Develop Reference

How to remove specific activity from the stack

Lets put we 3 activates that may follow the stack A->B->C
How can I close A and keep B->C, but only if B opens C?
C is not always opened, but if it gets opened only then A should be removed, leaving the stack as B->C. Otherwise will remain as A->B.
I don't see the possibility of using finish() in A, as it should be closed from B when opening C.
By the way A is a single instance with its own affinity.

Write an abstract BaseActivity class and implement a LocalBroadcastManager in it and register a BroadcastReceiver. Note that we have also introduced an abstract onFinishReceived method.
public abstract class BaseActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
private LocalBroadcastManager mLBM;
private final BroadcastReceiver receiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
onFinishReceived(intent.getStringExtra("activity"));
}
}
protected void onCreate(#Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
...
mLBM = LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(this);
IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter();
filter.addAction(...);
mLBM.registerReceiver(receiver, filter);
}
protected void onDestroy() {
mLBM.unregisterReceiver(receiver);
mLBM = null;
}
abstract void onFinishReceived(String activity);
}
Then, extend all A, B and C Activities from the BaseActivity and override the onFinishReceived() method.
public class A extends BaseActivity {
void onFinishReceived(String activity) {
if (activity.equals("A") { // or "B" or "C"
finish();
}
}
}
}
Now, whenever you want to finish a specific activity use,
LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(context)
.sendBroadcast(new Intent()
.setAction(...)
.putExtra("activity", "A") // or "B" or "C"
);
LocalBroadcastManager is now deprecated. It's better if you can use something like RxJava. The idea is to use an asynchronous and event-based mechanism rather than going for a simple ugly solution like storing the Activity in a static variable.

Calling finish() in onStop()

What happens when finish() method is called in onStop() method?
Does it causes anr : means it calls
onPause()->onStop()->finish()->onPause()....
or it finishes the activity : means it calls directly
onDestroy()
Actually, I want to finish my activity when it is completely invisible.
EDIT:
See this scenario, I launch an activity B whose layout height and
width is smaller than activity A, so activity A is partially visible
and when I press the home button activity A becomes completely
invisible. At this point I want to close activity A, so that it do not
call onRestart().
Thanks in advance.

It finishes the activity and onDestroy() is called. If you want to finish your activity when it is invisible then you should call finish() in onStop().

according to your scenario, maintain one flag in MainActivity indicating that other Activity is launched or not? and make sure yourself to finish MainActivity or not based on that flag ...
this may help you...
public class MyActivity extends Activity {
private boolean isSecondActivityLaunched;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
}
#Override
protected void onResume() {
super.onResume();
isSecondActivityLaunched = false;
}
public void onClick(View view) {
Intent intent = new Intent(this, SecondActivity.class);
startActivity(intent);
isSecondActivityLaunched = true;
}
#Override
protected void onStop() {
super.onStop();
if(!isSecondActivityLaunched) {
finish();
}
}
}

It will be best way in your case to call finish() ;
Thanks

Keep record of launched activities in Android

I was wondering how to keep a record of launched activites for logging purposes. what broadcast receiver I have to subscribe to intercept this intent? or what intent-filter to use? I figure that I must use some type of long-running service in the background.
My first objetive is to track main-focus applications, some sort of history.
Want to get finally some similar to:
- Launched app com.android.xxx
- Launched app xx.yy.zz
- App xx.yy.zz lost focus
Thanks in advance
EDIT - Just see that app MyAppRank , that does exactly what i mean

What i'm able to figure out from your question is that you want to keep track of all the activities when they are launched in your application. If that is correct, the solution may work for you:
Crate a BaseActivity which all of your Activities should extend
public class BaseActivity extends Activity
{
private Activity activity;
public static final String INTENTFILTER_TRACK_MY_ACTIVITIES="INTENTFILTER_TRACK_MY_ACTIVITIES";
public static final String INTENTFILTER_REMOVE_MY_ACTIVITIES="INTENTFILTER_REMOVE_MY_ACTIVITIES";
public void setActivity(Activity act)
{
activity = act;
}
public Activity getActivity()
{
return activity;
}
#Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setAction(INTENTFILTER_TRACK_MY_ACTIVITIES);
intent.putExtra("activityName", activity.getClass().getSimpleName());
sendBroadcast(intent);
}
#Override protected void onDestroy()
{
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
super.onDestroy();
Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setAction(INTENTFILTER_REMOVE_MY_ACTIVITIES);
intent.putExtra("activityName", activity.getClass().getSimpleName());
sendBroadcast(intent);
setActivity(null);
}
}
Now extend above BaseActivity for all your activities. i.e instead of extending your Activities should extend BaseActivity and call setActivity(this); in onCreate like below:
public class MyActivity extends Activity
{
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setActivity(this);
//write your other code form here
}
}
3.Then write a BroadcastReceiver like below:
class TrackActivitiesReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver
{
private static final Object SEPERATOR = ",";// use , as seperator
String sb="";
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent)
{
if(intent.getAction().equalsIgnoreCase(BaseActivity.INTENTFILTER_TRACK_MY_ACTIVITIES))
{
sb+=intent.getStringExtra("activityName");
sb+=SEPERATOR;
}
else if(intent.getAction().equalsIgnoreCase(BaseActivity.INTENTFILTER_REMOVE_MY_ACTIVITIES))
{
sb=sb.replace(intent.getStringExtra("activityName")+SEPERATOR, "");
}
}}
4Finally, Register above Receiver in your AndroidManifest.xml
<receiver
android:name="TrackActivitiesReceiver"
android:exported="false" >
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="INTENTFILTER_TRACK_MY_ACTIVITIES" />
</intent-filter>
</receiver>
Hope this solves your problem. cheers!

