Develop Reference

Android: calling Activities explicitly using Intent Url scheme

im trying to understand how Intent URL's working in android . i know that i can make implicit call to activities which has a intent-filter set in AndroidManifest file . but as far I've read we can call application Activities which has no intent-filter set in AndroidManifest . i tried some cases but i couldn't make it happen . i wrote a simple application with some Activities (no intent-filter) but i couldn't run them using Intent URL . and i couldn't find any useful example on explicit intent url's in the internet (and stackoverflow) .
so i'd be thankful if anyone could provide a simple exmple for explicit Activity calls using intent url's or a brief explanation .
Regards,
Mohammad

This is a little late for this answer, But for future reference, I'm thinking by Intent Url you mean the Uri of your intent.
There is an easy to find the Uri format of any intent (explicit or implicit) just by declaring an Intent object with those parameters in java and then calling the toUri method which gives you the String format of that intent. You can then use it in your web page to communicate with your app.
Intent intent = new Intent(this, SomeActivity.class);
String intentUri = intent.toUri(0);

Different types of Android Intents

I have recently started a new Android project and I'm working off the previous developer's code. I'm relatively new to Android and I've come across something that I'm unsure of.
What is the difference between this:
Intent intent = new Intent("com.example.project.MENU");
and this:
Intent intent = new Intent(this, DisplayMenu.class);
I understand what the 2nd code snippet does, I just can't get my head around as to what the first one is doing? Is it referencing the file in the package? Thanks

The first one is an implicit intent, while the second is an explicit intent.
The first one fired an Intent for the action com.example.project.MENU. If you look inside you project AndroidManifest.xml you can see some <intent-filter> balise. This baslise register activity, service or broadcast receiver to different actions.
This mecanism can be used to allow third party app to launch some of your activities.
You can see more on this tutorial http://www.vogella.com/tutorials/AndroidIntent/article.html#intenttypes

Basically an Intent carries some information that are used by the system in order to determine which component should be called for executing the action.
These information are:
Component name: the name of the component that should be launched. (If present the Intent is Explicit)
Action: it specifies the generic action that should be executed (es. ACTION_VIEW, ACTION_SEND). It determines how the rest of the intent is strucutred.
Data: represents the URI that refers to the object that should be associated with the action. For example with the action ACTION_EDIT, the Data should contain the URI of the document that you want modify.
Category: Additional infromation (for example if you want that your app is shown in the launcher you can use CATEGORY_LAUNCHER)
Extras: keys-values pairs that carries additional information
Flags: it is like a metadata that specify how the intent should be managed by the system.
The Intent class provides a lot of different constructors.
The first one you asked for is public Intent (String action)
So, this sets the Action, and lets null all other fields.
The second one public Intent (Context packageContext, Class<?> cls) creates an intent for a specific component by its Component name. All other fields are null. This is a Explicit Intent, since you declare exactly which component should receive it.

The first one is used when you need to call Intent from System
such as Open Camera, Gallery, or Share something to other Application
for example
// this one call Camera to Capture Image
Intent intent = new Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
// this one call gallery to let you select image
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_PICK, MediaStore.Images.Media.EXTERNAL_CONTENT_URI);
and That MediaStore.something here is just a Path to the system
for example
MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE = "android.media.action.IMAGE_CAPTURE"
Intent.ACTION_PICK = "android.intent.action.PICK"

The first type of intent is mostly used if you want to open another application from your application while the second type of intent is used to open another activity in your application.

Make Intent.ACTION_VIEW accept multiple URIs

I want to launch some apps which accept geo coordinates (http://developer.android.com/training/sharing/send.html). The problem is that they want different URIs.
Example (pseudo code):
Intent intent = new Intent(android.content.Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.addSomeUri("http://maps.google.com/maps/?daddr="+myAddress);
intent.addSomeUri("http://someotherservice.com/?coordinates="+myLat+":"+myLng+"&address=myAddress");
EDIT:
Of course the goal is for both apps to appear in the same activity chooser.
How can I achieve it?

How can I achieve it?
Call startActivity() (or startService() or whatever) once per Uri.

