Difference Between 2 Ways to Start an Activity? - android

I have seen the following two examples of starting activities in Android:
Example 1
Intent myIntent = new Intent(CurrentActivity.this, NextActivity.class);
CurrentActivity.this.startActivity(myIntent);
Example 2
// Calling activity
NextActivity.show(this)
// In the called activity
static void show(Context context) {
final Intent intent = new Intent(context, NextActivity.class);
context.startActivity(intent);
}
It seems the obvious difference between the two examples is that you attach the logic of how an activity is created to the implementation of the activity. Are there any other key differences? (e.g. is the calling activity told to wait until the called activity finishes in one case, but not in the other, etc.)

I see no difference to your 2 methods, other than the 2 lines of code in your first method just happen to be located in a static method that just happens to be located in the 2nd activity's class.
The actual lines of code that are being executed to start the activity are identical. Thus the behavior of the 2 methods will be identical.

Also, the code could be shortened to
context.startActivity(new Intent (context, NextActivity.class));
Only reason to create an instance of Intent as a field is if you need to set flags or add extras, etc.

Related

If you create and initialize an (Android) Intent, can it be started without calling startActivity(theIntent)?

Say I have
Intent secondPage = new Intent(FirstPage.this, SecondPage.class);
Intent thirdPage = new Intent(FirstPage.this, ThirdPage.class);
if(i == 2)
startActivity(secondPage);
if(i == 3)
startActivity(thirdPage);
Are either Intents started if the 'startActivity' method is not called?
Or are Intents only started when the startActivity method is called with that Intent as a parameter
See this link
To quote
To start an activity: An Activity represents a single screen in an
app. You can start a new instance of an Activity by passing an Intent
to startActivity(). The Intent describes the activity to start and
carries any necessary data. If you want to receive a result from the
activity when it finishes, call startActivityForResult(). Your
activity receives the result as a separate Intent object in your
activity's onActivityResult() callback. For more information, see the
Activities guide.
As you question stands, if i is not equals to 2 or 3 then these activites will not be started.
If you not call the startActivity, than the Intent won't start the Activity
To answer your question: No.
An intent is an abstract description of an operation to be performed. It can be used with startActivity to launch an Activity.
When you say,
Intent secondPage = new Intent(FirstPage.this, SecondPage.class);
The constructor used here takes two parameters:
A Context as its first parameter (this is used because the Activity class is a subclass of Context)
The Class of the app component to which the system should deliver the Intent (in this case, the activity that should be started)
And,
startActivity(secondPage);
To start an activity, call startActivity() and pass it your Intent.
So when you call startActivity(intent)-- there is no intent which is started. The system receives this call and starts an instance of the Activity specified by the Intent.
Read:
http://developer.android.com/training/basics/firstapp/starting-activity.html
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Intent.html
And in your case, if i is not equal to 2 or 3, nothing happens.

How do i create Intent and to where to put the codes?

I am trying to follow the lesson here and now im stuck on "Building an Intent". I am quite confused for how to make this Intent and where to paste it. Can someone show me the step by step process on this tutorial? I am getting massive headaches now. Please I want to learn to do this.
Build an Intent
An Intent is an object that provides runtime binding between separate
components (such as two activities). The Intent represents an app’s
"intent to do something." You can use intents for a wide variety of
tasks, but most often they’re used to start another activity.
Inside the sendMessage() method, create an Intent to start an activity
called DisplayMessageActivity:
Intent intent = new Intent(this, DisplayMessageActivity.class); The
constructor used here takes two parameters:
A Context as its first parameter (this is used because the Activity
class is a subclass of Context) The Class of the app component to
which the system should deliver the Intent (in this case, the activity
that should be started)
As the tutorial says, you need to add the line of code that creates an new instance of the Intent class. You will use this instance later to tell the OS to launch another activity or a service. In this particular example, the Intent you are building will direct the OS to launch the DisplayMessageActivity.
To do this step properly, you need to modify the sendMessage method that you have added in the previous step of the tutorial. The final method should look something like this:
/** Called when the user clicks the Send button */
public void sendMessage(View view) {
Intent intent = new Intent(this, DisplayMessageActivity.class);
EditText editText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.edit_message);
String message = editText.getText().toString();
intent.putExtra(EXTRA_MESSAGE, message);
}
After creating the Intent, the code will take the content of the editText control in the current activity, assign it to the message variable, and then add it as an additional parameter to the intent, so that the target DisplayMessageActivity activity can do something with it.
Don't worry about the DisplayMessageActivity yet. It will be added in a later step.
How do i create Intent and to where to put the codes?
You want to open the activity using intent then you can write your code in this method.
/** Called when the user clicks the Send button */
public void sendMessage(View view) {
Intent intent = new Intent(MainActivity.this, SecondActivity.class);
startActivity(intent);
}

