Start an sub class of an application from another application

Question

I have tried all the examples in SO and they do not work for me. I wish to start a specific class in another application (not main) from inside my application.

I can start the application main page with this code (this works but not the class I want):

    Intent LaunchIntent = getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage("com.paloaltophoto.starttimer");
    startActivity(LaunchIntent);

But when I follow the examples from other SO answers to try and get to the class I want, I get an error

public void onTest(View v){
        Intent intent = new Intent();
        intent.setComponent(new ComponentName("com.paloaltophoto.starttimer", "com.paloaltophoto.starttimer.edit"));
        startActivity(intent);
}

I get a message about com.paloaltophoto.starttimer/com.paloaltophoto.starttimer.edit not being declared in my manifest but the manifest has this code:

   <activity android:name="com.paloaltophoto.starttimer.edit">
   </activity>

Everything complies fine. Obviously the other application allows me to launch it as I can start it just fine on the main page but I can't find any reference on how I should make this work for a specific class.

I edited my question to include the entire view that I want to launch the other application. I think that is what you want. The rest of the file is large and likely irrelevant. — Allen Edwards, Dec 28 '13 at 06:22
Did you try: `Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MAIN);` — Skynet, Dec 28 '13 at 06:30
I changed the first Intent line to the one suggested and it still crashes. — Allen Edwards, Dec 28 '13 at 06:41
declare a unique action for your edid activity in your manifest and create an intent with that action — pskink, Dec 28 '13 at 06:42
post your manifest file...i think it may be because of wrong package name make sure that correct package name is declared or not as — Santhosh, Dec 28 '13 at 06:50
What exactly should I declare in the manifest from the main application, which is called — Allen Edwards, Dec 28 '13 at 06:58

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 02 '14 at 21:46

The class is defined as:

ComponentName(package, activity_name)

So, from your comments, you need:

intent.setComponent(new ComponentName("com.paloaltophoto.startline", "com.paloaltophoto.starttimer.edit"));

because your package is name is different from your component path.

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:56

In order to run another activity from another application you should call:

try {
    Intent intent = new Intent();
    intent.setComponent(new ComponentName(requiredPackage, requiredClazz));
    intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
    startActivity(intent);
} catch (ActivityNotFoundException ex) {
    ex.printStackTrace();
} catch (Exception ex) {
    ex.printStackTrace();
}

Above code can throw:

ActivityNotFoundException
SecurityException - called application should have android:exported=true to avoid this exception (more info in this thread).

Start an sub class of an application from another application

2 Answers2