Android: Two actvities as launchers - android

I'm developing locker application. I created service and receiver to hide default android locker. But for few days I have problem with settings activity. I'm looking for a solution, how to make two activites as launchers. I want to make something like that:
Locker activity is only launched when phone is locked. And Settings activity only when I press app icon in menu. Is it possible to programme?
Thanks for help.

You can try to launch the same activity but changing the content view (into onCreate) for each situation. Something like:
if (isLocked()) {
setContentView(R.layout.locker_activity);
} else {
setContentView(R.layout.settings_activity);
}

You can use just one activity as launcher and use Fragments to load what you want. Something like this:
public class LauncherActivity extends FragmentActivity {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
Fragment fragment;
if (isLocked()) {
fragment = new LockerFragment();
}
else {
fragment = new SettingsFragmentFragment();
}
getFragmentManager().beginTransaction().add(R.id.container_id,fragment).commit();
}

Related

The appropriate way to leave an Android app? (Xamarin)

I'm developing an Android using Xamarin. The app has a login modal and I would like the behavior of the back button on the login modal to essentially exit the app, as if you were at the end of the navigation stack.
Is this possible?
If you are displaying the modal on android via a new Activity, override OnBackPressed in the modal activity like so:
public override void OnBackPressed()
{
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ActionMain);
intent.AddCategory(Intent.CategoryHome);
intent.SetFlags(ActivityFlags.NewTask);
StartActivity(intent);
}
As the solution that #wishmaster provided does give the appearance of the behavior I was looking for, I marked his as as acceptable.
For completeness though, I did run across a more appropriate solution. There's a MoveTaskToBack() method on the Activity class. So this is what my solution was:
public void CloseApp()
{
var mainActivity = Forms.Context as MainActivity;
if (mainActivity != null)
mainActivity.MoveTaskToBack(true);
}
To explain the context a little more. I'm developing a Xamarin Forms app and this is a method on an interface that's injected into the login Forms page.

Android: How to restart activity?

I made 2 activities.
e.g] MainActivy and MediaActivity.
If user click home button in MediaActivity, App will hide.
I want launch MediaActivty again when screen on.
Open the gmail app, tap on an email to show it's contents. You have now gone from one activity (email list) to another (email details). Press the home button. Now open the gmail app again. Voila! You have returned to the email you selected.
What you ask for is the default behavior of an Android app. Unless you do something like call finish() in your onPause() method in MediaActivity you should return to MediaActivity when you open the app again.
If your app doesn't behave like this I suggest that you post some code.
Try to write your activities the following way :
public class MainActivity extends Activity {
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
// Put your own code here.
}
}
public class MediaActivity extends Activity {
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
// Put your own code here.
}
}
What you're asking is Up Navigation / Ancestral Navigation(if I understood it correct). Refer to this guide: http://developer.android.com/training/implementing-navigation/ancestral.html
Othewise, if you want to have multiple instances of an activity, it's android:launchMode property should be set to standard in manifest. Refer:
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/activity-element.html

Define Launcher Activity In Code Before Activities Loaded

I realise you can set the LAUNCHER activity of your app in the manifest file, but is there anyway you can statically do this in code before the activity is loaded by the Dalvik VM? Something like:
public class MyActivity extends Activity{
RunTime.LAUNCHER = MyActivity.class
...
}
I realise this might not be possible, but if it is I would appreciate a safe and reliable code example to achieve this?
Many thanks
What is possible, however, is to have a first empty activity that starts whatever activity you need next, without displaying itself.
public void onCreate(Bundle stuff) {
super.onCreate(stuff);
startActivity(new Intent(...whatever...);
finish();
}

How to check if an activity is the last one in the activity stack for an application?

