I'm building a service that sends a list of installed apps from an Android TV or a Fire TV to a mobile phone. The phone then sends back the package name of the app it wants to launch and the service launches it.
This is the code that creates the list
public List<InstalledApp> GetInstalledApps(boolean isAndroid) {
PackageManager pm = getPackageManager();
List<ApplicationInfo> allPackages = pm.getInstalledApplications(PackageManager.GET_META_DATA);
List<InstalledApp> userPackages = new ArrayList<InstalledApp>();
for (ApplicationInfo packageInfo : allPackages) {
if (isSystemPackage(packageInfo)) continue;
InstalledApp app = new InstalledApp();
app.setPackageName(packageInfo.packageName);
app.setAppName(pm.getApplicationLabel(packageInfo).toString());
if (!isAndroid) {
app.setIcon(pm.getApplicationIcon(packageInfo));
}
app.setAccentColor(getAccentColor(pm.getApplicationIcon(packageInfo)));
userPackages.add(app);
}
return userPackages;
}
This is how I launch the apps
public void launchApp(String packageName) {
PackageManager pm = getPackageManager();
Intent intent = pm.getLaunchIntentForPackage(packageName);
startActivity(intent);
}
On the Fire TV everything works perfectly but on the Android TV the intent for many of the apps is always null. These are just a few.
However with the same code, these apps work just fine.
Could anyone provide any insight on what I might be doing wrong?
Thanks!
EDIT: I've also tried this and I get the exception
android.content.ActivityNotFoundException: No Activity found to handle Intent { cat=[android.intent.category.LEANBACK_LAUNCHER] flg=0x10000000 pkg=com.netflix.ninja }
public void launchApp(String packageName) {
Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setPackage(packageName);
intent.addCategory("android.intent.category.LEANBACK_LAUNCHER");
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
startActivity(intent);
}
EDIT 2:
This is the code that works for me:
public void launchApp(String packageName) {
Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setPackage(packageName);
PackageManager pm = getPackageManager();
List<ResolveInfo> resolveInfos = pm.queryIntentActivities(intent, 0);
Collections.sort(resolveInfos, new ResolveInfo.DisplayNameComparator(pm));
if(resolveInfos.size() > 0) {
ResolveInfo launchable = resolveInfos.get(0);
ActivityInfo activity = launchable.activityInfo;
ComponentName name=new ComponentName(activity.applicationInfo.packageName,
activity.name);
Intent i=new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
i.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK |
Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_RESET_TASK_IF_NEEDED);
i.setComponent(name);
startActivity(i);
}
}
To create a home screen-style launcher, don't look for apps and then try to get launch Intents
for each. Look for launchable activities, using queryIntentActivities()
on PackageManager
.
For example, this activity (from this sample project) implements a home screen-style launcher using this technique:
/***
Copyright (c) 2008-2012 CommonsWare, LLC
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not
use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy
of the License at http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0. Unless required
by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the
License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS
OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific
language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
From _The Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development_
http://commonsware.com/Android
*/
package com.commonsware.android.launchalot;
import android.app.ListActivity;
import android.content.ComponentName;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.content.pm.ActivityInfo;
import android.content.pm.PackageManager;
import android.content.pm.ResolveInfo;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.ListView;
import android.widget.TextView;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.List;
public class Launchalot extends ListActivity {
AppAdapter adapter=null;
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.main);
PackageManager pm=getPackageManager();
Intent main=new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN, null);
main.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_LAUNCHER);
List<ResolveInfo> launchables=pm.queryIntentActivities(main, 0);
Collections.sort(launchables,
new ResolveInfo.DisplayNameComparator(pm));
adapter=new AppAdapter(pm, launchables);
setListAdapter(adapter);
}
@Override
protected void onListItemClick(ListView l, View v,
int position, long id) {
ResolveInfo launchable=adapter.getItem(position);
ActivityInfo activity=launchable.activityInfo;
ComponentName name=new ComponentName(activity.applicationInfo.packageName,
activity.name);
Intent i=new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);
i.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_LAUNCHER);
i.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK |
Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_RESET_TASK_IF_NEEDED);
i.setComponent(name);
startActivity(i);
}
class AppAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<ResolveInfo> {
private PackageManager pm=null;
AppAdapter(PackageManager pm, List<ResolveInfo> apps) {
super(Launchalot.this, R.layout.row, apps);
this.pm=pm;
}
@Override
public View getView(int position, View convertView,
ViewGroup parent) {
if (convertView==null) {
convertView=newView(parent);
}
bindView(position, convertView);
return(convertView);
}
private View newView(ViewGroup parent) {
return(getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.row, parent, false));
}
private void bindView(int position, View row) {
TextView label=(TextView)row.findViewById(R.id.label);
label.setText(getItem(position).loadLabel(pm));
ImageView icon=(ImageView)row.findViewById(R.id.icon);
icon.setImageDrawable(getItem(position).loadIcon(pm));
}
}
}
On an Android TV device, you should also search for LEANBACK_LAUNCHER
activities, as that's what Android TV uses, and TV-specific APKs might not have a regular LAUNCHER
activity, or at best have one that is not necessarily ideal for use on a TV.
Since Android 11 there is a behavior change that some apps will not provide this info unless you add queries
tag to the AndroidManifest like
<queries>
<package android:name="app.i.want.to.query" />
</queries>
Refer here for more info
I got the same error when calling getLaunchIntentForPackage(packageName)
. It was fixed by adding this in the launcher activity's intent-filter tag in the manifest file.
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
When creating a new TV application in Android Studio, it didn't have the above as the default, instead it has this as the default in the launcher activity's intent-filter tag in the manifest file.
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LEANBACK_LAUNCHER" />
Intent launchIntent = null;
try{
launchIntent = context.getPackageManager().getLeanbackLaunchIntentForPackage(pkgName);
} catch (java.lang.NoSuchMethodError e){
}
if (launchIntent == null) launchIntent = context.getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage(pkgName);
if (launchIntent != null) {
launchIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
context.startActivity(launchIntent);
} else {
// failure message
}
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