An Android Intent is an abstract description of an operation to be performed. It can be used with startActivity to launch an Activity, broadcastIntent to send it to any interested BroadcastReceiver components, and startService(Intent) or bindService(Intent, ServiceConnection, int) to communicate with a background Service.
The intent itself, an Intent object, is a passive data structure holding an abstract description of an operation to be performed.
For example, let's assume that you have an Activity that needs to
launch an email client and sends an email using your Android device. For
this purpose, your Activity would send an ACTION_SEND along with
appropriate chooser, to the Android Intent Resolver. The
specified chooser gives the proper interface for the user to pick how to
send your email data.
Intent email = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND, Uri.parse("mailto:")); email.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_EMAIL, recipients); email.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SUBJECT, subject.getText().toString()); email.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, body.getText().toString()); startActivity(Intent.createChooser(email, "Choose an email client from..."));
Above syntax is calling startActivity method to start an email activity and result should be as shown below
For example, assume that you have an Activity that needs to open URL
in a web browser on your Android device. For this purpose, your Activity
will send ACTION_WEB_SEARCH Intent to the Android Intent Resolver to
open given URL in the web browser. The Intent Resolver parses through a
list of Activities and chooses the one that would best match your
Intent, in this case, the Web Browser Activity. The Intent Resolver then
passes your web page to the web browser and starts the Web Browser
Activity.
String q = "tutorialspoint"; Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_WEB_SEARCH ); intent.putExtra(SearchManager.QUERY, q); startActivity(intent);
Above example will search as tutorialspoint on android search engine and it gives the result of tutorialspoint in your an activity
There are separate mechanisms for delivering intents to each type of component - activities, services, and broadcast receivers.
| Sr.No | Method & Description |
|---|---|
| 1 |
Context.startActivity()
The Intent object is passed to this method to launch a new activity or get an existing activity to do something new. |
| 2 | Context.startService() The Intent object is passed to this method to initiate a service or deliver new instructions to an ongoing service. |
| 3 |
Context.sendBroadcast()
The Intent object is passed to this method to deliver the message to all interested broadcast receivers. |
Intent Objects
An Intent object is a bundle of information which is used by the
component that receives the intent as well as information used by the
Android system.
An Intent object can contain the following components based on what it is communicating or going to perform −
Action
This is mandatory part of the Intent object and is a string naming
the action to be performed — or, in the case of broadcast intents, the
action that took place and is being reported. The action largely
determines how the rest of the intent object is structured . The Intent
class defines a number of action constants corresponding to different
intents. Here is a list of Android Intent Standard Actions
The action in an Intent object can be set by the setAction() method and read by getAction().
Data
Adds a data specification to an intent filter. The specification can
be just a data type (the mimeType attribute), just a URI, or both a data
type and a URI. A URI is specified by separate attributes for each of
its parts −
These attributes that specify the URL format are optional, but also mutually dependent −
- If a scheme is not specified for the intent filter, all the other URI attributes are ignored.
- If a host is not specified for the filter, the port attribute and all the path attributes are ignored.
The setData() method specifies data only as a URI, setType()
specifies it only as a MIME type, and setDataAndType() specifies it as
both a URI and a MIME type. The URI is read by getData() and the type by
getType().
