Call an application from activity

Question

I know there are a lot of similar posts like

this: Launch an application from another application on Android

and this: Launch Activity from another Application Android

but they do not satisfy my question.

Background:

I am working on an application where i need to call an application that is already installed in my phone. e.g Astro Filemanager

My Question is:

How can i call an application that is installed in my phone from my Activity, keeping in mind that i do not have the package name, i have only the application name.

Can i achieve this?

If yes then how?

if not then why?

I know that i can call another application using the package name, but in my case i do not have the package name, i have only the application name available

Another Scenario

Can i save the .apk file of an application in my project folder and call that apk from there?

I have already mentioned it. please read the question completely. i have mentioned that i have been trying to use intents but passing application name would'nt do anything — Hassaan Rabbani, Feb 21 '14 at 14:08
would the application you want to start be the same everytime? If this is the case there are ways to get the package name.. — Dage, Feb 21 '14 at 14:13
You have to pass the package name not the application name, a detailed answer will be this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2780102/open-another-application-from-your-own-intent — Triode, Feb 21 '14 at 14:13

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 21 '14 at 15:14

I wrote a method once which returned all installed apps with their package and display name.

public static List<PInfo> getInstalledApps(Context context) {
   List<PInfo> result = new ArrayList<PInfo>();        
   List<PackageInfo> packs = context.getPackageManager().getInstalledPackages(0);

    for(int i=0;i<packs.size();i++) {           
       PackageInfo p = packs.get(i);
       PInfo fileInfo = new PInfo();
       fileInfo.appname =  p.applicationInfo.loadLabel(context.getPackageManager()).toString();
       fileInfo.pname = p.packageName;
       fileInfo.versionName = p.versionName;
       fileInfo.versionCode = p.versionCode;
       fileInfo.icon = p.applicationInfo.loadIcon(context.getPackageManager());
       result.add(fileInfo);
    }   
    return result;
}

Maybe you could search the package name by the display name and create an intent with that package name.

It's alot easier to use default pm app to do this. – Yaroslav Mytkalyk Feb 21 '14 at 14:59 — Yaroslav Mytkalyk, Feb 21 '14 at 14:59

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 21 '14 at 14:37

If you need to start Astro File Manager to pick a file, then you can start

final Intent getContent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
//check if there are any app to handle. If not, you must not call startActivity.
if (!getPackageManager.queryIntentActivities(getContent, 0).isEmpty()) {
    startActivity(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT));
}

Note if there is an app which has defaults for GET_CONTENt you will not see a chooser. You can force chooser by creating a chooser intent

startActivity(Intent.createChooser(new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT), "Pick an app"));

Don't forget to check if queryIntentActivities are not empty b

If you just want to start Astro explicitly, you must use it's package name

startActivity(getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage(ASTRO_PACKAGE));

Where ASTRO_PACKAGE can be found as

adb shell pm list packages astro

Where

adb shell starts next command in adb shell
pm starts package manager app
list packages command of package manager
astro is a filter parameter for list packages command

Call an application from activity

2 Answers2