I'm in the process of trying to make a release build of my first android app to send to a few testers. However, I ran into a problem with it. When you exit the app and then re-enter it by launching it via its icon, it restarts the whole app instead of returning to it's previous location. This occurs even if you re-enter right after exiting. However, it does not happen if I hold the Home button and launch it through the recent apps list.
I've searched online for others having this problem and there are a few, but no one has ever had a solid answer as to why it's happening to them. It's been suggested in old questions to set the launchmode to singletask or singleinstance in the manifest file, but that hasn't helped me, and besides - from what I understand, the default behavior for android is to return to the previous state of the task in this situation, so I don't know why I would need special manifest options to make it do that.
The most bizarre thing about this problem is that if I use eclipse and the debugger to put the app on my phone, this problem does not occur. I don't even need to be connected to the debugger, it seems like as long as I have a debug version of the app, the problem doesn't occur. But if I use a release version (I create it using the Android Tools - Export Signed Application Package menu option in Eclipse), the problem happens.
If anyone has any insight as to what is causing this, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
I had the same problem with an application and I resolved this behavior adding flag "android:launchMode="singleTop"" instead of "android:launchMode="singleTask"" in the <activity> declaration of your AndroidManifest.xml file. Hope this will help somebody.
So far I've found out that it's an issue based on how you install it in your real device, specifically:
If you simply copy and paste the APK to your device's local storage and install it from the device, regardless of whether it's signed or unsigned or taken from bin folder, it shows this behavior, app restarts from menu icon.
If you install it using one of the following options, This issue does not appear:
Go to sdk/tools/ using a terminal or command prompt then type
adb install <FILE PATH OF .APK FILE>
In Linux, type:
./adb install <FILE PATH OF .APK FILE>
Simply run your project from Eclipse.
I would be pleased to know if there's any possible way to distribute correct APKs for beta testing. I already tried exporting a signed APK because when you copy and paste an APK and install it manually it shows the rogue behavior.
Update:
I found out a solution. Follow these two Steps:
Set android:launchMode="singleTask" = true for all activities of your app in the AndroidMainifest.xml inside the activity tag.
Put this code in your Launcher Activity's onCreate().
if (!isTaskRoot())
{
final Intent intent = getIntent();
final String intentAction = intent.getAction();
if (intent.hasCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_LAUNCHER) && intentAction != null && intentAction.equals(Intent.ACTION_MAIN)) {
finish();
return;
}
}
This behavior is a bug in Android. Not a special case.
// To prevent launching another instance of app on clicking app icon
if (!isTaskRoot()
&& getIntent().hasCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_LAUNCHER)
&& getIntent().getAction() != null
&& getIntent().getAction().equals(Intent.ACTION_MAIN)) {
finish();
return;
}
write the above code in your launcher activity before calling setContentView. This will solve the problem
You could use launchMode as singleTop to the Launcher Activity in AndroidManifest.xml
<activity
android:name="<YOUR_ACTIVITY>"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:launchMode="singleTop">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
It is the default behavior in Android. For the debug builds it works differently for some reason. It can be solved by adding android:launchMode="singleInstance" to the activity, you want to restart after you launch from the icon.
Add this to your first activity:
if (!isTaskRoot()) {
finish();
return;
}
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
Try using android:alwaysRetainTaskState as shown in the following example:
<activity
android:name="com.jsnider.timelineplanner.MainActivity"
android:alwaysRetainTaskState="true"
android:label="#string/app_name" >
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
For me, I found that I had erroneously posted NoHistory = true in my activity attribute
[Activity(NoHistory = true, ScreenOrientation = ScreenOrientation.Landscape)]
This prevented the app resuming into this activity and restarted
You can try to set android:alwaysRetainTaskState="true" for your launcher activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
<activity
android:name=".YourMainActivity"
android:alwaysRetainTaskState="true">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
For details you can see https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/activity-element.html#always
I see this issue on Android TV in 2019. Is there a better fix for it? other than
if (!isTaskRoot()) {
finish();
}
It works but looks like a hack more than the actual solution.
