Re: [android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-03-26 Thread Dianne Hackborn 
On Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 4:22 PM, Matt Kanninen  wrote:

> Sorry about resurrecting an old thread, but really?  All resources
> from all APK's are public to all APK's at all times?
>

Yes.


> Could yall post a new blog post about how to write secure Android
> applications? ;)
>

One possibility is to use encryption of things you want to protect.


> How about assets?  And whats the deal with the stuff that ends up in
> your assets folder that you didn't put there?
>

You mean if you look at the contents of the AssetManager?  Those are in the
framework.

-- 
Dianne Hackborn
Android framework engineer
hack...@android.com

Note: please don't send private questions to me, as I don't have time to
provide private support, and so won't reply to such e-mails.  All such
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[android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-03-26 Thread Matt Kanninen 
Sorry about resurrecting an old thread, but really?  All resources
from all APK's are public to all APK's at all times?

Could yall post a new blog post about how to write secure Android
applications? ;)

How about assets?  And whats the deal with the stuff that ends up in
your assets folder that you didn't put there?

On Feb 16, 2:04 pm, Dianne Hackborn  wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 4:37 PM, jotobjects  wrote:
> > Are the resources of the another application package essentially
> > public - can any application call Context.createPackageContext() to
> > get the context of a different application?
>
> Yep all resources are public.  This allows other applications to display
> your icons and labels (such as when you appear in a picker), inflate your
> layout for app widgets, etc.
>
> --
> Dianne Hackborn
> Android framework engineer
> hack...@android.com
>
> Note: please don't send private questions to me, as I don't have time to
> provide private support, and so won't reply to such e-mails.  All such
> questions should be posted on public forums, where I and others can see and
> answer them.

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Re: [android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-02-16 Thread Dianne Hackborn 
On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 4:37 PM, jotobjects  wrote:

> Are the resources of the another application package essentially
> public - can any application call Context.createPackageContext() to
> get the context of a different application?
>

Yep all resources are public.  This allows other applications to display
your icons and labels (such as when you appear in a picker), inflate your
layout for app widgets, etc.


-- 
Dianne Hackborn
Android framework engineer
hack...@android.com

Note: please don't send private questions to me, as I don't have time to
provide private support, and so won't reply to such e-mails.  All such
questions should be posted on public forums, where I and others can see and
answer them.

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Re: [android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-02-16 Thread Mark Murphy 
jotobjects wrote:
> For instance with a Context you
> can get lists of databases and files and delete them!

No, you can't. Linux file permissions will prevent this.

> Getting access to MetaData via PackageManager seems reasonable if you
> are aware that this is how it works, but the rationale for getting the
> Context of another package is not so clear - do you understand the
> purpose?

In part, it's so you can get at the icons and names in order to present
Intents (e.g., home screen launcher).

-- 
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Warescription: Three Android Books, Plus Updates, One Low Price!

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[android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-02-16 Thread jotobjects 


On Feb 15, 5:01 pm, Mark Murphy  wrote:
> jotobjects wrote:
> > Are the resources of the another application package essentially
> > public - can any application call Context.createPackageContext() to
> > get the context of a different application?
>
> Yes. It shocked the heck out of me when I realized it. It's possible
> there are some limits, but I'm not aware of any.

Getting resources is just the start. For instance with a Context you
can get lists of databases and files and delete them!  Seems a little
extreme for another package to be able to do that :)  Hopefully it's
not possible.  Even getting the names of files is potentially a
security issue.

Getting access to MetaData via PackageManager seems reasonable if you
are aware that this is how it works, but the rationale for getting the
Context of another package is not so clear - do you understand the
purpose?

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Re: [android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-02-15 Thread Mark Murphy 
jotobjects wrote:
> Are the resources of the another application package essentially
> public - can any application call Context.createPackageContext() to
> get the context of a different application?

Yes. It shocked the heck out of me when I realized it. It's possible
there are some limits, but I'm not aware of any.

