Activity started with startActivityForResult() not returning to calling Activity

Question

I have 3 Activities - A, B, and C.

In a nutshell, Activity A starts Activity B, then A also starts Activity C and expects a result from C, but never gets it.

Here is the application workflow:

1. Activity A is launched on app startup and starts Activity B (not for result, just startActivity()) in onCreate.

   public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
       super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
       startActivity(new Intent(getApplicationContext(), ActivityB.class));
   }
   

2. Activity A then also starts Activity C later in code, this time for result using startActivityForResult(), and Activity A also has onActivityResult.

   Intent intent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), ActivityC.class);
   startActivityForResult(intent, 0);
   

   and

   protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
      ...
   }
   

3. Activity C uses setResult() and finish() to return some data, which should go back to Activity A, because Activity A called startActivityForResult().

   Intent intent = new Intent();
   intent.putExtra("encryption", encryption);
   setResult(56, intent);
   finish();
   

BUT the workflow falls silent at step 3 - Activity A's onActivityResult is never called (neither is B's for that matter), even though Activity A is the one starting C for result. Not sure if Activity B is getting in the way of A and C's communication or what the problem could be. Any help is much appreciated.

Answer 1

I was never able to get this to work, so I ended up using a Handler instead to return the data to the necessary Activity.

UPDATE: After running into this again, I found out that the real reason this wasn't working is because I had android:noHistory="true" for the calling/receiving Activity A in the manifest. Removing android:noHistory="true" fixed it, but if you need it to be true, then Handlers are a good workaround.

Answer 2

I don't think you should use getApplicationContext() in the intent.

From the developer website.

getApplicationContext()
Return the context of the single, global Application object of the current process.

When you you startActivityForResult() it tries to return to the activity specified in the intent, which you are providing as the global application context.

If you have an ActivityB then you should call it like

Intent intent = new Intent(ActivityB.this, ActivityC.class);
startActivityForResult(intent, 0);

Then it will try to return to ActivityB when ActivityC is done.