All of the solutions above didn't work consistently on all of my devices. It worked on some Samsung but not all.
The cause of the problem for me was installing the APK manually.
For me the fix was adding LaunchMode = LaunchMode.SingleTop to my Activity attribute over the Main Activity:
/// <summary>
/// The main activity of the application.
/// </summary>
[Activity(Label = "SilhuettePhone",
Icon = "#drawable/icon",
Theme = "#style/MainTheme",
MainLauncher = true,
ConfigurationChanges = ConfigChanges.ScreenSize | ConfigChanges.Orientation,
ScreenOrientation = ScreenOrientation.Portrait,
LaunchMode = LaunchMode.SingleTop,
WindowSoftInputMode = SoftInput.AdjustResize)]
I had a problem with a restarting app, my problem was in themes:
I have differents fragments and I would have one background for all. But this cause a restarting app in some devices(.
I've deleted this line in themes and this helped:
item name ="android:windowBackground">#drawable/background /item
Removing task affinity rather than launch mode has worked somewhat for as it has its own demerits
When you press the back button in Android, the onDestroy method is invoked (as opposed to pressing the home button, where only the onPause() method is invoked).
If you need your app to continue where it left off, save the state of the app in your onDestroy() method and load that state in the onCreate() method.
I have an industrial app which is remotely controlled from a PC. The app has 2 slightly different versions - one for a Honeycomb tablet and the other for a Gingerbread phone. The differences are to take advantage of unique features in the hardware (e.g., the phone has a better camera, the tablet can display bigger graphics) but the Activity-starting code is the same.
A thread in the app receives commands from the PC and displays different screens (i.e., starts different Activities). It works fine on the phone but on the tablet one activity won't start, but throws no exceptions. Breakpoints and logging in that activity's onResume() are never hit, even though they are on the phone. Here's how I try to start the activity . . .
try {
Intent svc = new Intent(ctx, RemoteControlActivity.class);
ctx.startActivity(svc);
}
catch (Exception e) { // or ActivityNotFoundException e
Log.d("ShowButtons(normal)", "startActivity failed");
}
(ctx is a Context - in the debugger the Context is the same for both the working on non-working cases)
The activity which is failing to start on the tablet is defined like this in the manifest . . .
<activity
android:launchMode="singleTask"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:windowNoTitle="false"
android:configChanges="orientation"
android:screenOrientation="landscape"
android:name="RemoteControlActivity">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
This is driving me batty - thanks in advance for any help!
Try this
Intent svc = new Intent(ctx, RemoteControlActivity.class);
svc.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
ctx.startActivity(svc);
According to the docs
When using this flag, if a task is already running for the activity you are now starting, then a new activity will not be started; instead, the current task will simply be brought to the front of the screen with the state it was last in
I found a solution. I'm posting it this way so I can mark it as "answered" incase anyone else runs into this and is searching for a workaround. But I admit I don't understand why it works.
The breakthrough was discovering that it mattered what activity was currently on the screen when I was trying to start RemoteControlActivity. The failure was happening when I had an activity that displayed some graphics on the screen. I substituted a different activity that displayed some buttons and the problem went away.
Looking at the Manifest I noticed that the "good" activity was set to:
Android:launchMode="singleTask"
and the "bad" one was set to:
Android:launchMode="singleInstance"
When I changed the graphics activity to "singleTask" the problem went away.
Well, just like the title suggests, every activity within my application is being added to the app drawer.... Im really hating this new ADT. First it was a problem with the app name appearing as the first activity name, now all the activities are showing up on the application list. If I go to uninstall it only shows 1. Anyone else having this problem and has figured out a work around?
for future cases specifically you can change in the android manifest under :
<intent-filter>
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
change to:
<intent-filter>
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
</intent-filter>
This will remove the activities' icon from the app drawer. As the OP says: sometimes the wizard puts this in the manifest for you.