-- 
Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy)
http://commonsware.com | http://twitter.com/commonsguy

Android Development Wiki: http://wiki.andmob.org

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[android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-02-15 Thread jotobjects 


On Feb 13, 11:36 am, Dianne Hackborn  wrote:
> This sounds much more complicated than you need.  If you just want to load
> resources from another .apk, you don't need any code in it at all -- just
> use Context.createPackageContext() to get the context for the other package
> and load its resources from there.

Are the resources of the another application package essentially
public - can any application call Context.createPackageContext() to
get the context of a different application?

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Re: [android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-02-15 Thread sai ongoleee 
download free important softwares,movies,games &many more


http://www.moreutilities.blogspot.com/

On Sat, Feb 13, 2010 at 11:59 PM, Menny  wrote:

> So you suggest that I'll have a pre-define resource which will hold
> all the information I need (let's say it is an XML resource) for
> creating the external keyboard. This sounds OK.
> The only problem is how to query for packages which have this
> resource?
> I can still create an Activity which have another pre-defined activity-
> filter which I can query for.
> Is this a reasonable method? Or is there a clearer way (I mean, I
> create an activity just for query usages)?
>
> Thanks,
> Menny
>
> On Feb 14, 12:44 am, Mark Murphy  wrote:
> > Menny wrote:
> > > I don't know what the other ContentProviders URI are.
> > > They can be anything, I want to release my keyboard service, and then
> > > release layouts as I need.
> > > This means that, somehow, the keyboard service needs to "know" which
> > > layout packages are installed on the device, and what are the URI of
> > > their content-providers.
> >
> > Another alternative is to still use Context.createPackageContext(), but
> > primarily as a bootstrap. The APK would publish its content URI in a
> > pre-determined resource (e.g., R.string.any_soft_keyboard_provider_uri),
> > which you would then use.
> >
> > --
> > Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy)http://commonsware.com|
> http://twitter.com/commonsguy
> >
> > Android Development Wiki:http://wiki.andmob.org
>
> --
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Re: [android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-02-14 Thread Mark Murphy 
Menny Even Danan wrote:
> OK, thanks. I'll try that.

Actually, I hadn't seen Ms. Hackborn's response before replying --
definitely consider following her guidance in this area.

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Re: [android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-02-14 Thread Menny Even Danan 
OK, thanks. I'll try that.

On Sun, Feb 14, 2010 at 14:15, Mark Murphy  wrote:

> Menny wrote:
> > So you suggest that I'll have a pre-define resource which will hold
> > all the information I need (let's say it is an XML resource) for
> > creating the external keyboard. This sounds OK.
> > The only problem is how to query for packages which have this
> > resource?
>
> I'm not sure if there is an efficient query-for-resource mechanism.
>
> > I can still create an Activity which have another pre-defined activity-
> > filter which I can query for.
>
> It doesn't necessarily have to be a filter on an activity, but, yes,
> that should be a time-efficient lookup method.
>
> --
> Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy)
> http://commonsware.com | http://twitter.com/commonsguy
>
> Android Training in US: 8-12 February 2010: http://bignerdranch.com
>
> --
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Re: [android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-02-14 Thread Mark Murphy 
Menny wrote:
> So you suggest that I'll have a pre-define resource which will hold
> all the information I need (let's say it is an XML resource) for
> creating the external keyboard. This sounds OK.
> The only problem is how to query for packages which have this
> resource?

I'm not sure if there is an efficient query-for-resource mechanism.

> I can still create an Activity which have another pre-defined activity-
> filter which I can query for.

It doesn't necessarily have to be a filter on an activity, but, yes,
that should be a time-efficient lookup method.

-- 
Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy)
http://commonsware.com | http://twitter.com/commonsguy

Android Training in US: 8-12 February 2010: http://bignerdranch.com

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[android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-02-14 Thread Menny 

I'll look at the examples, and try that.

Thanks.

