Dependencies and prerequisites
- Basic understanding of the Activity lifecycle (see Managing the Activity Lifecycle )
You should also read
An Android app typically has several
activities
. Each activity displays a
user interface that allows the user to perform a specific task (such as view a map or take a photo).
To take the user from one activity to another, your app must use an
Intent
to define your app's "intent" to do something. When you pass an
Intent
to the system with a method such as
startActivity()
, the system uses the
Intent
to identify and start the appropriate app component. Using intents even
allows your app to start an activity that is contained in a separate app.
An
Intent
can be
explicit
in order to start a specific component
(a specific
Activity
instance) or
implicit
in order to start any
component that can handle the intended action (such as "capture a photo").
This class shows you how to use an
Intent
to perform some basic
interactions with other apps, such as start another app, receive a result from that app, and
make your app able to respond to intents from other apps.
Lessons
- Sending the User to Another App
- Shows how you can create implicit intents to launch other apps that can perform an action.
- Getting a Result from an Activity
- Shows how to start another activity and receive a result from the activity.
- Allowing Other Apps to Start Your Activity
- Shows how to make activities in your app open for use by other apps by defining intent filters that declare the implicit intents your app accepts.