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Avoiding login activity on startup if password is cached

I have a typical Android app where the user has to log in before displaying the main Activity of the application. However, if we've already got a cached username / password, I want to skip the login page.
I could, in my Login onCreate, detect if I've got a user/pass and push a new Activity, but I'm worried that this will make my app startup slower (since I have to load an activity then immediately throw it away), and it also perhaps breaks the back button (i.e. you can hit back and end up back at the login screen).
Is there any way to avoid this and only load the full Login Activity if there is no cached password?

You can make a separate helper activity which launches either your login activity or your main activity. In its onCreate, you'd use startActivity and immediately call finish to remove the helper activity from the back stack.
Intent intent;
if ( /* already logged in */ ) {
intent = new Intent(this, MainActivity.class);
} else {
intent = new Intent(this, LoginActivity.class);
}
startActivity(intent);
finish();
Then, LoginActivity should re-launch MainActivity as normal. This way, the user will never be able to navigate back to the helper activity as it does not appear in the back stack. Do note however that the user can still login, go to the MainActivity, pause that activity, remove his account (through the Android settings) and resume the activity (from the recent apps). If you want to prevent this, you're probably better off placing the login redirect in MainActivity instead (perhaps even in onResume).

You could create a Splash Activity.
On the AndroidManifest.xml's Splash Activity tag, add the android:noHistory="true".
On the Splash Activity, check whatever you need (maybe with an AsyncTask if it may take a long time, to avoid freezing the Activity) and, depending on the result, you start the Login Activity or any other Activity.

Another approach is to transform login screen from Activity to Dialog. That should be easy. And then make your main activity check if there is cached username/password or not. In the second case show LoginDialog to user.

I also have a typical Android app with the same requirement, and I solve it as follows.
First I configure the initial launch activity to be MainActivity, and then inside onCreate(), check if the user has saved credentials (this is all done through AccountManager and authenticator service).
If the check fails and user needs to authenticate, then I start the LoginActivity. If logging in fails or the user presses back, the MainActivity calls finish() on itself to close the whole app. Otherwise, after logging in, the MainActivity is resumed and is presented to the user properly.
The advantage of doing it in this order is that (in my case anyway) the user is more likely to be logged in than out, and so this will avoid any start/stopping of unneeded activities as you say.
A second advantage is that, if the MainActivity (or another activity) is resumed at a later time and the user's session has expired, you can simply start the LoginActivity again to reauthenticate them.
Hope that all makes sense :)

Start Android App on same activity every time

I'm working on an Android app that will show college fitness professors how their students are doing in their classes. Since this data is fairly sensitive (biometrics are shown, including weight, something many college students are self-conscious about) I don't want the data to be available to anyone who picks up the tablet. While I have a proper login screen created, complete with authentication for the database, etc. I have an issue when the home button is pressed. Since Android doesn't close a program immediately on leaving the app, it's possible to reopen it and return to where you were. I would like to force the app to return to the login screen each time (I've altered onBackPressed so you can't just return to the previous view from the login screen) so that you have to re-enter your credentials to get back into the app. However, I can't seem to do this. An answer I found on here said to use the following line:
android:clearTaskOnLaunch="true"
However, no matter what XML file I put it in, be it the Manifest or the individual Activity XMLs, it appears to do nothing. So, how do I ensure the login screen comes up each time the app is launched, regardless of whether it is starting from scratch or not?

Try to play around with onUserLeaveHint() method. If you read its documentation, it says:
Its Called as part of the activity lifecycle when an activity is about to go into the background as the result of user choice. For example, when the user presses the Home key, onUserLeaveHint() will be called, but when an incoming phone call causes the in-call Activity to be automatically brought to the foreground, onUserLeaveHint() will not be called
So, when ever you detected home button pressed, you can finish the running activity/activities. So next time user click the app, it will start from the first login screen.
Hope this helps.

You should override onUserLeaveHint()
#Override
protected void onUserLeaveHint() {
// do your logic
//finish() or start login activity
}

You could set a flag when onPause() is initiated within the activity. And then when you return you could check the flag from within onResume() and then request a login from that point. This will be sure to request it each time; in a simple case of course.
Edit:
With multiple activities, you could check against a saved context to see if they are the same when you start a new activity. If the contexts differ then you can discard the context previous activities context and start a new activity.
If they are the same, then you have come back to the activity from itself (you have lowered and brought the screen back). You would have to use some form of saved state such as that to do it in this manner with multiple activities when outside the case of a simple application.