On Feb 14, 11:07 am, Dianne Hackborn  wrote:
> You can follow the same model we use for input methods, app widgets, live
> wallpapers, and other things (none of which are fundamentally kinds of
> things in the platform, but built on top of the fundamental generic
> activity, receiver, service, and provider components):
>
> 1. Pick the kind of component that best represents your object.  If there is
> not going to be any code that needs to be run by the object, then this is
> kind-of arbitrary.  The two most typical components to use for this are a
> receive or service.  Let's pick a receiver.
>
> 2. Define your own action the you can use to find any receivers you are
> interested in.  For example "com.mydomain.keyapp.EXTERNAL_KEYBOARD".
>
> 4. Define a meta-data item to be associated with this component.  This will
> be a reference to an XML resource, containing an XML file organized however
> you want describing your domain-specific information associated with the
> component.
>
> 3. When you run, use PackageManager,queryIntentReceivers() to find all
> receiver that support your protocol.  Use GET_META_DATA to also retrieve the
> meta-data associate with the component.  You can iterate through the
> returned list, processing the XML meta data file associated with each of the
> returned components to find out about them.
>
> You can look at WallpaperService for a pretty good example of a typical way
> to structure such a thing (though in this case based on a service, not a
> receiver):
>
> http://developer.android.com/reference/android/service/wallpaper/Wall...
>
> Note
> the SERVICE_INTERACE (that's the action) and SERVICE_META_DATA associated
> with the component.
>
> The WallpaperInfo class is a good example of how you can parse the component
> and meta-data associated with it:
>
> http://android.git.kernel.org/?p=platform/frameworks/base.git;a=blob;...
>
> (Note because we do not currently support third party shared libraries, you
> will not be able to define your own custom attributes that can be used by
> the other applications.  You can use any of the standard platform
> attributes, though, and just retrieve regular attributes of whatever type
> you want.)
>
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 13, 2010 at 11:59 PM, Menny  wrote:
> > So you suggest that I'll have a pre-define resource which will hold
> > all the information I need (let's say it is an XML resource) for
> > creating the external keyboard. This sounds OK.
> > The only problem is how to query for packages which have this
> > resource?
> > I can still create an Activity which have another pre-defined activity-
> > filter which I can query for.
> > Is this a reasonable method? Or is there a clearer way (I mean, I
> > create an activity just for query usages)?
>
> > Thanks,
> > Menny
>
> > On Feb 14, 12:44 am, Mark Murphy  wrote:
> > > Menny wrote:
> > > > I don't know what the other ContentProviders URI are.
> > > > They can be anything, I want to release my keyboard service, and then
> > > > release layouts as I need.
> > > > This means that, somehow, the keyboard service needs to "know" which
> > > > layout packages are installed on the device, and what are the URI of
> > > > their content-providers.
>
> > > Another alternative is to still use Context.createPackageContext(), but
> > > primarily as a bootstrap. The APK would publish its content URI in a
> > > pre-determined resource (e.g., R.string.any_soft_keyboard_provider_uri),
> > > which you would then use.
>
> > > --
> > > Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy)http://commonsware.com|
> >http://twitter.com/commonsguy
>
> > > Android Development Wiki:http://wiki.andmob.org
>
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> > Groups "Android Developers" group.
> > To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> > android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com
> > For more options, visit this group at
> >http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
>
> --
> Dianne Hackborn
> Android framework engineer
> hack...@android.com
>
> Note: please don't send private questions to me, as I don't have time to
> provide private support, and so won't reply to such e-mails.  All such
> questions should be posted on public forums, where I and others can see and
> answer them.

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Re: [android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-02-14 Thread Dianne Hackborn 
You can follow the same model we use for input methods, app widgets, live
wallpapers, and other things (none of which are fundamentally kinds of
things in the platform, but built on top of the fundamental generic
activity, receiver, service, and provider components):

1. Pick the kind of component that best represents your object.  If there is
not going to be any code that needs to be run by the object, then this is
kind-of arbitrary.  The two most typical components to use for this are a
receive or service.  Let's pick a receiver.

2. Define your own action the you can use to find any receivers you are
interested in.  For example "com.mydomain.keyapp.EXTERNAL_KEYBOARD".

4. Define a meta-data item to be associated with this component.  This will
be a reference to an XML resource, containing an XML file organized however
you want describing your domain-specific information associated with the
component.

3. When you run, use PackageManager,queryIntentReceivers() to find all
receiver that support your protocol.  Use GET_META_DATA to also retrieve the
meta-data associate with the component.  You can iterate through the
returned list, processing the XML meta data file associated with each of the
returned components to find out about them.

