CS 193A
Multiple Activities and Intents
This document is copyright (C) Marty Stepp and Stanford Computer Science.
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License. All rights reserved.
Multiple Activities
Many apps have multiple activities.
Example: In an address book app, the main activity is a list of contacts,
and clicking on a contact goes to another activity for viewing details.
An activity A can launch another activity B in response to an event.
The activity A can pass data to B.
The second activity B can send data back to A when it is done.
Adding an Activity
in Android Studio, right click "app" at left: New -> Activity
creates a new .XML file in res/layouts
creates a new .java class in src/java
adds information to AndroidManifest.xml about the activity
(without this information, the app will not allow the activity)
Activities in Manifest
Every activity has an entry in project's AndroidManifest.xml, added automatically by Android Studio:
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.example.myusername.myapplication" >
<application android:allowBackup="true"
android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
android:label="@string/app_name"
android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
<activity android:name=".MainActivity"
android:label="@string/app_name" >
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
<activity android:name=".SecondActivity"
android:label="@string/title_activity_second"
android:parentActivityName=".SecondActivity" >
<meta-data android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
android:value="com.example.myusername.myapplication.MainActivity" />
</activity>
</application>
</manifest>
Intents
intent: a bridge between activities;
a way for one activity to invoke another
the activity can be in the same app or in a different app
can store extra data to pass as "parameters" to that activity
second activity can "return" information back to the caller if needed
Creating an Intent
To launch another activity (usually in response to an event),
create an Intent object and call startActivity with it:
Intent intent = new Intent(this, ActivityName.class);
startActivity(intent);
If you need to pass any parameters or data to the second
activity, call putExtra on the intent.
It stores "extra" data as key/value pairs, not unlike a Map.
Intent intent = new Intent(this, ActivityName.class);
intent.putExtra("name", value);
intent.putExtra("name", value);
startActivity(intent);
Extracting extra data
In the second activity that was invoked, you can grab any extra data
that was passed to it by the calling act.
You can access the Intent that spawned you by calling getIntent.
The Intent has methods like getExtra, getIntExtra, getStringExtra,
etc. to extract any data that was stored inside the intent.
public class SecondActivity extends Activity {
...
public void onCreate(Bundle savedState) {
super.onCreate(savedState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_second);
Intent intent = getIntent();
String extra = intent.getExtra("name");
...
}
}
Waiting for a result
If calling activity wants to wait for a result from called activity:
Call startActivityForResult rather than startActivity.
startActivityForResult requires you to pass a unique ID number
to represent the action being performed.
By convention, you declare a final int constant with a value of your choice.
The call to startActivityForResult will not wait; it will return immediately.
Write an onActivityResult method that will be called
when the second activity is done.
Check for your unique ID as was passed to startActivityForResult.
If you see your unique ID, you can ask the intent for any extra data.
Modify the called activity to send a result back.
Use its setResult and finish methods to end the called activity.
Sending back a result
In the second activity that was invoked, send data back:
Need to create an Intent to go back.
Store any extra data in that intent; call setResult and finish.
public class SecondActivity extends Activity {
...
public void myOnClick(View view) {
Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.putExtra("name", value);
setResult(RESULT_OK, intent);
finish(); // calls onDestroy
}
}
Grabbing the result
public class FirstActivity extends Activity {
private static final int REQ_CODE = 123; // MUST be 0-65535
public void myOnClick(View view) {
Intent intent = getIntent(this, SecondActivity.class);
startActivityForResult(intent, REQ_CODE);
}
protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode,
int resultCode, Intent intent) {
super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, intent);
if (requestCode == REQ_CODE) {
// came back from SecondActivity
String data = intent.getStringExtra("name");
Toast.makeText(this, "Got back: " + data,
Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
}
}
Implicit Intent (link)
implicit intent: One that launches another app, without naming
that specific app, to handle a given type of request or action.
examples: invoke default browser; load music player to play a song
// make a phone call
Uri number = Uri.parse("tel:5551234");
Intent callIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_DIAL, number);
// go to a web page in the default browser
Uri webpage = Uri.parse("http://www.stanford.edu/");
Intent webIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, webpage);
// open a map pointing at a given latitude/longitude (z=zoom)
Uri location = Uri.parse("geo:37.422219,-122.08364?z=14");
Intent mapIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, location);
Activities and Action Bar
action bar: A top-level menu of actions in an activity.
replaces older "menu" button in past versions of Android
identifies current activity/app to user
make common actions prominent and available
make less common actions available through a drop-down menu
If your activity is specified to have a "parent" activity on creation
and in AndroidManifest.xml, you will have a "back" button to
return to the calling activity.
