcAdapter.EXTRA_TAG));
nfcObj.readQuickBalance();
transitQuickReadFragment(nfcObj.getCurrentBalance());
}
}
private void transitQuickReadFragment(String balance) {
// Creates a balance bundle and calls to select MyBalance Fragment if it
// is not visible. Calls listener is it is already visible.
if (actionBar.getSelectedNavigationIndex() != 1) {
if (myBalanceBundle == null)
myBalanceBundle = new Bundle();
myBalanceBundle.putString(Keys.BALANCE.toString(), balance);
actionBar.setSelectedNavigationItem(1);
} else {
newBlanceListener.onNewBalanceRead(balance);
}
}
#Override
public boolean onNavigationItemSelected(int position, long id) {
// Other fragment related codes
fragment = new MyBalance();
fragment.setArguments(myBalanceBundle);
newBlanceListener = (NewBalanceListener) fragment;
// Other fragment related codes
}
// Interface callbacks. You can pass new Intent here if your application
// requires it.
public interface NewBalanceListener {
public void onNewBalanceRead(String newBalance);
}
}
This is MyBalance Fragment which has TextView that needs to be updated whenever NFC is read:
public class MyBalance extends Fragment implements NewBalanceListener {
private TextView mybalance_value;
#Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
Bundle savedInstanceState) {
//Other onCreateView related code
Bundle bundle = this.getArguments();
if (bundle != null)
mybalance_value.setText(bundle.getString(Keys.BALANCE.toString(),
"0.00"));
else
mybalance_value.setText("0.00");
//Other onCreateView related code
}
#Override
public void onNewBalanceRead(String newBalance) {
mybalance_value.setText(newBalance);
}
}
This code works perfectly like expected for my application but, I want to know if there is better way to handle new Intent from Fragments?

This is an old question, but let me answer it in case anybody bumps into it.
First of all you have a bug in your code:
You can't register Fragments as listeners inside Activity the way you do it. The reason is that Activity and Fragments can be destroyed by the system and re-created later from saved state (see documentation on Recreating an Activity). When this happens, new instances of both the Activity and the Fragment will be created, but the code that sets the Fragment as a listener will not run, therefore onNewBalanceRead() will never be called. This is very common bug in Android applications.
In order to communicate events from Activity to Fragment I see at least two possible approaches:
Interface based:
There is an officially recommended approach for communication between Fragments. This approach is similar to what you do now in that it uses callback interfaces implemented by either Fragment or Activity, but its drawback is a tight coupling and lots of ugly code.
Event bus based:
The better approach (IMHO) is to make use of event bus - "master component" (Activity in your case) posts "update" events to event bus, whereas "slave component" (Fragment in your case) registers itself to event bus in onStart() (unregisters in onStop()) in order to receive these events. This is a cleaner approach which doesn't add any coupling between communicating components.
All my projects use Green Robot's EventBus, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

There is at least one alternative: From Activity.onNewIntent documentation:
An activity will always be paused before receiving a new intent, so you can count on onResume() being called after this method.
Note that getIntent() still returns the original Intent. You can use setIntent(Intent) to update it to this new Intent.
FragmentActivity.onNewIntent documentation is different but I don't think it contradicts the above statements. I also make the assumption that Fragment.onResume will be called after FragmentActivity.onResume, even though the documentation seems a little fussy to me, though my tests confirm this assumption. Based on this I updated the Intent in the activity like so (examples in Kotlin)
override fun onNewIntent(intent: Intent?) {
setIntent(intent)
super.onNewIntent(intent)
}
And in Fragment.onResume I could handle the new intent like so
override fun onResume() {
super.onResume()
doStuff(activity.intent)
}
This way the activity don't need to know about what fragments it holds.

No, there is no better way. Fragments can live longer than Activities and are not necessarily tied to them at all so providing new intents would not make sense.
Btw, you have a few bugs in your code :)
if (actionBar.getSelectedNavigationIndex() != 1) {
Magic numbers are bad! use a constant.
if (myBalanceBundle == null)
myBalanceBundle = new Bundle();
myBalanceBundle.putString(Keys.BALANCE.toString(), balance);
actionBar.setSelectedNavigationItem(1);
we already know that the navigationitem is set to 1
} else {
newBlanceListener.onNewBalanceRead(balance);
Add a null check. The user might have never selected a navigation item.