You can look at WallpaperService for a pretty good example of a typical way
to structure such a thing (though in this case based on a service, not a
receiver):

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/service/wallpaper/WallpaperService.html

Note
the SERVICE_INTERACE (that's the action) and SERVICE_META_DATA associated
with the component.

The WallpaperInfo class is a good example of how you can parse the component
and meta-data associated with it:

http://android.git.kernel.org/?p=platform/frameworks/base.git;a=blob;f=core/java/android/app/WallpaperInfo.java

(Note because we do not currently support third party shared libraries, you
will not be able to define your own custom attributes that can be used by
the other applications.  You can use any of the standard platform
attributes, though, and just retrieve regular attributes of whatever type
you want.)



On Sat, Feb 13, 2010 at 11:59 PM, Menny  wrote:

> So you suggest that I'll have a pre-define resource which will hold
> all the information I need (let's say it is an XML resource) for
> creating the external keyboard. This sounds OK.
> The only problem is how to query for packages which have this
> resource?
> I can still create an Activity which have another pre-defined activity-
> filter which I can query for.
> Is this a reasonable method? Or is there a clearer way (I mean, I
> create an activity just for query usages)?
>
> Thanks,
> Menny
>
> On Feb 14, 12:44 am, Mark Murphy  wrote:
> > Menny wrote:
> > > I don't know what the other ContentProviders URI are.
> > > They can be anything, I want to release my keyboard service, and then
> > > release layouts as I need.
> > > This means that, somehow, the keyboard service needs to "know" which
> > > layout packages are installed on the device, and what are the URI of
> > > their content-providers.
> >
> > Another alternative is to still use Context.createPackageContext(), but
> > primarily as a bootstrap. The APK would publish its content URI in a
> > pre-determined resource (e.g., R.string.any_soft_keyboard_provider_uri),
> > which you would then use.
> >
> > --
> > Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy)http://commonsware.com|
> http://twitter.com/commonsguy
> >
> > Android Development Wiki:http://wiki.andmob.org
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "Android Developers" group.
> To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com
> For more options, visit this group at
> http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
>



-- 
Dianne Hackborn
Android framework engineer
hack...@android.com

Note: please don't send private questions to me, as I don't have time to
provide private support, and so won't reply to such e-mails.  All such
questions should be posted on public forums, where I and others can see and
answer them.

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[android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-02-13 Thread Menny 
So you suggest that I'll have a pre-define resource which will hold
all the information I need (let's say it is an XML resource) for
creating the external keyboard. This sounds OK.
The only problem is how to query for packages which have this
resource?
I can still create an Activity which have another pre-defined activity-
filter which I can query for.
Is this a reasonable method? Or is there a clearer way (I mean, I
create an activity just for query usages)?

Thanks,
Menny

On Feb 14, 12:44 am, Mark Murphy  wrote:
> Menny wrote:
> > I don't know what the other ContentProviders URI are.
> > They can be anything, I want to release my keyboard service, and then
> > release layouts as I need.
> > This means that, somehow, the keyboard service needs to "know" which
> > layout packages are installed on the device, and what are the URI of
> > their content-providers.
>
> Another alternative is to still use Context.createPackageContext(), but
> primarily as a bootstrap. The APK would publish its content URI in a
> pre-determined resource (e.g., R.string.any_soft_keyboard_provider_uri),
> which you would then use.
>
> --
> Mark Murphy (a Commons 
> Guy)http://commonsware.com|http://twitter.com/commonsguy
>
> Android Development Wiki:http://wiki.andmob.org

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Re: [android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-02-13 Thread Mark Murphy 
Menny wrote:
> I don't know what the other ContentProviders URI are.
> They can be anything, I want to release my keyboard service, and then
> release layouts as I need.
> This means that, somehow, the keyboard service needs to "know" which
> layout packages are installed on the device, and what are the URI of
> their content-providers.

Another alternative is to still use Context.createPackageContext(), but
primarily as a bootstrap. The APK would publish its content URI in a
pre-determined resource (e.g., R.string.any_soft_keyboard_provider_uri),
which you would then use.