I want to know if user would return to the home screen if he exit the current activity.
I'm going to improve on the comment of #H9kDroid as the best answer here for people that have a similar question. (Original link)
You can use isTaskRoot() to know whether the activity is the root of a task.
UPDATE (Jul 2015):
Since getRunningTasks() get deprecated, from API 21 it's better to follow raukodraug answer or Ed Burnette one (I would prefer second one).
There's possibility to check current tasks and their stack using ActivityManager.
So, to determine if an activity is the last one:
request android.permission.GET_TASKS permissions in the manifest.
Use the following code:
ActivityManager mngr = (ActivityManager) getSystemService( ACTIVITY_SERVICE );
List<ActivityManager.RunningTaskInfo> taskList = mngr.getRunningTasks(10);
if(taskList.get(0).numActivities == 1 &&
taskList.get(0).topActivity.getClassName().equals(this.getClass().getName())) {
Log.i(TAG, "This is last activity in the stack");
}
Please note, that above code will be valid only if You have single task. If there's possibility that number of tasks will exist for Your application - You'll need to check other taskList elements. Read more about tasks Tasks and Back Stack
Hope this will help new beginners, Based above answers which works for me fine, i am also sharing code snippet so it will be easy to implement.
solution : i used isTaskRoot() which return true if current activity is only activity in your stack and other than i also handle case in which if i have some activity in stack go to last activity in stack instead of opening new custom one.
In your activity
#Override
public void onBackPressed() {
if(isTaskRoot()){
startActivity(new Intent(currentActivityName.this,ActivityNameYouWantToOpen.class));
// using finish() is optional, use it if you do not want to keep currentActivity in stack
finish();
}else{
super.onBackPressed();
}
}
there is an easiest solution to this, you can use isTaskRoot()
in your activity
One way to keep track of this is to include a marker when you start a new activity and check if the marker exists.
Whenever you start a new activity, insert the marker:
newIntent=new Intent(this, NextOne.class);
newIntent.putExtra(this.getPackageName()+"myself", 0);
startActivity(newIntent);
And you can then check for it like this:
boolean islast=!getIntent().hasExtra(this.getPackageName()+"myself")
While there may be a way to achieve this (see other answers) I would suggest that you shouldn't do that. Normal Android applications shouldn't need to know if the Home screen is about to display or not.
If you're trying to save data, put the data saving code in your onPause() method. If you're trying to give the user a way to change their mind about existing the application, you could intercept the key up/down for the Back key and the onBackPressed() method and present them with an "Are you sure?" prompt.
I've created a base class for all my activities, extending the AppCompatActivity, and which has a static counter:
public abstract class BasicActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
private static int activityCounter = 0;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
++activityCounter;
...
}
#Override
public void onDestroy() {
super.onDestroy();
--activityCounter;
if(activityCounter==0) {
// Last instance code...
}
}
public boolean isLastInstance() { return (activityCounter==1); }
}
This has worked well enough, so far; and regardless of API version. It requires of course that all activities extends this base class - which they do, in my case.
Edit: I've noticed one instance when the counter goes down to zero before the app completely exits, which is when the orientation is changed and only one activity is open. When the orientation changes, the activity is closed and another is created, so onDestroyed is called for the last activity, and then onCreate is called when the same activity is created with the changed orientation. This behaviour must be accounted for; OrientationEventListener could possibly be used.
The Problem with sandrstar's solution using ActivityManager is: you need a permission to get the tasks this way.
I found a better way:
getIntent().hasCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_LAUNCHER)
The Activity on the Stack bottom should allways get this category by default while other Activities should not get it.
But even if this fails on some devices you can set it while starting your Activity:
Intent intent = new Intent(startingActivity, SomeActivityClass.class);
intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_LAUNCHER);
activity.startActivity(intent);
Android implements an Activity stack, I suggest you read about it here. It looks like all you want to do though is retrieve the calling activity: getCallingActivity(). If the current activity is the first activity in your application and the application was launched from the home screen it should (I assume) return null.
The one thing that missed here, is the "Home key" click, when activated, you can't detect this from your activity, so it would better to control activity stack programmatically with handling "Back key" press and moving to required activity or just doing necessary steps.
In addition, you can't be sure, that starting your activity from "Recent Activity" list can be detected with presetting some extra data into intent for opening activity, as it being reused in that case.

Android:How to change opened tab dynamically

I have an Android application which has four tabs (I use a main TabActivity with TabHost and TabSpecs).
In one of my sub activity (activity opened in a tab), i need to open a tab not by clicking on the tab title and i don't know how to do this.
For example, i have a button in my activity and when i click on it, it opens a different tab.
For the moment, it is what i do:
Intent intent = new Intent(myActivity.this, myTabActivity.class);
intent.putExtra("ComeFrom", true);
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);
startActivity(intent);
Then in the TabActivity, if i get true reading the "ComeFrom" extra i open the wished tab but the problem is that it kills all the other activies. So, if someone knows a better (cleaner) way to do that trick, please tell me...
Found an easier (I think) answer:
on the TabActivity declare a public, static and self variable and populate it on the onCreate method. F.e.:
public class TheActivity extends TabActivity {
public static TheActivity self;
...
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
self=this;
on any Activity running in a tab, when you want to change the one shown on your app. you can do this:
TabHost tabHost = TheActivity.self.getTabHost();
tabHost.setCurrentTab(0);
Worked ok for me, hope serves someone else!
You have to use TabHost's "setCurrentTab(...)" for that. In one of my projects, I created a static method in the main Activity (the one with the TabHost), named "swtichToTab(int tab)". In my subactivites (those inside the tabs) could then just call "MainActivity.switchToTab()" to trigger switching.
It may not be the cleanest method, I'm sure you can achieve this using broadcast intents too.
You can create a BroadcastReceiver and send a broadcast with the index of the tab as extra
You can use views instead of activities for the content of the tabs. This way, the code is simpler and doesn't use as much memory. Plus, you then can use the setCurrentTab(tabIndex) method to easily switch between views.
I have a simple tutorial here. It has a tab activity with a list and map view. When you you click on an item in the list, the activity dynamically goes to the map view (using the setCurrentTab(tabIndex) method). You can easily modify this to have a button switch views.

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