Do you really want to launch every app?
If not, you have simpler way
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setData(Uri.parse("geo:30.0, 120.0"));
startActivity(intent);

How (i.e., what intent action) to start the set up email account activity (add new email account activity) of the email application

From within my app, I'd like to start the set up new email account activity of the Email App which looks like this: http://i.stack.imgur.com/BNYnj.png
I've looked at this http://source-android.frandroid.com/packages/apps/Email/AndroidManifest.xml
and tried to start the set up email activity:
Intent intent = new Intent("com.android.email.CREATE_ACCOUNT");
startActivity(intent);
But I got an exception:
E/AndroidRuntime(517): android.content.ActivityNotFoundException: No Activity found to handle Intent { act=com.android.email.CREATE_ACCOUNT }
Anyone please help me?
Thanks so much,
John

you could try using an explicit intent. instead of
new Intent("com.android.email.CREATE_ACCOUNT")
use
new Intent(context, com.android.email.activity.setup.AccountSetupBasics.class)
you may also want to look into the whole ACTION_ADD_ACCOUNT action string. it may do what you are looking for without having to use a SPECIFIC app. for example, when an oem installs a different email app from the stock android one. if it happens there won't be anything to handle either the explicity or implicit intent.

This works for from APIs 4.0+.
Intent intent = new Intent("com.android.email.CREATE_ACCOUNT");
intent.putExtra("FLOW_MODE", 0);
startActivity(intent);
Below works for from APIs 2.1+. Maybe also work for lower versions (not tested).
Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setClassName("com.android.email", "com.android.email.activity.setup.AccountSetupBasics");
intent.putExtra("FLOW_MODE", 0);
startActivity(intent);

How do we find the information for launching other app?

I need to allow user to draw/sketch/paint something. There are already many apps(like Skitch, I will use this as an example) that accomplish this task. So I don't want to re-invent the wheel.
In Android, theoretically, we can launch other activity by intent. This is sort of like "pipe" in Unix.
The problem is, I don't know how to get the information for launching Skitch.
To integrate Skitch in my app, I need to know the Action it supports, the returning intent (if any) when it finishes.
I installed Skitch, photoshop, and lots of other touch drawing apps in my device, but this code doesn't work :
Uri data = Uri.fromFile(file);
Intent i = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_EDIT);
i.setData(data);
i.setType("image/*");
startActivityForResult(i, ACTIVITY_DRAW);
I can launch Skitch from my app in the following way: but obviously I can't get any returned result this way(code from here).
Intent i = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
PackageManager manager = getPackageManager();
i = manager.getLaunchIntentForPackage("com.evernote.skitch");
i.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_LAUNCHER);
startActivity(i);
My question: Is there a standard way to find information for launching a third party app?
Is this site the only way to share/get such information?
Or if you have any suggestions for my problem, please help me.
Thank you!

As you might already know how to call another application Activity from your app ..this way Mentioned Here.
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_RUN);
intent.setComponent(new ComponentName("<packet name>", "<class name>"));
List list = packageManager.queryIntentActivities(intent, packageManager.COMPONENT_ENABLED_STATE_DEFAULT);
if(list.size() > 0)
{
Log.i("Log", "Have application" + list.size());
startActivity(intent);
}
else
{
Log.i("Log", "None application");
}
All your require is Mainly Two Things to call any Activity
1) Package Name of that Activity
2) Activity Class Name
These two informations only can be available if they are opensource or made free to use .. like Zxing,Google Maps Application.
There is another way to start an application activity like,
Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_CALL);
intent.setData(Uri.parse("tel:" + numberField.getText())); // set the Uri
startActivity(intent);
For this way to use need to know the correct Action for the Activity you want to call and the Correct parameter to pass with.
And again,These information only can be available if they are opensource or made free to use .. like Facebook and Gmail apps to share and post messages.
So If you are searching for anything like which can tell you what you will need to pass to call any specific comercial apps in your device, you wont find it directly.

It's an old question but perhaps it could help somebody to know that Sony's AppXplore application (free) shows the package and name of the activities of every app installed on your device, so you can eventually use them to do explicit Intents.