There are no Intents broadcast when applications are started or when applications come to the foreground. There isn't anything that you can hook into as a listener to get these events.
The way you can do this (which is the way apps like MyAppRank do it) is to use the methods of the ActivityManager:
getRunningTasks()
getRunningAppProcesses()
getRecentTasks()
You create a Service which runs all the time and at regular intervals calls methods of the ActvityManager to determine which task is in the foreground and you can "infer" what the user has done (or is doing). It isn't an exact science.
Note: You will need android.permission.GET_TASKS and none of this works anymore as of API 21 (Android 5, Lollipop). As of API 21 the security has been tightened and an application can only get information about its own tasks, not other tasks in the system.

Remove an activity from the stack

I have three activities ActivityA, ActivityB, ActivityC.
Suppose in ActivityA, there is some code like...
if(someCondition()){
gotoActivityB();
}
else{
gotoActivityC();
}
Now, If user goes to ActivityB, ActivityA should not be finished.
If he goes to ActivityC, it should be finished.
Adding noHistory in manifest file doesn't work.
Also, finish()in if condition doesn't work, As there are many activities after ActivityC in which ActivityA should be in background.
I don't want to call startActivity(context,ActivityA.class)in those activities onBackPressed() because, it will again execute code of onCreate() in ActivityA.
So, is there a way, where i can remove ActivityA from the stack when user presses back button in ActivityB?
may be something like this:?
ActivityB.this.finish();
ActivityA.finish(); //some code to finish ActivityA

Okay, here is one way you can accomplish your goal. You will need to pass around the Activity context to wherever you need it in order to call finish() on it. I used the Application class to do this. I only used two classes to do it for the sake of time, but it should work just fine for your purposes. Here is how I did it:
This is the first class. It is the Activity that we want to close from another Activity.
public class MainActivity extends Activity implements OnClickListener {
private Button button;
// application instance
private MainApplication mainApplication;
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
mainApplication = (MainApplication) getApplicationContext();
// set the Activity's context for later usage. Doing this determines which
// Activity can be closed from another Activity.
mainApplication.setActivityContext(this);
button = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button1);
button.setOnClickListener(this);
}
public void onClick(View v) {
switch (v.getId()) {
case R.id.button1:
Intent i = new Intent(this, SecondActivity.class);
startActivity(i);
break;
}
}
}
This is the Second Activity. Exiting out of it will also cause finish() to be called on the first class:
public class SecondActivity extends Activity {
private Activity activityContext;
private MainApplication mainApplication;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.second_activity_layout);
mainApplication = (MainApplication) getApplicationContext();
// get the Activity context you stored in the MainApplication class
// so you can call finish on it.
activityContext = mainApplication.getActivityContext();
}
#Override
protected void onPause() {
super.onPause();
// closes your defined Activity. If you press the back button you will find
// that you exit right out of the app as the other Activity gets popped off
// the stack.
activityContext.finish();
}
}
And the Application class:
public class MainApplication extends Application {
private Activity activityContext;
public Activity getActivityContext() {
return activityContext;
}
public void setActivityContext(Activity activityContext) {
this.activityContext = activityContext;
}
}
And of course make sure to declare your MainApplication class in the AndroidManifest:
<application
android:name=".MainApplication"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_launcher"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:theme="#style/AppTheme" >
This is a sort of hacky way to do this. There may be better ways. But regardless, you have to pass around the context of the Activity that you want to call finish() on. Then you can close it from anywhere.

Hi you can finish your activity in current activity itself based on the condition. or use StartActivityforResult based on the result you can finish your activity.
hope this will help you.