Some examples of action/data pairs are −
| S.N. | Action/Data Pair & Description |
|---|---|
| 1 |
ACTION_VIEW content://contacts/people/1
Display information about the person whose identifier is "1". |
| 2 |
ACTION_DIAL content://contacts/people/1
Display the phone dialer with the person filled in. |
| 3 |
ACTION_VIEW tel:123
Display the phone dialer with the given number filled in. |
| 4 |
ACTION_DIAL tel:123
Display the phone dialer with the given number filled in. |
| 5 |
ACTION_EDIT content://contacts/people/1
Edit information about the person whose identifier is "1". |
| 6 |
ACTION_VIEW content://contacts/people/
Display a list of people, which the user can browse through. |
| 7 |
ACTION_SET_WALLPAPER
Show settings for choosing wallpaper |
| 8 |
ACTION_SYNC
It going to be synchronous the data,Constant Value is android.intent.action.SYNC |
| 9 |
ACTION_SYSTEM_TUTORIAL
It will start the platform-defined tutorial(Default tutorial or start up tutorial) |
| 10 |
ACTION_TIMEZONE_CHANGED
It intimates when time zone has changed |
| 11 | ACTION_UNINSTALL_PACKAGE
It is used to run default uninstaller |
Category
The category is an optional part of Intent object and it's a string
containing additional information about the kind of component that
should handle the intent. The addCategory() method places a category in
an Intent object, removeCategory() deletes a category previously added,
and getCategories() gets the set of all categories currently in the
object. Here is a list of Android Intent Standard Categories.
You can check detail on Intent Filters in below section to understand
how do we use categories to choose appropriate activity corresponding
to an Intent.
Extras
This will be in key-value pairs for additional information that
should be delivered to the component handling the intent. The extras can
be set and read using the putExtras() and getExtras() methods
respectively. Here is a list of Android Intent Standard Extra Data
Flags
These flags are optional part of Intent object and instruct the
Android system how to launch an activity, and how to treat it after it's
launched etc.
| Sr.No | Flags & Description |
|---|---|
| 1 |
FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TASK
If set in an Intent passed to Context.startActivity(), this flag will
cause any existing task that would be associated with the activity to
be cleared before the activity is started. That is, the activity becomes
the new root of an otherwise empty task, and any old activities are
finished. This can only be used in conjunction with
FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK. |
| 2 |
FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP
If set, and the activity being launched is already running in the
current task, then instead of launching a new instance of that activity,
all of the other activities on top of it will be closed and this Intent
will be delivered to the (now on top) old activity as a new Intent. |
| 3 | FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK This flag is generally used by activities that want to present a "launcher" style behavior: they give the user a list of separate things that can be done, which otherwise run completely independently of the activity launching them. |
Component Name
This optional field is an android ComponentName object
representing either Activity, Service or BroadcastReceiver class. If it
is set, the Intent object is delivered to an instance of the designated
class otherwise Android uses other information in the Intent object to
locate a suitable target.
The component name is set by setComponent(), setClass(), or setClassName() and read by getComponent().
Types of Intents
There are following two types of intents supported by Android
Explicit Intents
Explicit intent going to be connected internal world of
application,suppose if you wants to connect one activity to another
activity, we can do this quote by explicit intent, below image is
connecting first activity to second activity by clicking button.
These intents designate the target component by its name and they are
typically used for application-internal messages - such as an activity
starting a subordinate service or launching a sister activity. For
example −
// Explicit Intent by specifying its class name Intent i = new Intent(FirstActivity.this, SecondAcitivity.class); // Starts TargetActivity startActivity(i);
Implicit Intents
These intents do not name a target and the field for the component
name is left blank. Implicit intents are often used to activate
components in other applications. For example −
Intent read1=new Intent(); read1.setAction(android.content.Intent.ACTION_VIEW); read1.setData(ContactsContract.Contacts.CONTENT_URI); startActivity(read1);
Above code will give result as shown below
The target component which receives the intent can use the getExtras() method to get the extra data sent by the source component. For example −
// Get bundle object at appropriate place in your code Bundle extras = getIntent().getExtras(); // Extract data using passed keys String value1 = extras.getString("Key1"); String value2 = extras.getString("Key2");
Example
Following example shows the functionality of a Android Intent to launch various Android built-in applications.
