How to register a custom Intent filter to a broadcast receiver in AndroidManifest.xml?

Question

I have defined a receiver in AndroidManifest.xml to receive a PlAY_FINISHED action, and in other file I send an intent to that broadcast receiver like follows:

public String PlAY_FINISHED = "play finished"; 
...
Intent in = new Intent(PlAY_FINISHED);
this.service.sendBroadcast(in);

so in my manifest file, i set it like this, where MyStaticString is a class that contains all the static string in the application. Is this the correct way?

    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="com.mysite.appname.MyStaticString.PLAY_FINISHED" />
    </intent-filter>

Answer 1

The android:name of an intent filter in the manifest is just an arbitrary string, not the "path" to a Java constant. The problem is that your string constant in code is defined as "play finished", which doesn't match the name "com.mysite.appname.MyStaticString.PLAY_FINISHED" that you've specified in the manifest.

It should be

public String PlAY_FINISHED = "com.mysite.appname.MyStaticString.PLAY_FINISHED";

It doesn't matter what the variable is called, or even if you store the string in a variable at all. Or that its name contains a typo :)

You could instead change the android:name in the manifest to "play finished", but custom broadcast actions are system-wide so they should be qualified with the package name of your app to avoid collisions with other apps.

Answer 2

Registering in Android Manifest file.

<receiver android:name=".ReceiverDemo">
  <intent-filter>
    <action android:name="marakana.intent.action.ReceiverDemo" />
  </intent-filter>
</receiver>

Registering programmatically.

...
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
  ...
  // Create the receiver
  receiver = new TimelineReceiver();
  filter = new IntentFilter( UpdaterService.NEW_STATUS_INTENT );
}

protected void onResume() {
  super.onResume();
  super.registerReceiver(receiver, filter,
      "com.marakana.yamba.SEND_TIMELINE_NOTIFICATIONS", null);
}

@Override
protected void onPause() {
  super.onPause();
  unregisterReceiver(receiver);
}
...

UPDATE: Multiple values If more than one value can be specified, the element is almost always repeated, rather than listing multiple values within a single element. For example, an intent filter can list several actions:

<intent-filter . . . >
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.EDIT" />
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.INSERT" />
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.DELETE" />
    . . .
</intent-filter>

UPDATE2: That's an example of AndroidManifest.xml

<manifest
  package="com.marakana.android.lifecycle"
  android:versionCode="1"
  android:versionName="1.0" xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
  <uses-sdk
    android:minSdkVersion="10"
    android:targetSdkVersion="11" />
  <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION"></uses-permission>

  <application
    android:name=".ApplicationDemo"
    android:icon="@drawable/icon"
    android:label="@string/app_name">
    <activity
      android:name=".ActivityDemo"
      android:label="@string/app_name">
      <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
      </intent-filter>
    </activity>

    <activity android:name=".AnotherActivity"></activity>

    <activity android:name=".SystemServicesDemo"></activity>

    <service android:name=".ServiceDemo"></service>

    <service android:name=".IntentServiceDemo">
      <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="marakana.intent.action.IntentServiceDemo" />
      </intent-filter>
    </service>

    <receiver android:name=".ReceiverDemo">
      <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="marakana.intent.action.ReceiverDemo" />
      </intent-filter>
    </receiver>

    <provider
      android:name=".ProviderDemo"
      android:authorities="com.marakana.android.lifecycle.providerdemo" />

  </application>
</manifest>