onCreate always called if navigating back with intent

I have an activity called HomeActivity that has a SurfaceView and shows a camera preview picture. This activity is quiet heavy and feels slow if you are starting/restarting it.
So I made some investigations and found out, that somehow always the onCreate method is being called. In my opinion this should not happen if the Activity has already been started?
The documentation says :
Called when the activity is first created. This is where you should do all of your normal static set up: create views, bind data to lists, etc. This method also provides you with a Bundle containing the activity's previously frozen state, if there was one.
Always followed by onStart().
Here is the method, that handles going back:
protected void gotoHome() {
final Intent intent = new Intent(SomeOtherActivity.this, HomeActivity.class);
intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);
startActivity(intent);
}
Edit:
Here is how I am leaving HomeActivity ... nothing special:
final Intent i = new Intent(HomeActivity.this, SomeOtherActivity.class);
startActivity(i);
Yes, when you want to return to the HomeActivity, you need to use these flags:
intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP|Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP);
Here's the relevant section from the documentation on Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP:
The currently running instance of activity B in the above example will
either receive the new intent you are starting here in its
onNewIntent() method, or be itself finished and restarted with the new
intent. If it has declared its launch mode to be "multiple" (the
default) and you have not set FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP in the same
intent, then it will be finished and re-created; for all other launch
modes or if FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP is set then this Intent will be
delivered to the current instance's onNewIntent().

Android - start multiple activities

is it possible to start multiple activities at once? I mean, from main create 3 activities in some order and just the last will be visible? Up to now, I was able to create only one activity.
Thanks
You might need something like this in order to launch deep into the app after the user has clicked a notification in order to display some newly added content, for example.
Intent i = new Intent(this, A.class);
i.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NO_ANIMATION);
startActivity(i);
Intent j = new Intent(this, B.class);
j.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NO_ANIMATION);
startActivity(j);
Intent k = new Intent(this, C.class);
startActivity(k);
In this way you can start activities A, B and C at the same time and suppress transitions to activities A and B. You get a single transition from your current activity to activity C. I strongly suggest that you log the Activity lifecycle method calls (onCreate etc.) to LogCat, for example. It helps a lot in understanding the order of events.
This can be a common thing to do in response to deep linking or other use cases where you, basically, need to synthetically rebuild the Task (and all the activities it should contain). Sometimes, just specifying parents in the manifest isn't enough.
Take a look at TaskStackBuilder. One common example:
TaskStackBuilder.create( context )
.addNextIntent( intentOnBottom )
// use this method if you want "intentOnTop" to have it's parent chain of activities added to the stack. Otherwise, more "addNextIntent" calls will do.
.addNextIntentWithParentStack( intentOnTop )
.startActivities();
Really old question but I thought I still answer it.
Use:
public void startActivities (Intent[] intents, Bundle options)
Try startActivity(new Intent(...); at the end of your onCreate-Method of the first Activity.
This will immediatly launch a new Activity and pause the first one.
With back-key you will get back to the last Activity

Can we invoke one activity into another activity?

I Mean that i want to use one activity into another activity, Like class using create instance of that class. Is it Possible?
Well, I think you should use Intents to call an activity from another activity.
Call this from your Activity:
Intent in = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), NextActivity.class);
startActivity(in);
you can do it only by saying startActivity(), no other go. you can't make an instance of Activity because , an Activity gets created when its onCreate() method gets called, but when you say new MyActivity() its default constructor is called and not its onCreate() method (which Android OS will not accept). so always say startActivity() or startActivityForResult() which are handled by android OS
Write this code from where you want to run activity
Intent intent = new Intent(current_Activity_name.this,New_Activity_name.class);
startActivity(intent);
And add the following code into manifest file
<activity android:name=".New_activity_name" />
Well, since an Activity is a displayable-window, the appropriate concept would be that one Activity can be "launched" from another. This is how you achieve that:
Intent i = new Intent(CurrentActivity.this, NewActivity.class);
CurrentActivity.this.startActivity(i);
This code snippet can launch NewActivity from any point in the CurrentActivity code, for example, an 'OnClickListener'.
Yes, it is possible. This is achieved through Intents.
Intent intent = new Intent(this.getApplication(), TARGET_ACTIVITY_NAME.class);
//To add data use intent.putExtra(NAME,VALUE);
intent.setData(data.getData());
try
{
startActivity(intent); // This ll launch the TARGET_ACTIVITY_NAME
}
catch(Exception e)
{
}
For more information refer this link.
Shash

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