-- 
Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy)
http://commonsware.com | http://twitter.com/commonsguy

Android Development Wiki: http://wiki.andmob.org

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Re: [android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-02-13 Thread Mark Murphy 
Menny wrote:
> I don't know what the other ContentProviders URI are.

Then don't use a ContentProvider. Follow Ms. Hackborn's directions
instead and use Context.createPackageContext() and access the other
APKs' resources that way.

-- 
Mark Murphy (a Commons Guy)
http://commonsware.com | http://twitter.com/commonsguy

Android Training in US: 8-12 February 2010: http://bignerdranch.com

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[android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-02-13 Thread Menny 
I don't know what the other ContentProviders URI are.
They can be anything, I want to release my keyboard service, and then
release layouts as I need.
This means that, somehow, the keyboard service needs to "know" which
layout packages are installed on the device, and what are the URI of
their content-providers.

I don't want to use "sharedUserId", since I want to give other
developers the option to create their own layouts.


On Feb 13, 9:36 pm, Dianne Hackborn  wrote:
> This sounds much more complicated than you need.  If you just want to load
> resources from another .apk, you don't need any code in it at all -- just
> use Context.createPackageContext() to get the context for the other package
> and load its resources from there.
>
> And if you don't need any UI, and really do need to execute code in the
> other .apk, then you said you already have a content provider so why not
> just call that?  Or a broadcast receiver?  Or a service?
>
> Also if you really do need to run the code in the other .apk, please
> consider using android:sharedUserId with all of your .apks and having them
> all run in the same process, so you don't need to spin up multiple
> processes.
>
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 13, 2010 at 8:06 AM, Menny  wrote:
> > OK. I'll be explain my needs:
> > I'm the author of AnySoftKeyboard (http://
> > softkeyboard.googlecode.com).
> > The reason I made this keyboard, is to provide alternative layouts in
> > the on-screen keyboard (e.g., Hebrew, Russian, DVORAK, etc. and of
> > course, qwerty).
> > But the keyboard APK gets bloated with all the layouts, and
> > dictionaries etc
> > So, I wanted to move all layouts to external packages: one layout (or
> > several) per package.
>
> > All the data I need to create a layout are the resource IDs of the
> > layout, the dictionary and several other stuff, all of which can be
> > retrieved using a ContentProvider.
> > But I need the ContentProvider's URI.
> > So I thought that starting an Activity and getting a result from it
> > (startActivityForResult call) will be perfect for me.
>
> > I do not need any UI to popuup (actually, I prefer that none will), I
> > get need to get some data from the external package.
>
> > So, these are my needs. Anyone can suggest a way?
>
> > Thanks,
> > Menny
>
> > On Feb 12, 10:35 am, Kevin Duffey  wrote:
> > > The whole purpose of a service is to stay in the background doing
> > something,
> > > so not sure why you would want to display a UI in a non-UI based app. As
> > > Dianne said, post a notification that shows up on the status bar... when
> > the
> > > user slides it down and clicks on it, that can launch an activity...
> > which
> > > can then bind to the service to pass it info if need be. I'd still argue
> > > that would not be a good idea either. Can you elaborate on why you need
> > some
> > > user interaction with your service.. is it something that can't be,
> > perhaps
> > > set in a user preferences within an activity that the user launches the
> > > first time (or later to change settings)?
>
> > > On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 7:53 PM, Dianne Hackborn  > >wrote:
>
> > > > You can't do this, nor should you.  This would pop your UI in front of
> > the
> > > > user, disrupting whatever they are doing.  This is highly discouraged.
> >  The
> > > > proper way to do this is to post a notification, which the user can
> > respond
> > > > to when desired and can cause your own activity to be launched, which
> > can
> > > > then launch the other activity.
>
> > > > On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 11:17 AM, Menny  wrote:
>
> > > >> Hi,
> > > >> I have a Service which needs to receive data from external packages.
> > > >> So, to locate the data providing external packages, I use activity-
> > > >> filter and PackageManager.queryIntentActivities function to locate the
> > > >> interesting packages.
> > > >> Now, from each such package, I need to get a ContentProvider URI.
> > > >> So I want to start the external Activity and the external activity
> > > >> will return a result to my service - something like
> > > >> "startActivityForResult".
> > > >> The problem is that there is no way to call "startActivityForResult"
> > > >> from a Service, only Activity can do that, and my project does not
> > > >> have any Activity, and probably can't show UI for the user.
>
> > > >> The bottom line:
> > > >> Can anyone suggest a way to get ContentProvider URI from an external
> > > >> package, while my package has only a Service?
>
> > > >> Thanks,
> > > >> Menny.
>
> > > >> --
> > > >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> > > >> Groups "Android Developers" group.
> > > >> To post to this group, send email to
> > android-developers@googlegroups.com
> > > >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> > > >> android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com
> > 
>
> > > >> For more options, visit this group at
> > > >>http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
>
> > > > --
> > > > Dianne Hackborn
> > >

