Calling Main Activity using Implicit Intents (specifying action and category)

Question

I'm trying to call main activity using implicit intents. I give both action and category in intent but before starting the activity android system gives me a list of applications to select from for opening the activity.

Code snippet I am using to call the main activity follows:

protected void initiateActivity(int requestCode, String value, String oper) {
        Intent i = new Intent("android.intent.action.MAIN");
        i.addCategory("android.intent.category.LAUNCHER");
        i.putExtra("VALUE", value);
        i.putExtra("OPER", oper);
        startActivityForResult(i, requestCode);
    }

It seems to me that every app in system will be having same action, category combo, hence android is giving me that list of apps to select from. What changes can I make to my Main Activity so that this issue is not seen?

just an experimental project! The thing is my app needs three activities and two(main activity and activity2) have similar layouts. So, instead of creating activity2, I am trying to re-use main activity only. — Kany, Feb 18 '15 at 18:43

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:20

Looks like you might need to separate out with intent-filters. It looks there is a good explanation in this post:

How can I start MAIN activity with the help of <intent-filter>?

Which recommends adding the filters such as these below or you will be calling the launcher:

<activity android:name=".MyActivity"
          android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden"
          android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden"
          android:screenOrientation="portrait">
    <intent-filter>
          <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"/>
          <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
    </intent-filter>
    <intent-filter>
          <action android:name="com.package.name.MyAction"/>
          <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/>
    </intent-filter>

Calling Main Activity using Implicit Intents (specifying action and category)

1 Answers1