| Step | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | You will use Android studio IDE to create an Android application and name it as My Application under a package com.example.saira_000.myapplication. While creating this project, make sure you Target SDK and Compile With at the latest version of Android SDK to use higher levels of APIs. |
| 2 | Modify src/main/java/MainActivity.java file and add the code to define two listeners corresponding two buttons ie. Start Browser and Start Phone. |
| 3 | Modify layout XML file res/layout/activity_main.xml to add three buttons in linear layout. |
| 4 | Run the application to launch Android emulator and verify the result of the changes done in the application. |
Following is the content of the modified main activity file src/com.example.My Application/MainActivity.java.
package com.example.saira_000.myapplication; import android.content.Intent; import android.net.Uri; import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity; import android.os.Bundle; import android.view.Menu; import android.view.MenuItem; import android.view.View; import android.widget.Button; public class MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity { Button b1,b2; @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.activity_main); b1=(Button)findViewById(R.id.button); b1.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() { @Override public void onClick(View v) { Intent i = new Intent(android.content.Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("http://www.example.com")); startActivity(i); } }); b2=(Button)findViewById(R.id.button2); b2.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() { @Override public void onClick(View v) { Intent i = new Intent(android.content.Intent.ACTION_VIEW,Uri.parse("tel:9510300000")); startActivity(i); } }); } @Override public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) { // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present. getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_main, menu); return true; } @Override public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) { // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml. int id = item.getItemId(); //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement if (id == R.id.action_settings) { return true; } return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item); } }
Following will be the content of res/layout/activity_main.xml file −
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent" android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin" android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin" android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin" android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin" tools:context=".MainActivity"> <TextView android:id="@+id/textView1" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="Intent Example" android:layout_alignParentTop="true" android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" android:textSize="30dp" /> <TextView android:id="@+id/textView2" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="Tutorials point" android:textColor="#ff87ff09" android:textSize="30dp" android:layout_below="@+id/textView1" android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" /> <ImageButton android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:id="@+id/imageButton" android:src="@drawable/abc" android:layout_below="@+id/textView2" android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" /> <EditText android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:id="@+id/editText" android:layout_below="@+id/imageButton" android:layout_alignRight="@+id/imageButton" android:layout_alignEnd="@+id/imageButton" /> <Button android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="Start Browser" android:id="@+id/button" android:layout_alignTop="@+id/editText" android:layout_alignRight="@+id/textView1" android:layout_alignEnd="@+id/textView1" android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/imageButton" android:layout_alignStart="@+id/imageButton" /> <Button android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="Start Phone" android:id="@+id/button2" android:layout_below="@+id/button" android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/button" android:layout_alignStart="@+id/button" android:layout_alignRight="@+id/textView2" android:layout_alignEnd="@+id/textView2" /> </RelativeLayout>
Following will be the content of res/values/strings.xml to define two new constants −
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <resources> <string name="app_name">My Applicaiton</string> <string name="action_settings">Settings</string> </resources>
Following is the default content of AndroidManifest.xml −
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" package="com.example.My Application" android:versionCode="1" android:versionName="1.0" > <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="8" android:targetSdkVersion="22" /> <application android:allowBackup="true" android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher" android:label="@string/app_name" android:theme="@style/AppTheme" > <activity android:name="com.example.saira_000.myapplication.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> </application> </manifest>
Let's try to run your My Application application. I assume you had created your AVD while doing environment setup. To run the app from Android Studio, open one of your project's activity files and click Run
icon from the toolbar.Android Studio installs the app on your AVD and
starts it and if everything is fine with your setup and application, it
will display following Emulator window −
Now click on Start Browser button, which will start a browser configured and display http://www.example.com as shown below −
Similar way you can launch phone interface using Start Phone button, which will allow you to dial already given phone number.
Intent Filters
You have seen how an Intent has been used to call an another
activity. Android OS uses filters to pinpoint the set of Activities,
Services, and Broadcast receivers that can handle the Intent with help
of specified set of action, categories, data scheme associated with an
Intent. You will use <intent-filter> element in the
manifest file to list down actions, categories and data types associated
with any activity, service, or broadcast receiver.