Re: [android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-02-13 Thread Dianne Hackborn 
This sounds much more complicated than you need.  If you just want to load
resources from another .apk, you don't need any code in it at all -- just
use Context.createPackageContext() to get the context for the other package
and load its resources from there.

And if you don't need any UI, and really do need to execute code in the
other .apk, then you said you already have a content provider so why not
just call that?  Or a broadcast receiver?  Or a service?

Also if you really do need to run the code in the other .apk, please
consider using android:sharedUserId with all of your .apks and having them
all run in the same process, so you don't need to spin up multiple
processes.

On Sat, Feb 13, 2010 at 8:06 AM, Menny  wrote:

> OK. I'll be explain my needs:
> I'm the author of AnySoftKeyboard (http://
> softkeyboard.googlecode.com).
> The reason I made this keyboard, is to provide alternative layouts in
> the on-screen keyboard (e.g., Hebrew, Russian, DVORAK, etc. and of
> course, qwerty).
> But the keyboard APK gets bloated with all the layouts, and
> dictionaries etc
> So, I wanted to move all layouts to external packages: one layout (or
> several) per package.
>
> All the data I need to create a layout are the resource IDs of the
> layout, the dictionary and several other stuff, all of which can be
> retrieved using a ContentProvider.
> But I need the ContentProvider's URI.
> So I thought that starting an Activity and getting a result from it
> (startActivityForResult call) will be perfect for me.
>
> I do not need any UI to popuup (actually, I prefer that none will), I
> get need to get some data from the external package.
>
> So, these are my needs. Anyone can suggest a way?
>
> Thanks,
> Menny
>
> On Feb 12, 10:35 am, Kevin Duffey  wrote:
> > The whole purpose of a service is to stay in the background doing
> something,
> > so not sure why you would want to display a UI in a non-UI based app. As
> > Dianne said, post a notification that shows up on the status bar... when
> the
> > user slides it down and clicks on it, that can launch an activity...
> which
> > can then bind to the service to pass it info if need be. I'd still argue
> > that would not be a good idea either. Can you elaborate on why you need
> some
> > user interaction with your service.. is it something that can't be,
> perhaps
> > set in a user preferences within an activity that the user launches the
> > first time (or later to change settings)?
> >
> > On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 7:53 PM, Dianne Hackborn  >wrote:
> >
> > > You can't do this, nor should you.  This would pop your UI in front of
> the
> > > user, disrupting whatever they are doing.  This is highly discouraged.
>  The
> > > proper way to do this is to post a notification, which the user can
> respond
> > > to when desired and can cause your own activity to be launched, which
> can
> > > then launch the other activity.
> >
> > > On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 11:17 AM, Menny  wrote:
> >
> > >> Hi,
> > >> I have a Service which needs to receive data from external packages.
> > >> So, to locate the data providing external packages, I use activity-
> > >> filter and PackageManager.queryIntentActivities function to locate the
> > >> interesting packages.
> > >> Now, from each such package, I need to get a ContentProvider URI.
> > >> So I want to start the external Activity and the external activity
> > >> will return a result to my service - something like
> > >> "startActivityForResult".
> > >> The problem is that there is no way to call "startActivityForResult"
> > >> from a Service, only Activity can do that, and my project does not
> > >> have any Activity, and probably can't show UI for the user.
> >
> > >> The bottom line:
> > >> Can anyone suggest a way to get ContentProvider URI from an external
> > >> package, while my package has only a Service?
> >
> > >> Thanks,
> > >> Menny.
> >
> > >> --
> > >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> > >> Groups "Android Developers" group.
> > >> To post to this group, send email to
> android-developers@googlegroups.com
> > >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> > >> android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com
> 
> >
> > >> For more options, visit this group at
> > >>http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
> >
> > > --
> > > Dianne Hackborn
> > > Android framework engineer
> > > hack...@android.com
> >
> > > Note: please don't send private questions to me, as I don't have time
> to
> > > provide private support, and so won't reply to such e-mails.  All such
> > > questions should be posted on public forums, where I and others can see
> and
> > > answer them.
> >
> > >  --
> > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> > > Groups "Android Developers" group.
> > > To post to this group, send email to
> android-developers@googlegroups.com
> > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> > > android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com
> 
> >

