Develop Reference

How can I check the expected intent sent without actually launching activity in Espresso?

I have a UI test which clicks a button, and then launch a new Activity in its onClickListener. The test checks whether expected intent is sent or not.
My problem is, I want to test whether expected intent is sent without actually launching the activity. Because I found that new activity initializes its state, and it makes subsequent tests flaky.
I know there are two Espresso Intents API, which are intended and intending, but both fail to meet my needs. intended API actually launches the target activity, and intending API doesn't launch the activity, but it calls onActivityResult callback which I don't want either. Because I'm afraid that code inside onActivityResult may cause another flakiness.
Also intending doesn't assert whether matching intent is sent. It just calls onActivityResult callback when matching intent is found, which means I have to check whether onActivityResult is called or not!
Is there a clean way to achieve what I want?

If you want to test whether expected intent is sent without actually launching the activity you can do it by capturing the intent with an activityResult and then catching the activity :
Intent intent = new Intent();
ActivityResult intentResult = new ActivityResult(Activity.RESULT_OK,intent);
intending(anyIntent()).respondWith(intentResult);
onView(withId(R.id.view_id_to_perform_clicking)).check(matches(isDisplayed())).perform(click());
intended(allOf(hasComponent(ActivityToBeOpened.class.getName())));
This would catch any attempt of launching ActivityToBeOpened. If you want to be more specific you can also catch an intent with Extras:
intended(allOf(hasComponent(ActivityToBeOpened.class.getName()), hasExtra("paramName", "value")));
Hope that helps.

Espresso's Intents class is a concise and handy api, but when it doesn't meet your needs, there is an alternative. If you use AndroidJUnit4 test runner, you can get Instrumentaion instance using InstrumentationRegistry.getInstrumentation(), and then you can add Instrumentation.ActivityMonitor instance.
Instrumentation.ActivityMonitor am = new Instrumentation.ActivityMonitor("YOUR_ACTIVITY", null, true);
InstrumentationRegistry.getInstrumentation().addMonitor(am);
onView(withId(R.id.view_id_to_perform_clicking)).check(matches(isDisplayed())).perform(click());
assertTrue(InstrumentationRegistry.getInstrumentation().checkMonitorHit(am, 1));
The third parameter of ActivityMonitor constructor tells we want to block activity launching. Note that this approach has its limitation. In contrast to Espresso Intents' rich Matcher support, You can not set multiple condition for ActivityMonitor.
You can find several samples in ApiDemos, especially in ContactsSelectInstrumentation class.

Actually, you can block any intent to launch an external or your own activity but still use the rich Espresso Intents API:
Instrumentation.ActivityMonitor soloMonitor = solo.getActivityMonitor();
instrumentation.removeMonitor(soloMonitor);
IntentFilter filter = null;
// Block any intent
Instrumentation.ActivityMonitor monitor = instrumentation.addMonitor(filter, null, true);
instrumentation.addMonitor(soloMonitor);
// User action that results in an external browser activity being launched.
user.clickOnView(system.getView(R.id.callButton));
instrumentation.waitForIdleSync();
Intents.intended(Matchers.allOf(
IntentMatchers.hasAction(Matchers.equalTo(Intent.ACTION_VIEW)),
IntentMatchers.hasData(Matchers.equalTo(Uri.parse(url))),
IntentMatchers.toPackage(chromePackage)));
instrumentation.removeMonitor(monitor);
You able to do that because Espresso Intents still records every Intent with IntentMonitor callback even if you block them. Look at the source code of Espresso Intents on how they do that.
If you use Robotium Solo framework you need to move your own ActivityMonitor before their one. Otherwise just skip the lines related to this.

Detect if user starts an application, android

Thanks in advance for the help.
I have an app that can be started by either the user physically starting the app (like you would any normal app) or by a repeating service. Depending on what starts the app (the user or the service) I want to preform different initialization actions. How might I be able to detect if an user starts the app without doing anything custom (I imagine that there has to be some kind of built in setting in android for me to determine this)?