You can try this in another way, like i do.
Create a static instance variable of the activity in the beginning.
private static Activity1 thisAct = null; // Activity1 is name of class
Now initialize this variable in onCreate() method
thisAct = this;
Create a static method which will finish this activity
public static void finishActivity()
{
thisAct.finish();
}

While going to Activity C, clear the FLAG :
Intent cIntent = new Intent(view.getContext(), cActivity.class).setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);
startActivity(cIntent);

Notification opens activity, press back button, prevent opening back stack activity?

This looks very similar to my previous question because it's some sort of follow up. I was not very happy with the only solution given; also, the solution was for a problem slightly different from this one. So let me try to explain the problem again...
A notification is created at boot (with a BroadcastReceiver).
My app main activity is opened and the home button is pressed (the activity will be sent to the back stack).
I pull down the status bar and press on the notification previously created at boot.
That will start some activity, different from the main one.
I press the back button and the main activity is displayed.
This is not very different from my previous question... The thing is, "main activity" was just an example. I could have opened the app main activity and then opened the about activity through a menu option and pressed the home button. The back stack would now be MainActivity » AboutActivity. Which means that when the back button is pressed while in "some activity" (started by pressing the notification), we would be brought to the top of the back stack, that is, the about activity.
What basically want is to prevent any other activity to be opened when I press the back button while in "some activity" (again, started by pressing the notification). I want to be brought exactly where I was, that could be the desktop or some other app's activity, but not my app's MainActivity nor AboutAcitivity cause that's not where I was, those were in the back stack, "sleeping" in the background.
I have come up with a solution, but I don't think it's very elegant and I was looking for something more, well, elegant... If you have any other suggestion, please, let me know.
Anyway, this is my proposed solution:
// I use this class for public static (or public static final) members and
// methods
public final class AppHelper {
public static final String KEY_RESUME_FROM_NOTIFICATION = "resumeFromNotification";
private static boolean sResumeFromNotification = false;
public static boolean getResumeFromNotification() {
return sResumeFromNotification;
}
public static void setResumeFromNotification(boolean resumeFromNotification) {
sResumeFromNotification = resumeFromNotification;
}
}
public class MainActivity extends ListActivity {
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
(...)
}
#Override
protected void onResume() {
super.onResume();
if(AppHelper.getResumeFromNotification()) {
AppHelper.setResumeFromNotification(false);
moveTaskToBack(true);
}
}
}
public class AboutActivity extends Activity {
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
(...)
}
#Override
protected void onResume() {
super.onResume();
if(AppHelper.getResumeFromNotification()) {
AppHelper.setResumeFromNotification(false);
moveTaskToBack(true);
}
}
}
public class SomeActivity extends Activity {
// This will be called when the notification is pressed and the activity is
// not opened yet
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
(...)
extractIntentExtras(intent);
}
// This will be called if the activity is already opened and the
// notification is pressed
#Override
protected void onNewIntent(Intent intent) {
extractIntentExtras(intent);
super.onNewIntent(intent);
}
private void extractIntentExtras(Intent intent) {
Bundle bundleExtras = intent.getExtras();
if(bundleExtras != null) {
// These intent extras are set on the Intent that starts this activity
// when the notification is pressed
AppHelper.setResumeFromNotification(bundleExtras.getBoolean(
AppHelper.KEY_RESUME_FROM_NOTIFICATION));
mRowId = bundleExtras.getLong(AgendaNotesAdapter.KEY_ROW_ID);
populateNoteUpdateFields();
}
}
}
I don't know, but this solution doesn't look very elegant to me (but it works as I expect it) and I'm looking for alternatives or for strong opinions on my proposed solution as an acceptable and good solution. Thoughts?

After doing some more reading perhaps this is the combination of flags you need:
Intent intent = new Intent(mContext, SomeActivity.class);
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_MULTIPLE_TASK);
startActivity(intent);
I think that should force your SomeActivity class to be launched in a completely new task.

When launching the Activity from the notification, you can control how the Activity you are about to open is put on the back stack, and what task it's associated with with Intent flags. You can try something like:
Intent intent = new Intent(mContext, SomeActivity.class);
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
startActivity(intent);
If that doesn't work, try setting a few of the other flags until you get the desired behavior.

Do you ever want your MainActivity to stay in history? If not then my simple, crude solution is to finish the MainActivity when it is paused.
(Call this in your MainActivity)
#Override
public void onPause() {
finish();
}
This will ensure that your MainActivity is removed from history when you navigate away from it, and will never appear when the back button is pressed.
This could be used for AboutActivity as well.