android: open a pdf from my app using the built in pdf viewer

Question

This was my original question:

I want to be able to open a pdf file in my app using the android's built in pdf viewer app, but i dont know how to start other apps. I'm sure i have to call start activity, i just dont know how to identify the app im opening and how to pass the file to that specific app.

Anyone have a clue?

I just learned that the pdf viewer i have on my phone is actually made by HTC and that Adobe just barely released their android pdf viewer (which is great). So the new question is this: how do i verify that the user has installed adobe's viewer, and then how do i open the file in that app from my app?

Answer 1

You can programmatically determine whether a suitable application exists on the user's device, without catching exceptions.

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW,         Uri.parse("path-to-document")); intent.setType("application/pdf"); PackageManager pm = getPackageManager(); List<ResolveInfo> activities = pm.queryIntentActivities(intent, 0); if (activities.size() > 0) {     startActivity(intent); } else {     // Do something else here. Maybe pop up a Dialog or Toast } 

Answer 2

AFAIK, Adobe has not documented any public Intents it wants developers to use.

You can try an ACTION_VIEW Intent with a Uri pointing to the file (either on the SD card or MODE_WORLD_READABLE in your app-local file store) and a MIME type of "application/pdf".