Can I override the 'Home' button in my application?

Question

I want to create my own 'home' screen on my android, and I want to call that home screen from my application.

How can I override the 'Home' button so that when it's pressed the application will be redirected to my home screen instead of the default home screen? Is it possible to override the home button?

Answer 1

Override the method below.

@Override
public void onAttachedToWindow()
{  
    Log.i("TESTE", "onAttachedToWindow");
    this.getWindow().setType(WindowManager.LayoutParams.TYPE_KEYGUARD);
    super.onAttachedToWindow();  
}

With this method, the HOME Button stops working in this activity (only this activity). Then you just reimplement as it was a normal button event (the back button for instance).

public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
    if (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_HOME) {
        Log.i("TESTE", "BOTAO HOME");
        return true;
    }
    return super.onKeyDown(keyCode, event);    
}

Answer 2

In AndroidManifest.xml

<activity
    ...
    android:launchMode="singleTask">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.HOME" />
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
        ....
    </intent-filter>
</activity>

You need launchMode="singleTask" so the intent is delivered to the already running app instead of creating a new instance.

In the activity:

   @Override
    protected void onNewIntent(Intent intent) {
        super.onNewIntent(intent);
        if (Intent.ACTION_MAIN.equals(intent.getAction())) {
            Log.i("MyLauncher", "onNewIntent: HOME Key");

        }
    }

You do not get a key event

Answer 3

The home button is supposed to do one thing and one thing only and consistently. Get the user back to the the HOME screen. Even if you could override it's behavior it would be an extremely user-unfriendly thing to do. So don't do it and solve your problem differently!