Ok, figured it out... Everytime you create a new activity through the adt wizard (New -> Android Activity) it creates the code in your manifest for you.... the problem is that it added intent filters to it as well. Just remove those and they dont show up.... stupid adt.
I know when I am using IntelliJ as my IDE for Android programming, there is a box you can check when using the wizard to create a new Activity that says "Mark as start-up Activity".
Be aware of these types of things because that is what caused me to have the same problem you had Shaun.
I wouldn't completely erase the intent filters, simply have only the Activity you want as the "start-up" Activity marked as the "Launcher" in the Manifest file. All other Activities get "Default".
I am creating an app using Wikitude API, but I haven't been able to customize the view.
I have asked the developers and I know I can't add buttons to the main view in the current release version (for Android), but I am wondering if I can add more buttons to the options menu. Right now when I press it I get just one button that says "Ignore Altitude" can I modify that button and/or add more buttons to that menu?
I have checked other posts but there aren't any answers. The posts are a little bit old so that is why I am asking again.
I haven't found any useful documentation.
Any help is greatly appreciated
if I understood your question correctly, then please try the following: in the method prepareIntent() of your main Activity, you can add up to 3 menu items:
intent.setMenuItem1("Menu 1", YourActivity.CALLBACK_INTENT);
intent.setMenuItem2("Menu 2", YourActivity.ANOTHERCALLBACK_INTENT);
Then you define the callback function as another activity (with dialog, list and stuffs). It works fine this way for me.
I am also playing around a bit with Wikitude, but hard to find something well documented!
Yes , You can Add upto three menu button as if you read doc properly
intent.setMenuItem1("Menu Name", YourActivity.LOCATION_INTENT);
intent.setMenuItem2("Menu Name", YourActivity.LOCATION_THREATS);
intent.setMenuItem3("Menu Name", YourActivity.MAP_INTENT);
With making Intent variable as
public static final String LOCATION_INTENT = "wikitudeapi.mylocationactivity";
Also declare action in manifest as,
<activity android:name=".activities.Your Activity Name"
android:theme="#*android:style/Theme.Translucent.NoTitleBar"
android:screenOrientation="portrait">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="wikitudeapi.mylocationactivity" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
I have an application using the Google maps - until the moment it works fine. But now when I want to click a button in order to add functionality over the map I have problems.
I managed to visualise the button on the screen, also it works on click - it shows a toast correctly. But my aim is to start a new activity (having his own layout) - looking and reading tones of tutorials and stuff here is what I have :
//the Add Button in the upper right corner
Button addBookmark = (Button) findViewById(R.id.Button);
addBookmark.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener()
{
#Override
public void onClick(View mapView) {
Intent addBookmarkIntent = new Intent(GoogleMapsApp.this, LocationBookmaker.class);
startActivity(addBookmarkIntent);
}
});
Also I've edited the manifest file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
...
<activity android:name=".LocationBookmarker"
android:label="#string/app_name" >
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"/>
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/>
</intent-filter>
</activity>
...
</manifest>
No matter what I try I always get the "The Application GoogleMapsApp (process google.maps.app) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again." with the only "Force close" option.
I've been trying since two days now - and in a lot of examples in the Internet other say it should be working like this. I cannot see where could be my mistake.
Maybe in the starting of the intent, or the manifest or where...?
According to the exception, the class it's looking for is 'LocationBookmaker', but in your manifest you have 'LocationBookmarker' (notice the 'r'). That may be your problem.
I don't know what the problem you get is but a tip is to run the "Dalvik Debug Monitor" (ddms) on your computer, with that you can capture all exceptions in your application and see exaclly what the error is (most of the time).
You find the ddms in the tools directory of your android installation, if you run windows its a bat file, ddms.bat, that you just run from cmd.
/Viktor