Finish Activity() from a separate myJavaClass.java

I have tried almost all the solutions from SO but no success :(.
I have a simple myJavaClass.java with a couple of functions.
One of the functions in myJavaClass : startActivity() starts MyCustomActivity
public startActivity(Context context)
{
Intent intent = new Intent(context, MyCustomActivity.class);
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK |Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP);
context.startActivity(intent);
}
This launches MyCustomActivity() as expected.
Now I have another function in myJavaClass.java to close/finish MyCustomActivity but it is not able to do so!
I have tried
Making MyCustomActivity SingleTop in manifest and creating the activity via an intent as above
Passing an activity instance to "this" in onCreate() of MyCustomActivity and calling MyCustomActivity.activity.finish() from myJava.class but that doesnt work as well
Please help me. I have been stuck here for hours now. I know the solution is very simple and conceptual but I am a newbie. Just building Java/Android concepts!
EDIT
MyCustomActivity
public Activity activity;
OnCreate()
{
...
this = activity;
}
MyJavaClass
public closeActivity(Context context)
{
Activity customActivity = MyCustomActivity.activity;
customActivity.finish();
}

I think that what you are trying to do is fundamentally bad. For a start, outside of the Activity code, there are no guarantees that the activity still exists - the memory manager may have cleaned it up, the user may have pressed Back etc. Think of Activities as independent entities - you can start them, and you can optionally get a result back when they finish what they're doing, but that's it.
Think about whether you really have to programmatically close the activity from outside it - I'd say this is an unusual design, but there are circumstances where it may be appropriate.
If so, what I think you want is a publish/subscribe system whereby MyCustomActivity can register a listener with MyJavaClass, and then receive a callback whereupon it can 'finish' itself.
public Activity activity implements FinishListener
{
public void onCreate(...)
{
//where does MyJavaClass come from? see in a minute
MyJavaClass myjava = getMyJavaclass();
myJava.addFinishListener( this );
}
public void onFinishCallback()
{
this.finish();
}
}
and
public class MyJavaClass
{
private List<FinishListener> finishListeners = ...;
public void addFinishListener( FinishListener fl )
{
this.finishListeners.add(fl);
}
public closeActivity(Context context)
{
for ( FinishListener fl : finishListeners )
{
fl.onFinishCallback();
}
}
}
and
public interface FinishListener
{
void onFinishCallback();
}
Now the only remaining issue is how to get MyJavaClass from the Activity. That's up to you - you may already know how, you may be able to put it in your Application implementation, it could be a singleton (bad), the listeners could be static (bad) or various other options.
Oh, and don't forget to remove the listener again in the Activity's onDestroy() method!

Just try this....
public closeActivity(Activity _activity)
{
_activity.finish();
}

you can't finish activity from other class until you have the reference of instance of Activity in that class, give the reference in that class and call finish() method to stop the activity.
activity.finish();

How to always start from a startup activity on Android?

There are three different cases:
1) A user launches an app, navigates in it, pressed home and click on the app icon again to launch our app again.
2) A user launches an app, navigates in it, presses home, chooses recent and click on the app to launch our app again.
3) A user launches an app, navigates in it, click something in the app (TextView with a link), which calls another app (as example Email) and user clicks back button, which bring us back to our app.
I know about flag "clearTaskOnLaunch" flag, it solves case #1.
I know about about flag "excludeFromRecents", it solves case #2 (may be not the most user friendly solution, but it works).
What about case #3? I have a workaround right now. However, I will have to put it on all activities which can be lead to another app. I wonder, whether there is better way to solve it (without handling it in all such activities).

This should be handled on the Application level.
For API level 14, you can register an ActivityLifeCycleCallback in your Application class
public void registerActivityLifecycleCallbacks (Application.ActivityLifecycleCallbacks callback)
You can use it, to know on an Application level, which activities are destroyed, paused, resumed etc etc. Whenever, an activity is paused, without a new activity being created/resumed, you should clear the Activity stack, and re-launch your startActivity
If you target SDK versions < 14, you should implement your own method, to know which activities are created/resumed and paused, and do the same whenever an activity is paused, without a new activity being created/resumed

1) define a public static normalPause = true variable in a Class.
2) in onPause method of all of your activities set it false (I am worry. We might not be in a normal pause)
2) in onCreate method of all of your activities set it true (Do not worry. We are in a normal pause)
3) in onResume of all of your Activities:
if(!Utilities.normalPause)
{
this.finish()
}
Enjoy!

