Android - Share resource between two applications

Question

I have two applications, one works as a main app, and the another as a service. In the service app manifest file, I configure a service like:

<service android:name=".services.FirstService">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="ch.service.action.FIRST_SERVICE"/>
    </intent-filter>
</service>

And in the main app, I start a service like:

Intent intent = new Intent("ch.service.action.FIRST_SERVICE");
startService(intent);

Here, I have to duplicate "ch.service.action.FIRST_SERVICE". How can I avoid this? How can I share some common constants, for example define one in service app, and can be retrieve in main app?

Any answer is appreciated.

Answer 1

You should use SharedPreference between both of your application. In your Service application you should write the String ch.service.action.FIRST_SERVICE to SharedPreference :

SharedPreference sharedPreferences = getSharedPreferences("any_name", Context.MODE_WORLD_READABLE);
SharedPreference.Editor mEditor = sharedPreferences.edit();
mEditor.putString("service_string","ch.service.action.FIRST_SERVICE");
mEditor.commit();

When you want to get the value from other application, you first need to get Context of your service application :

Context mServiceAppContext = createPackageContext("com.example.service_app_package", 0);

You can use mServiceAppContext to get the String value :

SharedPreference sharedPreferences = mServiceAppContext.getSharedPreferences("any_name", Context.MODE_WORLD_READABLE);    
// Context.MODE_WORLD_READABLE is important, it makes the value readable across other applications

sharedPreferences.getString("service_string", /* default value */ "service_string","ch.service.action.FIRST_SERVICE");

Best Explaination is given at : http://thedevelopersinfo.com/2009/11/25/getting-sharedpreferences-from-other-application-in-android/