If service, that starts your Activity, is yours service, you can put some custom information (using Intent#putExtra for example) in Intent you use to start Activity from Service.
In Activity you can use Activity#getIntent(), that returns the intent that started this activity.
If you started Activity from Service, that Intent will be the one you passed in Service#startActivity, and will have your custom information. Otherwise, that was not your Service, that started your Activity.
That could look somehow like that, for example:
//in Activity
public static final String EXTRA_STARTED_FROM_MY_SERVICE = "com.example.extra_started_from_sevice";
private boolean wasActivityStartedFromService() {
Intent startingIntent = getIntent();
//assuming you will use Intent#putExtra in your service when starting activity
return startingIntent.getBooleanExtra(EXTRA_STARTED_FROM_MY_SERVICE, false);
}
//...
//in Service
//...
Intent startingIntent = new Intent(this, MainActivity.class);
startingIntent.putExtra(MainActivity.EXTRA_STARTED_FROM_MY_SERVICE, true);
startActivity(startingIntent);

Android: getting info on the calling app from activity

I want to implement a fine-granularity protection mechanism in an exported activity. The permissions framework does not seem to work for my requirements.
There are two options I am considering:
using Activity.getCallingPackage - only works if the activity is started with startActivityForResult - this is a limitation I would like to avoid if possible.
using Binder.getCallingUid - when called in an Activity, it returns the local UID, and not the calling UID.
Is there any way to allow activities started with startActivity to retrieve any information about the calling app?

You can add extra information in your intent.
Intent i = new Intent(this, NextClass.class);
i.putExtra("extra", "This is some extra information";
startActivity(i);
You retrieve the data from NextClass by:
Intent i = getIntent();
String extraStuff = i.getStringExtra("extra");

Is there any way to allow activities started with startActivity to retrieve any information about the calling app?
No, sorry, beyond your startActivityForResult() hack. Android's support for "a fine-granularity protection mechanism" is designed around services, not activities or other components.

Open my application from another in android

My boss asked me to prove that my application behaves properly when summoned by another application (dunno why he asked that).
So I have two apps here, one launches a second one. How I launch the specific app I want? Using Intent launch seemly any generic app that reaches a certain goal, not the app I really want.

Give this a try.
Intent secondIntent = new Intent();
secondIntent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
secondIntent.setClassName("com.example", "com.example.YourSecondApp");
startActivity(secondIntent);
I should point out that com.example should be the package of your second application (the one you want to call) and com.example.YourSecondapp is the class name where you have your onCreate() method.

Intent secondApp = new Intent("com.test.SecondApp");
startActivity(secondApp);
Check out for more examples
http://developer.android.com/resources/faq/commontasks.html#opennewscreen

Create one Intent using the following code
Explicit Intent
When you know the particular component(activity/service) to be loaded
Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setClass("className/package name");
start<Activity/Service>(intent);
Imlicit Intent
When we do not have the idea which class to load and we know the Action to be perform by the launched application we can go with this intent.
Action needs to set, and the Android run time fallows the intent Resolution technique and list out(one or more components) the components to perform the action. from the list out components (if more than one), user will get the chance to launch his chosen application

Question regarding account creation and sync on Android

I've been reading the sample code from the dev docs on Android's site, specifically this:
http://developer.android.com/resources/samples/SampleSyncAdapter/src/com/example/android/samplesync/authenticator/AuthenticatorActivity.html
Which is the sole activity of the sample app. It refers to an intent in the onCreate method. I don't understand where this intent is coming from, or what it should contain if this is the only activity the app utilizes.
Log.i(TAG, "loading data from Intent");
final Intent intent = getIntent();
mUsername = intent.getStringExtra(PARAM_USERNAME);
mAuthtokenType = intent.getStringExtra(PARAM_AUTHTOKEN_TYPE);
mRequestNewAccount = mUsername == null;
mConfirmCredentials = intent.getBooleanExtra(PARAM_CONFIRM_CREDENTIALS, false);
That's the block of code working with the intent. Why would you have an intent for the only activity in the app? Is this app called in an unusual way? The Manifest does not include an intent filter for the activity... I guess I'm just a bit lost on this whole thing! If someone could set me straight that'd be great, thanks.

Why would you have an intent for the only activity in the app?
getIntent() gets you the intent that started this activity.
Is this app called in an unusual way?
I guess this activity is called programmatically from another app or activity, since it has been passed some extra data: getStringExtra() is used to extract some data from the intent that started it. putExtra.. and getExtra.. is a way to pass data between activities when they are started.

In that specific example, the intent is sent from the addAccount method in Authenticator.java. That method is called by the OS when you click the Add Account button in the Accounts & sync settings screen and choose your account type.