It seems a similar question has already been asked. It sounds like the OP came up with a working solution. How do I collapse "child activities"?
EDIT:
Instead of using a button you can use a boolean to tell whether or not you need to collapse back to the main activity. Have your root activity extend from Activity and the child activities extend from CollapsableActivity. To get this to work in all cases I added startOutsideActivity() and startOutsideActivityForResult().
import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
public class CollapsableActivity extends Activity {
private boolean returnToRoot;
public static final int COLLAPSE_BACK = -1; // something other than RESULT_CANEL (0)
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
returnToRoot = true;
}
#Override
protected void onStart() {
super.onStart();
returnToRoot = true;
}
#Override
protected void onRestart() {
super.onRestart();
// start collapsing the stack
if (returnToRoot) {
setResult(COLLAPSE_BACK);
finish();
}
}
#Override
public void startActivityForResult(Intent intent, int requestCode) {
super.startActivityForResult(intent, requestCode);
returnToRoot = false;
}
public void startOutsideActivityForResult(Intent intent, int requestCode) {
super.startActivityForResult(intent, requestCode);
returnToRoot = true;
}
#Override
public void startActivity(Intent intent) {
// call startActivityForResult to make sure and catch the collapse condition
super.startActivityForResult(intent, 0);
returnToRoot = false;
}
public void startOutsideActivity(Intent intent) {
super.startActivity(intent);
returnToRoot = true;
}
#Override
protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);
if (resultCode == COLLAPSE_BACK) {
returnToRoot = true;
}
}
}
This worked properly for me in all cases you listed. The only difference is you need to call startOutsideActivity() or startOutsideActivityForResult() when you navigate away from you app. Personally, I think this adds clarity to your intentions. Hope it helps!

I know you don't want to manage it in all activities but you can do this and still handle the code in one place with a super activity
public abstract class BlundellActivity extends Activity {
#Override
public void onPause(){
// Whatever strategy you want
}
}
public class SomeActivity extends BlundellActivity {
// Do whatever you normally want to do
}
public class SomeActivity extends BlundellActivity {
// Do whatever you normally want to do here as well
}

Perhaps, android:noHistory is what you're looking for. If you declare all your activities except StartupActivity with this attribute, then they will be finished as the user navigates away from them and only StartupActivity will appear.

You can try this steps:
use one boolean static flag isFinish in StartupActivity with default false value.
in onCreate() of StartupActivity set isFinish value to false.
write below code in onResume() method of all activities in your project.
if(isFinish)
{
finish();
}
set isFinish value to true when you open any native app like email, browser etc.
or
5 . set isFinish value to true in onBackPress() method whenever you want to close application on back press.
Case 6: if android browser open on clicking on any link then use below code is onPause() method
if(isBrowserRunning("com.android.browser"))
{
isFinish = true;
finish();
}
////////////////
private boolean isBrowserRunning(String processName)
{
ActivityManager manager = (ActivityManager) this.getSystemService(ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
String packageName = manager.getRunningTasks(1).get(0).topActivity.getPackageName();
Log.i("LogTest", "Current process package name: " + packageName);
return processName.equalsIgnoreCase(packageName);
}
You can create a sample project to know other browser package name like opera mini, US browser etc.
add below permission in manifest:
<uses-permission
android:name="android.permission.GET_TASKS" />

You can call this.finish() on the onPause() of your Activity, that way the activity will be closed in the three cases.

You need to use bundle and pass appropriate parameter/or parameters from the calling app (i.e. click something in the app (TextView with a link)).
Retrieve the parameter in the called app (Email app).
You can send the name of the activity in the parameter.
Now being in Email app(the called app) Click of back button navigate back to your calling application.
Optionally you can save the state of activity from the caller program, as required.
You need to use Bundle, and Intent to implement this logic.
Code snippet:
In the calling program, we need to store parameters/data required for back button functionality in the called program.
Bundle bndleData = new Bundle();
Use putString(), putInt() methods of Bundle class.
String prefix = getPackageName().toString();
(this prefix can be stored in application level constants.java file as applicable)
bndleData.putString("ParentActivity", this.getLocalClassName());
Also store additional parameters if required
bndleData.putString("paramName", valueofParamName);
bndleData.putInt("IntChannelImage", chImageInt);
Intent intent = new Intent(v.getContext(), AMRChannelPlayer.class);
intent.putExtra(prefix + "bndleChnlData", bndleData);
startActivity(intent);
Caller Program:
Retrive the data, activity nae from bundle and use it in back button implementation:
prefix = getPackageName().toString();
Bundle extras = getIntent().getBundleExtra(prefix + "bndleData");
String parentActivity = extras.getString("ParentActivity");
extras.getString("paramName");
I hope this helps you.

Instead of using multiple solutions you can use a single one that solves all the problems.
Check this answer:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/8576529/327011
With a Broadcast and BroadcastReceivers in each activities of your application you can kill all activities whenever your application goes to background.
UPDATE:
To detect if your application when to background you can use onStop, check this to understand the theory: Activity side-by-side lifecycle
And this is the implementation: https://stackoverflow.com/a/5862048/327011
I think this is all you need :-)