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Re-launch current activity using intent

For an App I am developing, I want to re-launch the current activity using an intent. So I'm in MainActivity.class and I want to re-launch MainActivity.class using the following:
Intent intent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), MainActivity.class);
This calls onDestroy() but does not re-launch the activity. Why doesn't this work?

If your are in an Activity: this.recreate();
If your are in a Fragment: getActivity.recreate();
Related Links :
How do I restart an Android Activity
how do I restart an activity in android?
Android activity restart

You could just use:
finish();
startActivity(getIntent());
Which will finish the current activity, and start a new activity with the same intent that you received when the activity was originally created. This should effectively re-launch the activity as is.
Edit:
See Reload activity in Android

Just do this:
Intent i=getIntent();//This simply returns the intent in which the current Activity is started
finish();//This would simply stop the current Activity.
startActivity(i);//This would start a new Activity.

Include this one ...
startActivity(intent);

How do I force an activity to use the intent extras I pass it?

I have a stack of activities, and use the following code to bring the main activity to the 'active' state:
Intent i = getBaseContext().getPackageManager()
.getLaunchIntentForPackage(getBaseContext().getPackageName());
i.putExtra("clearCache", true);
i.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);
startActivity(i);
The problem is that when I try to retrieve the clearCache extra, a call to getIntent().getExtras() returns null.
My understanding is that because the activity that I'm launching was already on the stack, and because I set the Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP flag, the Intent that gets returned will be the original intent.
How do I access the calling intent in the activity I'm launching?

In the google documentation on FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP, you should be getting the new intent each time:
"If set, and the activity being launched is already running in the current task, then instead of launching a new instance of that activity, all of the other activities on top of it will be closed and this Intent will be delivered to the (now on top) old activity as a new Intent."
...
"The currently running instance of activity B in the above example will either receive the new intent you are starting here in its onNewIntent() method, or be itself finished and restarted with the new intent. If it has declared its launch mode to be "multiple" (the default) and you have not set FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP in the same intent, then it will be finished and re-created; for all other launch modes or if FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP is set then this Intent will be delivered to the current instance's onNewIntent()."
For more details take a look here:
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Intent.html#FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP
Hope that helps!

You just change your code by passing the particular Activity name and keep the rest of code as it is,
Intent i = new Intent(MapActivity.this, MainActivity.class);
i.putExtra("clearCache", true);
i.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);
startActivity(i);

FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP calls onCreate() instead of onResume()

So I have an abstract class extended through the entire app that overrides the back key to reorder Activity A to the front (With the flag).
So, it would be:
A > B > anywhere, and the back key should bring me back to A
I'm using the FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP, but it is entirely refreshing A for some reason and I don't want that.
So: Flag_activity_clear_top is reloading the onCreate() rather than onResume(). What gives?

If you want the activity to just be brought to the top without restarting it set the launchMode of the activity to singleTop in the manifest. You will receive a call to onNewIntent when the activity is being brought to the top. onNewIntent is called before onResume. If you only want this behavior for the specific intent you can add the FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP(in addition to FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP) to the intent with the addFlags call instead of the manifest.

Intent intent = new Intent(CurrentActivity.this, ActivityNeedOnTop.class);
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP);
startActivity(intent);
CurrentActivity.this.finish();

From the API docs for FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP
For example, consider a task consisting of the activities:
A, B, C, D. If D calls startActivity() with an Intent that
resolves to the component of activity B, then C and D
will be finished and B receive the given Intent,
resulting in the stack now being: A, B.
**The currently running instance of activity B in the above example
will either receive the new intent you are starting here in its
onNewIntent() method, or be itself finished and restarted with the new intent.**
So I think your activity is itself finished and restarted.

How to switch activities in Android?

Now I have 3 activities, activity1, activity2 and activity3. I open the activities in order and never close any of them. So now I am in activity3, but I want to go back to activity1 and it must be the one which I opened. Is there any way to do that?

start activity 1 from 3 with FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP flag:
Intent intent = new Intent ( this, Activity1.class );
intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);
startActivity(intent);

according to developer doc, you should use FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP into the intent you want to start.
FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP :
If set, and the activity being launched is already running in the
current task, then instead of launching a new instance of that
activity, all of the other activities on top of it will be closed and
this Intent will be delivered to the (now on top) old activity as a
new Intent.
use addFlags before start back activity1.

finish() activity twice in android?

Okay say your using a app, and you opened a new activity and then opened another, you can end the activity your on by using finish(); and your back one activity, but how can you go back two activities, all the way back to the first one? I know you could use:
Intent savedGameIntent = new Intent(v.getContext(), firstclass.class);
v.getContext().startActivity(savedGameIntent);
But is that the best way to do it?

Use the flag Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP.
Intent intent = new Intent(this,A.class);
intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);
startActivity(intent);
From the documentation:
If set, and the activity being launched is already running in the current task, then instead of launching a new instance of that activity, all of the other activities on top of it will be closed and this Intent will be delivered to the (now on top) old activity as a new Intent.
So effectively, if you have A -> B -> C, and you intent to A with that flag set, B and C will close.

I believe that will start a new activity, not back up to the original one. It sounds like you want to finish the last and middle activities. If you start the last activity with startActivityForResult, you can then override onActivityResult in the middle activity, and call finish() from there.