Android - pass data to singleInstance activity

Question

I have an activity that is defined in the manifest as:

 android:launchMode="singleInstance"

Now I want to move to that activity from a different activity that has no idea that it exists (no reference to the existing instance) and at the same time to pass in a variable. I used to do this like so (before I defined it as singleInstance):

Intent intent = new Intent(this, receivingactivity.class);

intent.putExtra("somekey", somevalue);

startActivity(intent);

But now that doesn't work anymore. I put in the receiving activity the following lines in onresume:

String somevalue = getIntent().getStringExtra("somekey");

and it returns null. How can I pass a value to the existing receiving activity (which is always active and never gets to ondestroy but maximum to onpause)?

Answer 1

You need to use onNewIntent(Intent intent) to retrieve intent passed to it if the activity's launch mode is singleInstance and provided it's not destroyed.

Do not be confused with getIntent() for this one retrieves intent passed on the activity's creation.