Following is an example of a part of AndroidManifest.xml file to specify an activity com.example.My Application.CustomActivity which can be invoked by either of the two mentioned actions, one category, and one data −
<activity android:name=".CustomActivity" android:label="@string/app_name"> <intent-filter> <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" /> <action android:name="com.example.My Application.LAUNCH" /> <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" /> <data android:scheme="http" /> </intent-filter> </activity>
Once this activity is defined along with above mentioned filters,
other activities will be able to invoke this activity using either the android.intent.action.VIEW, or using the com.example.My Application.LAUNCH action provided their category is android.intent.category.DEFAULT.
The <data> element specifies the data type expected by
the activity to be called and for above example our custom activity
expects the data to start with the "http://"
There may be a situation that an intent can pass through the filters
of more than one activity or service, the user may be asked which
component to activate. An exception is raised if no target can be found.
There are following test Android checks before invoking an activity −
- A filter <intent-filter> may list more than one action as shown above but this list cannot be empty; a filter must contain at least one <action> element, otherwise it will block all intents. If more than one actions are mentioned then Android tries to match one of the mentioned actions before invoking the activity.
- A filter <intent-filter> may list zero, one or more than one categories. if there is no category mentioned then Android always pass this test but if more than one categories are mentioned then for an intent to pass the category test, every category in the Intent object must match a category in the filter.
- Each <data> element can specify a URI and a data type (MIME media type). There are separate attributes like scheme, host, port, and path for each part of the URI. An Intent object that contains both a URI and a data type passes the data type part of the test only if its type matches a type listed in the filter.
Example
Following example is a modification of the above example. Here we
will see how Android resolves conflict if one intent is invoking two
activities defined in , next how to invoke a custom activity using a
filter and third one is an exception case if Android does not file
appropriate activity defined for an intent.
| Step | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | You will use android studio to create an Android application and name it as My Application under a package com.example.saira_000.myapplication. While creating this project, make sure you Target SDK and Compile With at the latest version of Android SDK to use higher levels of APIs. |
| 2 | Modify src/Main/Java/MainActivity.java file and add the code to define three listeners corresponding to three buttons defined in layout file. |
| 3 | Add a new src/Main/Java/CustomActivity.java file to have one custom activity which will be invoked by different intents. |
| 4 | Modify layout XML file res/layout/activity_main.xml to add three buttons in linear layout. |
| 5 | Add one layout XML file res/layout/custom_view.xml to add a simple <TextView> to show the passed data through intent. |
| 6 | Modify AndroidManifest.xml to add <intent-filter> to define rules for your intent to invoke custom activity. |
| 7 | Run the application to launch Android emulator and verify the result of the changes done in the application. |
Following is the content of the modified main activity file src/MainActivity.java.
package com.example.saira_000.myapplication; import android.content.Intent; import android.net.Uri; import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity; import android.os.Bundle; import android.view.Menu; import android.view.MenuItem; import android.view.View; import android.widget.Button; public class MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity { Button b1,b2,b3; @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.activity_main); b1=(Button)findViewById(R.id.button); b1.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() { @Override public void onClick(View v) { Intent i = new Intent(android.content.Intent.ACTION_VIEW,Uri.parse("http://www.example.com")); startActivity(i); } }); b2=(Button)findViewById(R.id.button2); b2.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() { @Override public void onClick(View v) { Intent i = new Intent("com.example.My Application.LAUNCH",Uri.parse("http://www.example.com")); startActivity(i); } }); b3=(Button)findViewById(R.id.button3); b3.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() { @Override public void onClick(View v) { Intent i = new Intent("com.example.My Application.LAUNCH",Uri.parse("https://www.example.com")); startActivity(i); } }); } @Override public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) { // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present. getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_main, menu); return true; } @Override public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) { // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml. int id = item.getItemId(); //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement if (id == R.id.action_settings) { return true; } return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item); } }
Following is the content of the modified main activity file src/com.example.My Application/CustomActivity.java.
