Develop Reference

How to create shortcuts from other android apps

I am looking for a way to create shortcuts from other apps.
Like launchs can query the apps that allow to create shortcuts and create them save them in thier program.
My API version is between M(21) to N7.1(25).
Even just a link or name of API it's fine. I just couldn't find it at all. All I found is about the new shortcut in android N.
Thx for ur time.

I found the way to do it. Since i don't see much info for this. I hope my share can help whoever is also looking for the answer.
So there will be 3 steps:
Get apps that can create shortcuts
Send Intent to the app that you want to create shortcut from
Get shortcut data in Activity.onActivityResult
1.
Since I just need to create shortcuts from certain apps. I skipped step one. But I guess using queryIntentActivities(...) or some other functions in PackageManager can get you the list.
Intent intent = new Intent("android.intent.action.CREATE_SHORTCUT");
PackageManager.queryIntentActitvies(intent,0);
2. Send intent to the app to create a shortcut.
Intent intent = new Intent("android.intent.action.CREATE_SHORTCUT");
intent.setComponent(...);
startActivityForResult(intent, requestCode);
3. Get data of shortcut:
Shortcut intent
Intent shortcutIntent = activityResultIntent.getParcelableExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_INTENT);
Shortcut name
String shortcutName = intent.getStringExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_NAME);
Shortcut icon
Bitmap shortcutIcon = intent.getParcelableExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_ICON);

How to start the standard Stopwatch activity in Android (particularly Andorid Wear) programmatically?

I am working on a launcher application for Android Wear, and would like to include icons for the default actions such as "Set Alarm", "Set Timer", "Show Alarms" or the Stopwatch.
I found the way to start alarm clock related activities using the following intents:
AlarmClock.ACTION_SET_TIMER or "android.intent.action.SET_TIMER"
AlarmClock.ACTION_SET_ALARM or "android.intent.action.SHOW_ALARMS"
AlarmClock.ACTION_SHOW_ALARMS or "android.intent.action.SET_ALARM"
I can start them by:
Intent i= new Intent(AlarmClock.ACTION_SET_TIMER);
i.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_RESET_TASK_IF_NEEDED);
context.startActivity(i);
If started without any extras, they simply bring up the corresponding UI. Perfect!
Except, I can't find the corresponding action for the Stopwatch. Do you know the intent? Where should I look?

Use #promanowicz 's answer like this:
Intent intent = new Intent("com.google.android.wearable.action.STOPWATCH" );
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK );
startActivity(intent);

Maybe this will help someone. At the moment there is intent action 'com.google.android.wearable.action.STOPWATCH' which you can use.
According to this training- Adding Voice Capabilities

The starting and stopping Stopwatch is not exposed via public API or intent

Android Start VPNClient (com.ipsec.vpnclient) Programmatically

I have an android application that requires VPN. My users will be using Galaxy Note 3's and will be using the built in "VPN Client" (com.ipsec.vpnclient). I need to find a way to launch this application from my application, in the instance of the VPN dropping. I've already figured out a way to determine if the VPN dropped, but I still need a way to launch the application.
ANSWER:
Thanks to help from #Muthu I was able to get it working with the following method.
final Intent intent = new Intent("android.intent.action.VIEW");
intent.setComponent(new ComponentName("com.ipsec.vpnclient", "com.ipsec.vpnclient.MainActivity"));
EDIT:
To add to the confusion, I am easily able to add a shortcut to the activity (com.ipsec.vpnclient.MainActivity) via another Launcher like ADW or Nova. I also tried using com.ipsec.vpnclient.MainActivity instead of com.ipsec.vpnclient in the method below, to no avail.
Intent intent = getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage("com.ipsec.vpnclient");
intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
startActivity(intent);
The above method works with other packages, but I can't seem to get this one to launch.
Here is the application when viewed in Android System Info.
Any ideas on how to launch this application programmatically?

You can Start any installed application by using intent. in your case like this
Intent LaunchVPN = getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage("com.ipsec.vpnclient");
startActivity( LaunchVPN );
Edit
You can open pre installed apps that can be found inside settings page by
final Intent i = new Intent("android.intent.action.VIEW");
i.setComponent(new ComponentName("com.android.settings","com.android.settings.InstalledAppDetails"));
startActivity(i);

Android: Starting An Activity For A Different Third Party App

I'm working on an app and I want to integrate the Last.fm app into it. Basically, when someone is looking at an artist in my app, I would like to have a button that they can tap to open up Last.fm application with the artist's information.
This intent works, but it loads a menu asking which app I would like to use (Browser or Last.fm):
Intent i = new Intent();
i.setData(Uri.parse("http://last.fm/music/" + headliner));
i.setAction("android.intent.action.VIEW");
startActivity(i);
However, I just want to start the Last.fm app and skip the dialog asking which app to use, I thought maybe using the setPackage() method would work like this:
i.setPackage("fm.last.android");
But it causes the app to crash:
android.content.ActivityNotFoundException: No Activity found to handle Intent { act=android.intent.action.VIEW dat=http://last.fm/music/Rihanna pkg=fm.last.android }
Is it possible to just start the Last.fm app? Here's a copy of Last.fm's AndroidManifest.xml for reference.
Thanks for reading,
Tony

Yes, it's possible but you need to know the correct component name. Launch the last.fm app regularly and check the logfile for the cmp=... information that's been used when the app is started. Use this as well in your app then.
I start the Z-DeviceTest app from the market from within my app without a problem like this:
final Intent intentDeviceTest = new Intent("android.intent.action.MAIN");
intentDeviceTest.setComponent(new ComponentName("zausan.zdevicetest","zausan.zdevicetest.zdevicetest"));
startActivity(intentDeviceTest);
in my case the info I took from the logcat was:
// dat=content://applications/applications/zausan.zdevicetest/zausan.zdevicetest.zdevicetest
// cmp=zausan.zdevicetest/.zdevicetest
in order to know how to start the app with the right component/class... do the same for the last.fm app
Edit:
I've tested to launch Last.fm from my own app, and this works fine without any errors:
final Intent intentDeviceTest = new Intent("android.intent.action.MAIN");
intentDeviceTest.setComponent(new ComponentName("fm.last.android","fm.last.android.LastFm"));
startActivity(intentDeviceTest);

Accessing Android Inbox/Messaging from Activity?

Is it possible to open up the default Android Messaging activity from inside an activity you write yourself? Like for example: I press a "Mail" button inside my program, and it opens the Android Messaging app just like as if I was to press the Messaging icon on the main screen.
I did something similar to this with the Contacts activity, but only the contact list comes up, no extra functionality like Adding/Modifying/Deleting, etc.
Any ideas?
edit: I found this way to open the "Compose New Message" Activity, I just need to back it up a step. Does anyone know the correct MIME type instead of this one?
Intent sendIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
sendIntent.setType("vnd.android-dir/mms-sms");
m_activity.startActivity(sendIntent);

This starts the messaging app from another app:
Intent intent = new Intent("android.intent.action.MAIN");
intent.setComponent(new ComponentName("com.android.mms","com.android.mms.ui.ConversationList"));
startActivity(intent);
Just put it inside a button listener or whatever user input you want to open it from.
Enjoy :-)

If you want to open the messaging app to view messages and not for sending a message, this should do the job:
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_LAUNCHER);
intent.setPackage("com.google.android.apps.messaging");
startActivity(intent);