Develop Reference

POC - Start Service on boot without an Activity - Android 4+

This question may seem a trivial but I've been struggling with it.
I'm trying to start a service on boot and everything works fine if I start it at least once from the mainActivity (launch activity), something like:
AndroidManifest.xml
...
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED" />
...
<activity
android:name="com.example.mainActivity"
android:label="#string/app_name" >
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
<receiver android:name="com.example.bootReceiver" android:enabled="true" android:exported="false">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED"/>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.QUICKBOOT_POWERON" />
</intent-filter>
</receiver>
<service android:name="com.example.someService" android:enabled="true" android:exported="false"/>
...
bootReceiver.java
...
startService(new Intent(getApplicationContext(), com.example.someService.class));
...
mainActivity.java
...
startService(new Intent(getApplicationContext(), com.example.someService.class));
...
With the above code I'm able to run the service after every boot without any problems.
As a POC, I'm trying to start a service without any activity, or at least without the mainActivity, just by declaring the service on the AndroidManifest.xml or by creating new activity (invisible?) that is launched at the same time as the default launcher activity.
As far a I know, this isn't possible on android 3+ (4+?) due to security reasons.
Is there any way to achieve this ?
Can I start 2 activities from the AndroiManifest.xml when the user launches the app?
I'm sorry if my question isn't 100% clear, I've tried to explain it the best I could, if you cannot understand it, please leave a comment bellow. Tks.

As far a I know, this isn't possible on android 3+ (4+?) due to security reasons.
Android 3.1, actually, to help prevent drive-by malware.
Is there any way to achieve this ?
Something has to use an explicit Intent to invoke some form of IPC on one of your components, to move the app out of the so-called "stopped state" that is preventing you from receiving the broadcast. So, something needs to either:
start one of your activities via an explicit Intent, or
start one of your services via an explicit Intent, or
send a broadcast to one of your receivers via an explicit Intent
(I don't know if trying to connect to a ContentProvider will work, though arguably it should)
The key is the explicit Intent. That's why invoking an activity from a home screen launcher works, because the Intent used to start your activity will be an explicit one.
However, in the absence of such an activity, you would need to find something else that would use an explicit Intent to invoke one of your components. Certain specialized services (e.g., an input method) probably get invoked with an explicit Intent if and when the user activates that app's capability via the system Settings app. If you're a plugin for some other app, that other app might use an explicit Intent to work with one of your components. You can ask the user to install the Android SDK, learn how to use the command line, and invoke an adb shell am command to start one of your components. And that's about all I can think of off the top of my head. None are exactly general purpose solutions.
or by creating new activity (invisible?) that is launched at the same time as the default launcher activity
I have no idea what you think that would achieve. If the user starts up your launcher activity, you're already out of the stopped state and will receive broadcasts as normal.

I am making an app and want to know when the app is uninstalling

I am making an app and want to know when the app is uninstalling. For doing it, I used BroadcastReceiver but I don't know where is my code is wrong? (when my app is uninstalling, BroadcastReceiver can't receive any message about uninstalling)
It's my app's Manifest:
<receiver android:name="receiver">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.PACKAGE_ADDED"/>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.PACKAGE_DATA_CLEARED"/>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.PACKAGE_INSTALL"/>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.UID_REMOVED"/>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.PACKAGE_REMOVED"/>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MEDIA_REMOVED"/>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MEDIA_BAD_REMOVAL"/>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.BATTERY_OKAY"/>
<data android:scheme="com.example.testpermission"/>
</intent-filter>

You cannot get an event when your own app is uninstalling. See here. There is also a post on the subject here.

You can't, but if you have second installed application on the device - you can get notification via that application about the uninstallation of the first one (as far as I remember).
I believe that the application cannot monitor its own uninstall from two reasons:
It will make it much harder to uninstall application (some evil apps might even try to do something bad when their application is being removed).
If you remove application - you cannot run it, or send it events! The app should be closed for clean deletion.
About how to do it from second app:
Your second app should be a receiver to the ACTION_PACKAGE_REMOVED event (read about BroadcastReceiver, and see: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Intent.html#ACTION_PACKAGE_REMOVED)

Restarting an app via an external Broadcast Receiver

I have implemented an app that is basically a custom app store for updating and launching a family of related apps. It also needs to update itself, which works, but the app is killed without warning during the install process. I want to automatically restart the app in this case so that the user can continue to use it immediately after an update.
So I made a separate application including only a single Broadcast Receiver that listens for package events for the first app's package name and starts a new activity. That receiver is never called:
<application android:icon="#drawable/ic_launcher"
android:label="#string/app_name">
<receiver android:name=".AppUpdateReceiver">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.PACKAGE_REPLACED"/>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.PACKAGE_ADDED"/>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.PACKAGE_INSTALL"/>
<data android:scheme="package" />
</intent-filter>
</receiver>
In searching for similar implementations I have seen directly contradictory information on whether an application with only a receiver will ever execute, and whether a receiver will be called if its app is not already running. I've even come across example code of an application containing only a receiver, with a manifest very similar to my own. So what do I need in this application to ensure that the receiver is called whenever another package is installed?
If there is a better solution, I'd be happy to hear it.

Depending on the version of Android, you might need to start an application component in order for the BroadcastReceiver to be registered. By this I mean there will need to be a launcher Activity which must be started manually by the user.
From Honeycomb (I think) onwards it isn't possible to have application components 'active' unless the app has been manually started in some way. The reasoning behind this is the potential for insecure code executing without the end-users' knowledge.
I suspect this is what you're experiencing. To test it, add a simple "Hello World" Activity to the app that has the BroadcastReceiver in it. Launch the Activity and then check to see if the BroadcastReceiver then gets called after your other package is updated.

How to solve foreclose problem in start up my application?

I am developing an android application,I want to my application automatically invoked,when I switch on my device.so i used this permission <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED" /> in my application's manifest.xml file and i used service , activity and register Broadcast receiver in manifest.xml file.but I got foreclose error appear in when will i start up my device.How solve this proplem.
My Receiver code given bellow
context.startActivity(new Intent(context,ServicesDemo.class));
//In my mainfest.xml for myReceiver
<receiver android:name=".MyReceiver">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.HOME" />
</intent-filter> </receiver>
I got this exception java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start receiver com.servicedemo.MyReceiver: android.util.AndroidRuntimeException: Calling startActivity() from outside of an Activity context requires the FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK flag. Is this really what you want?

I am developing an android application,I want to my application automatically invoked,when I switch on my device
Users generally hate that with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. Please make this configurable and disabled by default.
Also, bear in mind that if too many developers abuse this, the core Android team is likely to prevent you from starting an activity at boot time.
How solve this proplem
Do what the error message told you to do: add the FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK flag to your Intent.

I want my Android app to know when another application has been started

I would like my app to do something when another application is opened.
The current approach I have taken is to create a broadcast receiver that monitors all
android.intent.action.MAIN
events, but either I am not doing it correctly or the way I am going about it is incorrect. The section of the manifest looks like this:
<receiver android:name=".GetApp">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</receiver>
I included the launcher category just as a test. GetApp currently is only set to make a log entry when called.
If anyone has any experience doing something like this your help would be greatly appreciated!

After doing some more digging in the Android documentation I found that a broadcast receiver would not pick up on an app starting because it goes through createActivity(). Calls to createActivity() are not considered broadcasts and therefore cannot be received by broadcast receiver.