package com.example.saira_000.myapplication; import android.app.Activity; import android.net.Uri; import android.os.Bundle; import android.widget.TextView; public class CustomActivity extends Activity { @Override public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.custom_view); TextView label = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.show_data); Uri url = getIntent().getData(); label.setText(url.toString()); } }
Following will be the content of res/layout/activity_main.xml file −
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent" android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin" android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin" android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin" android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin" tools:context=".MainActivity"> <TextView android:id="@+id/textView1" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="Intent Example" android:layout_alignParentTop="true" android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" android:textSize="30dp" /> <TextView android:id="@+id/textView2" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="Tutorials point" android:textColor="#ff87ff09" android:textSize="30dp" android:layout_below="@+id/textView1" android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" /> <ImageButton android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:id="@+id/imageButton" android:src="@drawable/abc" android:layout_below="@+id/textView2" android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" /> <EditText android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:id="@+id/editText" android:layout_below="@+id/imageButton" android:layout_alignRight="@+id/imageButton" android:layout_alignEnd="@+id/imageButton" /> <Button android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="Start browsing with view action" android:id="@+id/button" android:layout_alignTop="@+id/editText" android:layout_alignRight="@+id/textView1" android:layout_alignEnd="@+id/textView1" android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/imageButton" android:layout_alignStart="@+id/imageButton" /> <Button android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="Start browsing with launch action" android:id="@+id/button2" android:layout_below="@+id/button" android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/button" android:layout_alignStart="@+id/button" android:layout_alignRight="@+id/textView2" android:layout_alignEnd="@+id/textView2" /> <Button android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:text="Exceptional condition" android:id="@+id/button3" android:layout_below="@+id/button2" android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/button2" android:layout_alignStart="@+id/button2" android:layout_alignRight="@+id/textView2" android:layout_alignEnd="@+id/textView2" /> </RelativeLayout>
Following will be the content of res/layout/custom_view.xml file −
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:orientation="vertical" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent"> <TextView android:id="@+id/show_data" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="400dp"/> </LinearLayout>
Following will be the content of res/values/strings.xml to define two new constants −
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <resources> <string name="app_name">My Application</string> <string name="action_settings">Settings</string> </resources>
Following is the default content of AndroidManifest.xml −
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" package="com.example.My Application" android:versionCode="1" android:versionName="1.0" > <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="8" android:targetSdkVersion="22" /> <application android:allowBackup="true" android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher" android:label="@string/app_name" android:theme="@style/AppTheme" > <activity android:name="com.example.saira_000.myapplication" 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="com.example.saira_000.myapplication.CustomActivity" <android:label="@string/app_name"> <intent-filter> <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" /> <action android:name="com.example.saira_000.myapplication.LAUNCH" /> <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" /> <data android:scheme="http" /> </intent-filter> </activity> </application> </manifest>
Let's try to run your My Application application. I assume you had created your AVD while doing environment setup. To run the app from Android Studio, open one of your project's activity files and click Run
icon from the toolbar. Android Studio installs the app on your AVD and
starts it and if everything is fine with your setup and application, it
will display following Emulator window −
Now let's start with first button "Start Browser with VIEW Action".
Here we have defined our custom activity with a filter
"android.intent.action.VIEW", and there is already one default activity
against VIEW action defined by Android which is launching web browser,
So android displays following two options to select the activity you
want to launch.
Now if you select Browser, then Android will launch web browser and
open example.com website but if you select IndentDemo option then
Android will launch CustomActivity which does nothing but just capture
passed data and displays in a text view as follows −
Now go back using back button and click on "Start Browser with LAUNCH
Action" button, here Android applies filter to choose define activity
and it simply launch your custom activity
Again, go back using back button and click on "Exception Condition"
button, here Android tries to find out a valid filter for the given
intent but it does not find a valid activity defined because this time
we have used data as https instead of http though we are giving a correct action, so Android raises an exception and shows following screen −
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