Develop Reference

Android Programming - Always Restarts same Intent

I am using Android Studio for a simple communication app and this definitly might be a stupid question but I couldn't find the answer to it yet.
I am simply starting a new intent on a button click. However, the very first time the user does this, he is asked what kind of app he wants to use. Therefore, there are at least two applications with the same intent filter, namely "ACTION_VIEW"
My Problem:
After the initial click the button always "reuses" his initial choice so the user does not have a decision anymore which app he wants to use for this intent.
Unfortunately, this is excactly what I want. The user should get the chance to select the app of his favor each time he clicks on the button.
The relevant part of code is as simple as follows:
String uri = String.format(Locale.ENGLISH, "geo:%f,%f", latitude, longitude);
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(uri));
startActivity(intent);

Intent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT could probably help you.
https://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/PendingIntent.html

You can use an App Chooser to show the dialog for the user to choose which app to use each time:
[I]f the action to be performed could be handled by multiple apps and the user might prefer a different app each time—such as a "share" action, for which users might have several apps through which they might share an item—you should explicitly show a chooser dialog.... The chooser dialog forces the user to select which app to use for the action every time (the user cannot select a default app for the action).
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
...
// Always use string resources for UI text.
// This says something like "Share this photo with"
String title = getResources().getString(R.string.chooser_title);
// Create intent to show chooser
Intent chooser = Intent.createChooser(intent, title);
// Verify the intent will resolve to at least one activity
if (intent.resolveActivity(getPackageManager()) != null) {
startActivity(chooser);
}

How to transfer a search string to music apps on android from another app

I'm developing an app for android that calls for other music apps, and I would like to transfer from my app to the music app I'm calling a search string (For example: "Thriller by Michael Jackson").
I know that Google's voice search for android, and also Dragon personal assistant, can do this.
I don't control what the music apps accept, only what my app is sending though the intent I'm creating when starting a new activity.
Does anyone know how to do this?
Thanks.

You can pass the search string from your activity to the music app activity that you want to open via a bundle.
Intent i = new Intent(//Insert required action for the activity you want to open);
// you should get the text from a widget like editText here
String searchString ="Thriller by Michael Jackson";
//Create a bundle
Bundle bundle = new Bundle();
//add the search string to the bundle
bundle.putString("SEARCH_STRING",searchString);
//add bundle to intent
i.putExtras(bundle);
//call the music app's activity
startActivity(i);

using intent for launching music player

im trying to launch the music player but it just doesn't work.
Intent intent = new Intent(MediaStore.INTENT_ACTION_MUSIC_PLAYER);
startActivity(intent);
The app crashes,it suppose to be simple but i have no idea why it doesn't work...

It might be raised ActivityNotFoundException. right?
That intent is deprecated in API Level 15 (ICS MR1).
And I guess your phone manufacturer missed that intent in music app.
Use http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Intent.html#CATEGORY_APP_MUSIC instead.

How to play a few video in youtube player on Java, Android?

I have a few videos for Android. My app plays it by code:
Intent youtube=new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(link));
startActivityForResult(youtube, 100);
But it code play 1 video from list. How can I put a few video for Intent in order to standart player play it in series?

Playlists are not supported. You will have to write your own,
create a list of videos
Lauch the new activity using startActivityForResult
In the onActivityResult just launch the same activity with the new video file.

Debugging Intents

I asked a question previously about what shows up in the IntentChooser when I send an Intent with ACTION_SEND and MIME type "image/png". The problem is that some phones come with a default messaging app that is not showing up in the list, mine included (myTouch 4G) as well as a user that I speak with over email (using an HTC EVO). If I choose a Send or Share option from the built in gallery app or another application on the same image I'm saving and attempting to send directly from my app, Messages shows up in the list. From my app it does not. Other phones don't have this problem, so it's clearly a platform specific thing. But that doesn't mean I should just ignore the problem.
So, I go to troubleshooting the issue. I register one of the activities in my app to receive the the same type of intent, and then hit a breakpoint to analyze the Intent object being sent from the two different ways of sending it.
The problem is, the intent I'm sending and the intent being sent from Gallery or AndroZip (where Messages does show up in the chooser) seem to be the same. They both have the same action, same categories, same flags, same mime type. What else can I inspect on the Intent from Gallery or AndroZip to tell if there's some more information I can add to my Intent to get the default messaging app to show up in the chooser in cases where it is not?

The problem is specific to HTC Sense phones, and it arises because their Gallery and Messaging apps are different to the stock ones.
Specifically the Intent sent from Gallery to Messaging has the action android.intent.action.SEND_MSG which is different to android.intent.action.SEND. The Sense messaging app doesn't handle SEND, unlike the stock messaging app.
So the question becomes, how is the Sense Gallery app creating an activity chooser dialog which combines both SEND and SEND_MSG ?
I've done some research and got mostway there... the code below works, but the "Messages" entry in the dialog appears at the top rather than in alphabetical order as per Gallery. Doubtless some more research into intents would correct that, but at least this works:
// Create a chooser for things that can ACTION_SEND images
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
Uri data = Uri.parse("content://media/external/images/media/98");
intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, data);
intent.setType("image/jpeg");
Intent chooser = Intent.createChooser(intent, "Blah");
// Add the stupid HTC-Sense-specific secondary intent
Intent htcIntent = new Intent("android.intent.action.SEND_MSG");
htcIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, data);
htcIntent.setType("image/jpeg");
chooser.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_INITIAL_INTENTS, new Intent[] { htcIntent });
// Show the chooser
startActivity(chooser);

First of all, +1 to Reuben, he is the genius, not me. But I had to modify his code a bit to get it to work. Basically I had to putExtra() on the htcIntent or the image never got stuck to the Intent.
Tested and validated on a Droid X and HTC Incredible (which had the same problem until now thanks to Reuben).
Uri uri = Uri.fromFile(new File(mFile));
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, uri);
intent.setType("image/png");
Intent htcIntent = new Intent("android.intent.action.SEND_MSG");
htcIntent.setType("image/png");
htcIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, uri);
Intent chooser = Intent.createChooser(intent, "Send Method");
chooser.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_INITIAL_INTENTS, new Intent[] { htcIntent });
startActivity(chooser);
Edit: I realize I'm putting the image on two Intents now, but I couldn't get it to work any other way.

Instead of debugging the intents, why not try to compare how your starting the chooser with how the gallery is doing it. It is open source after all, so instead of trying to guess at the issue with the result, you can debug from the cause.
https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/apps/Gallery3D