[android-developers] Re: How to start an Activity from a Service and getting a result from it

2010-02-13 Thread Menny 
OK. I'll be explain my needs:
I'm the author of AnySoftKeyboard (http://
softkeyboard.googlecode.com).
The reason I made this keyboard, is to provide alternative layouts in
the on-screen keyboard (e.g., Hebrew, Russian, DVORAK, etc. and of
course, qwerty).
But the keyboard APK gets bloated with all the layouts, and
dictionaries etc
So, I wanted to move all layouts to external packages: one layout (or
several) per package.

All the data I need to create a layout are the resource IDs of the
layout, the dictionary and several other stuff, all of which can be
retrieved using a ContentProvider.
But I need the ContentProvider's URI.
So I thought that starting an Activity and getting a result from it
(startActivityForResult call) will be perfect for me.

I do not need any UI to popuup (actually, I prefer that none will), I
get need to get some data from the external package.

So, these are my needs. Anyone can suggest a way?

Thanks,
Menny

On Feb 12, 10:35 am, Kevin Duffey  wrote:
> The whole purpose of a service is to stay in the background doing something,
> so not sure why you would want to display a UI in a non-UI based app. As
> Dianne said, post a notification that shows up on the status bar... when the
> user slides it down and clicks on it, that can launch an activity... which
> can then bind to the service to pass it info if need be. I'd still argue
> that would not be a good idea either. Can you elaborate on why you need some
> user interaction with your service.. is it something that can't be, perhaps
> set in a user preferences within an activity that the user launches the
> first time (or later to change settings)?
>
> On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 7:53 PM, Dianne Hackborn wrote:
>
> > You can't do this, nor should you.  This would pop your UI in front of the
> > user, disrupting whatever they are doing.  This is highly discouraged.  The
> > proper way to do this is to post a notification, which the user can respond
> > to when desired and can cause your own activity to be launched, which can
> > then launch the other activity.
>
> > On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 11:17 AM, Menny  wrote:
>
> >> Hi,
> >> I have a Service which needs to receive data from external packages.
> >> So, to locate the data providing external packages, I use activity-
> >> filter and PackageManager.queryIntentActivities function to locate the
> >> interesting packages.
> >> Now, from each such package, I need to get a ContentProvider URI.
> >> So I want to start the external Activity and the external activity
> >> will return a result to my service - something like
> >> "startActivityForResult".
> >> The problem is that there is no way to call "startActivityForResult"
> >> from a Service, only Activity can do that, and my project does not
> >> have any Activity, and probably can't show UI for the user.
>
> >> The bottom line:
> >> Can anyone suggest a way to get ContentProvider URI from an external
> >> package, while my package has only a Service?
>
> >> Thanks,
> >> Menny.
>
> >> --
> >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> >> Groups "Android Developers" group.
> >> To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com
> >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> >> android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com
> >> For more options, visit this group at
> >>http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
>
> > --
> > Dianne Hackborn
> > Android framework engineer
> > hack...@android.com
>
> > Note: please don't send private questions to me, as I don't have time to
> > provide private support, and so won't reply to such e-mails.  All such
> > questions should be posted on public forums, where I and others can see and
> > answer them.
>
> >  --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> > Groups "Android Developers" group.
> > To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> > android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com
> > For more options, visit this group at
> >http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en

-- 
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