I found out how to do it in my case. For any others with the same problem, try following the example here:
Android detecting if an application entered the background

Pause your application

I am developing an Android application. I want to quit my application but application should be in running state in background. Whenever I click on application application should start from last quit point. I dont want to login again.
The same thing is happening when I press home button. But I want to implement similar functionality like Home button on my own button event. How should I proceed with that??
Though I have finished all other activities, still I need to login again. When I finish the activity my session ends there. And on next app start with login screen.
Whereas in case of home button click, it keeps my session and on next app start my app check onResume() event where I am checking whether session exist or not. If session is there I can enter directly into my account.
So Anybody have any idea what exactly android does when we press home button.

The best way I know is something like in your scenario where you want to quit:
Save the login credentials on login and clear on log out.
When your app launches check for credentials and if it is there then you should login without asking user.
The above process will not bring your last activity but the activity which you show after login.
To bring back the last activity where you quit, you can use moveTasktoback(true) as it will put your app in the background the same when you press Home key but it's behaviour will not remain constant as android can kill your app whenever it will require the memory.

You mean login to a web app? WebView saves cookie information application-wide regardless of activity.
Otherwise use a static variable or singleton class to hold any session state and on activity start, check the static variable or singleton class for any state else redirect them to the login screen.

You can call moveTaskToBack on your Activity.

create a button where you want to pause(i mean in which activity) the application. And write the code like below. This will pause your application.
button.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener(){
#Override
public void onClick(View v) {
moveTaskToBack(true);
}
});

Android - Clear existing objects and variables in memory when returning to Log In screen

I have an issue where if my user is on the Dashboard screen and presses the phones 'Back' button, this will then return them to the login screen (which still has their details input) and if they login again, some variables are global so these are then effectively reused which effects the functionality of the application.
My thinking was I could override the onResume method when this activity is resumed and then clear everything but I am unsure on how to code this and clear the form and any variables still existing in the applications memory.
Thanks.

finish() your login screen when you logged in.
For example:
//I'm logged in, starting dashboard view
startActivity(intent);
//finishing login activity - I don't need it on back stack
finish();

The safest option would be to call finish() in the login activity after switching to the new activity. This will prevent the activity to go back to the login screen after pressing the back button, as that will remove that activity until it is manually started again.

How would one design a flow where one of the screens is a login screen?

I am writing an Android app which requires the user to be logged in. I have a main Activity, and I want that when the app launches, that it takes the user to a login screen if they are not already logged in.
How should I model this? Is the login page another Activity? I'm thinking not because I don't want the user to be able to get back there using the back button. Or is there a way to replace an activity with another so the back button problem doesn't happen?
Or, should I have just one activity and load in a login view and swap it out once the user logs in?
Are there any best practices around this?
Thanks!

I would check on the main or splash screen to check if the user is logged in, if not start the login activity.
Once the login completes, in the login activity, call this.finish()
If you need to change activities, you can call .finish() followed by starting whatever activity you wanted.
If getting back to the splash/main screen without being logged in is a problem, you can do the same thing there.

For this ask "I'm thinking not because I don't want the user to be able to get back there using the back button"
The answer is using the attribute noHistory in your Login Activity, like the example:
<activity
android:name="com.test.LoginActivity"
android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden|screenSize"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:noHistory="true"...
I hope it can help.

Yes, the login screen is an another activity. The back key problem is solved with onKeyDown() method of that activity. Read more here.
The whole flow can be imagined like this:
You're starting your app. The main activities check for login flag(in shared preferences or somewhere else). If user has logged in, then the main activity stays on the screen. If not, activity starts login activity using intent. Login activity performs the logging in and sets the login flag and start the main activity again.

Have you considered using a dialog for the login? I suppose what you could do is have the first Activity check at onCreate() using SharedPreferences if the user has already logged in, and if she hasn't then it generates the dialog. After logging in the dialog would change a variable which would be passed to SharedPreferences so that the user won't have to relogin if the screen orientation changes or the app pauses.