Develop Reference

Call App From Background - Appium/Android

I need to send an app to background, return home and call it from background again in Android, with Appium.
I've alredy tried
driver.runAppInBackground(seconds);
and
driver.launchApp();
but they re-launch the application, don't call it.
How should I handle this?
Thank you in advance.

Try this way, to start home screen:
Intent startMain = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
startMain.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_HOME);
startMain.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
startActivity(startMain);
And from background service after some time or event, you can start you main activity again the same way:
Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setComponent(new ComponentName("com.example", "com.example.MyExampleActivity"));
startActivity(intent);
You can start any application activity using intents.

I did something like this just now, but the difference is I called another app(so basically putting the app in background). The way i runned the app from background is long press home button with adb shell input keyevent --longpress 3, then used .click() on the app i want to run from background. You can use UIAutomatorViewer to find the element :). Hope this helps

Failed to go back to home screen from Android apps

I have a button in my app named "Go Home" to redirect the user to the home screen. It is working fine without the very first launch. The process of first launch is noted below:
After uploading the APK into SVN I am downloading using the web browser. Then go back to the download folder and installing the app. When install finishes I click on Open. Then In my app I click on the "Go Home" button. The application redirect me to the web browser instead of the home screen. I am tired to search a solution for that.
I am using the following code:
finish();
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_HOME);
startActivity(intent);
Thanks in advance, Siddiqui Noor

Your app is opening in the task of the browser. Try this:
finish();
Intent intent = new Intent(context, HomeActivity.class);
intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_MAIN)
.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_HOME)
.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
startActivity(intent);

try adding FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK:
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
and also try putting finish() after startActivity

I'm pretty sure that it's not really redirecting you anywhere, it's just closing the Activity. You call finish() after which the intent to start the activity never happens. The app is closed because you've finished the Activity and you end up looking at the screen that was showing before you opened the app. In this case, that is the browser.
Try removing the line to finish();

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_HOME);
startActivity(intent);
kill your current activity after redirect the next activity
finish();

Close the app programmatically (know package name)

I use the following code snippet to launch an app on device:
Context mContext = getContext();
String packageName = getPackageName(); //the app to launch
Intent mIntent = getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage(packageName);
if(mIntent!=null){
mContext.startActivity(mIntent);
}
It works, the app get launched, however, I don't figure out a way to close the launched app by using the packageName.
How to close the launched app if I only know the package name?

You cannot close another app. Only the system can do that.
But if you are also the author of that other app, you could create a receiver in that app's activities that accepts an intent that tells it to finish() the activities.

You cannot close other application from your app.your problem has a workaround,after starting app based on package name you may send home intent which will give same experience to user.
Intent mIntent = getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage(packageName);
if(mIntent!=null){
mContext.startActivity(mIntent);
}
//sleep for 250ms or whatever time using handler
Intent startMain = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
startMain.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_HOME);
startMain.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
startActivity(startMain);

How to launch default home launcher through code while working with real device?

I have succeeded in launching the default home launcher through the following code while working with the emulator:
Intent de_intent=new Intent();
de_intent.setClassName("com.android.launcher","com.android.launcher2.Launcher");
startActivity(de_intent);
But when I am executing this code in the real device, it is showing following exception:
Unable to find explicit activity class {com.android.launcher/com.android.launcher2.Launcher} have you declared this in AndroidManifest.xml
Can anybody help me to solve this issue?

Do you have a Samsung device? They replaced the default Android launcher with their TouchWiz Home launcher. The following code worked for me using the setClassName() method:
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
intent.setClassName("com.sec.android.app.launcher", "com.android.launcher2.Launcher");
startActivity(intent);

try following:
Intent startMain = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
startMain.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_HOME);
startMain.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
startActivity(startMain);

If you want to return to HOME, you can use:
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_HOME);
startActivity(intent);

how to maximize the application on an event?

I have minimized my app using this..
Intent startMain = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
startMain.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_HOME);
startMain.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
startActivity(startMain);
The app is waiting for some event while it is in minimized state.How can i return to the app activity when some broadcast event occurs?
i can access the minimized activity from the the broadcast receiver class(using an object passed to it earlier) but it is running in the background of home screen.
and does android kill minimized apps eventually?

Intent homeIntent = new Intent(this, HomeActivity.class);
homeIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_REORDER_TO_FRONT);
startActivity(homeIntent);
this will start the HomeActivity, if the activity still in memory, it will just bring it to front.

You can start the activity again using the Intent.
Example :
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
intent.setComponent(new ComponentName("com.package.address","com.package.address.MainActivity"));
startActivity(intent);

If you want to maximize the application you need user interface in that case you can add your application in notification bar, once user click on notification bar you can open in your word can maximize the same. Adding your application in to notification bar you can get many tutorials :
Notification