Android application restarts when opened by clicking the application icon
I am new to the Android development world and I've built a simple "Hello World" app. First, activity requests a text. When the "Go" button is clicked, the app launches the second activity displaying the input text.
If I click the HOME button and then click the application icon, the app launches the first activity again but if I press-hold the home button and click the icon from the "Recent apps" bar, it resumes the app where I left.
How do I avoid this?
I need my app to resume even if the launcher icon is clicked.
MainActivity.java,
package com.example.myfirstandroidapp;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.EditText;
public class MainActivity extends Activity {
public final static String EXTRA_MESSAGE = "com.example.myfirstapp.MESSAGE";
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
}
@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
// Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
return true;
}
/** Called when the user clicks the Send button */
public void sendMessage(View view){
// Do something in response to button
Intent intent = new Intent(this, DisplayMessageActivity.class);
EditText editText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.txtName);
String message = editText.getText().toString();
intent.putExtra(EXTRA_MESSAGE, message);
startActivity(intent);
}
}
DisplayActivity.java,
package com.example.myfirstandroidapp;
import android.annotation.TargetApi;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Build;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.app.NavUtils;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.widget.TextView;
public class DisplayMessageActivity extends Activity {
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
// Get the message from the intent
Intent intent = getIntent();
String message = intent.getStringExtra(MainActivity.EXTRA_MESSAGE);
// Create the text view
TextView textView = new TextView(this);
textView.setTextSize(40);
textView.setText(message);
// Set the text view as the activity layout
setContentView(textView);
// Show the Up button in the action bar.
setupActionBar();
}
/**
* Set up the {@link android.app.ActionBar}, if the API is available.
*/
@TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB)
private void setupActionBar() {
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {
getActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
}
}
@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
// Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.display_message, menu);
return true;
}
@Override
public void onDestroy(){
super.onDestroy();
}
@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
switch (item.getItemId()) {
case android.R.id.home:
// This ID represents the Home or Up button. In the case of this
// activity, the Up button is shown. Use NavUtils to allow users
// to navigate up one level in the application structure. For
// more details, see the Navigation pattern on Android Design:
//
// http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/navigation.html#up-vs-back
//
NavUtils.navigateUpFromSameTask(this);
return true;
}
return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}
}
activity_main.xml,
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context=".MainActivity" >
<EditText
android:id="@+id/txtName"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_marginTop="70dp"
android:ems="10" >
<requestFocus />
</EditText>
<Button
android:id="@+id/btnGo"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignBottom="@+id/txtName"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:onClick="sendMessage"
android:text="Go!" />
<TextView
android:id="@+id/textView1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_alignLeft="@+id/txtName"
android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:layout_marginTop="18dp"
android:text="Please input your name:"
android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium" />
</RelativeLayout>
activity_display_message.xml,
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context=".DisplayMessageActivity" >
<TextView
android:id="@+id/textView2"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="@string/hello_world" />
</RelativeLayout>
AndroidManifest.xml,
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.example.myfirstandroidapp"
android:versionCode="1"
android:versionName="1.0" >
<uses-sdk
android:minSdkVersion="9"
android:targetSdkVersion="10" />
<application
android:allowBackup="true"
android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
android:label="@string/app_name"
android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
<activity
android:name="com.example.myfirstandroidapp.MainActivity"
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="com.example.myfirstandroidapp.DisplayMessageActivity"
android:label="@string/title_activity_display_message"
android:parentActivityName="com.example.myfirstandroidapp.MainActivity" >
<meta-data
android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
android:value="com.example.myfirstandroidapp.MainActivity" />
</activity>
</application>
</manifest>
Answer
Problem:
I'm not qualified to say this a bug, but there is a behaviour with release builds when starting the application from the launcher. It seems that instead of resuming the previous Activity, it adds a new Activity on top. There is a related bug report on this topic here.
Solution:
I'm working around this this by closing the Launcher Activity if it's not the root of the task, as a result the previous Activity in that task will be resumed.
if (!isTaskRoot()) {
finish();
return;
}