Android – Best Practice – Adding your App to the Android Share Menu

androidandroid-intent

My App sends files(all mime Types) over a TCP connection and hence I wanted my app to appear in the Android Share menu.

I added the following intent filters to my Activity in AndroidManifest.xml

<intent-filter ><!--intent filter for single file sharing-->
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.SEND" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
    <data android:mimeType="*/*" />
</intent-filter>
<intent-filter ><!--intent filter for sharing multiple files-->
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.SEND_MULTIPLE" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
    <data android:mimeType="*/*" />
</intent-filter>

Now I added this to the Activity which is to be launched on clicking the Share Action

Intent intent = getIntent();
if (Intent.ACTION_SEND.equals(intent.getAction())) {
    Uri uri = (Uri) intent.getParcelableExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM);
    if (uri != null) {
        fileset = new HashSet();
        fileset.add(getPathfromUri(uri));
    }
} else if (Intent.ACTION_SEND_MULTIPLE.equals(intent.getAction())) {
    ArrayList<Uri> uris = intent.getParcelableArrayListExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM);
    if (uris != null) {
        fileset = new HashSet();
        for(Uri uri : uris) {
            fileset.add(getPathfromUri(uri));
        }
    }
}

I use this method to generate the absolute paths of the Files that are to be shared.

public String getPathfromUri(Uri uri) {
    if(uri.toString().startsWith("file://")) {
         return uri.getPath();
    }
    String[] projection = { MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA };
    Cursor cursor = managedQuery(uri, projection, null, null, null);
    startManagingCursor(cursor);
    int column_index = cursor.getColumnIndexOrThrow(MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA);
    cursor.moveToFirst();
    String path= cursor.getString(column_index);
    //cursor.close();
    return path;
}

The above method properly retrieves the absolute path of Images/Videos and other files.Is there something that I have missed out or is there a better way of doing this?

In Addition to the Share menu, there is a Send Via menu on my Phone.
screenshot

Is there a way to get my App into this list?

Best Answer

I've outlined it here how to get in the menu:

http://blog.blundellapps.com/add-your-app-to-the-android-menu/

Basically it's having your mimetype / :

        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.GET_CONTENT" />

            <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />

            <data android:mimeType="*/*" />
        </intent-filter>

If you do that and it doesn't show up, it means they are using an intent menu and it's a custom share list so you cannot force your way in.

Steps to create a sample Project:

MailSenderActivity.java:

public class MailSenderActivity extends Activity {
    
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
        
        final Button send = (Button) this.findViewById(R.id.send);
        send.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            
            public void onClick(View v) {
                try {   
                    GMailSender sender = new GMailSender("username@gmail.com", "password");
                    sender.sendMail("This is Subject",   
                            "This is Body",   
                            "user@gmail.com",   
                            "user@yahoo.com");   
                } catch (Exception e) {   
                    Log.e("SendMail", e.getMessage(), e);   
                } 
                
            }
        });
        
    }
}

GMailSender.java:

public class GMailSender extends javax.mail.Authenticator {   
    private String mailhost = "smtp.gmail.com";   
    private String user;   
    private String password;   
    private Session session;   
  
    static {   
        Security.addProvider(new com.provider.JSSEProvider());   
    }  
  
    public GMailSender(String user, String password) {   
        this.user = user;   
        this.password = password;   
  
        Properties props = new Properties();   
        props.setProperty("mail.transport.protocol", "smtp");   
        props.setProperty("mail.host", mailhost);   
        props.put("mail.smtp.auth", "true");   
        props.put("mail.smtp.port", "465");   
        props.put("mail.smtp.socketFactory.port", "465");   
        props.put("mail.smtp.socketFactory.class",   
                "javax.net.ssl.SSLSocketFactory");   
        props.put("mail.smtp.socketFactory.fallback", "false");   
        props.setProperty("mail.smtp.quitwait", "false");   
  
        session = Session.getDefaultInstance(props, this);   
    }   
  
    protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {   
        return new PasswordAuthentication(user, password);   
    }   
  
    public synchronized void sendMail(String subject, String body, String sender, String recipients) throws Exception {   
        try{
        MimeMessage message = new MimeMessage(session);   
        DataHandler handler = new DataHandler(new ByteArrayDataSource(body.getBytes(), "text/plain"));   
        message.setSender(new InternetAddress(sender));   
        message.setSubject(subject);   
        message.setDataHandler(handler);   
        if (recipients.indexOf(',') > 0)   
            message.setRecipients(Message.RecipientType.TO, InternetAddress.parse(recipients));   
        else  
            message.setRecipient(Message.RecipientType.TO, new InternetAddress(recipients));   
        Transport.send(message);   
        }catch(Exception e){
            
        }
    }   
  
    public class ByteArrayDataSource implements DataSource {   
        private byte[] data;   
        private String type;   
  
        public ByteArrayDataSource(byte[] data, String type) {   
            super();   
            this.data = data;   
            this.type = type;   
        }   
  
        public ByteArrayDataSource(byte[] data) {   
            super();   
            this.data = data;   
        }   
  
        public void setType(String type) {   
            this.type = type;   
        }   
  
        public String getContentType() {   
            if (type == null)   
                return "application/octet-stream";   
            else  
                return type;   
        }   
  
        public InputStream getInputStream() throws IOException {   
            return new ByteArrayInputStream(data);   
        }   
  
        public String getName() {   
            return "ByteArrayDataSource";   
        }   
  
        public OutputStream getOutputStream() throws IOException {   
            throw new IOException("Not Supported");   
        }   
    }   
}

JSSEProvider.java:

/*
 *  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
 *  contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
 *  this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
 *  The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
 *  (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
 *  the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 *  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 *  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 *  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 *  limitations under the License.
 */

/**
 * @author Alexander Y. Kleymenov
 * @version $Revision$
 */


import java.security.AccessController;
import java.security.Provider;

public final class JSSEProvider extends Provider {

    public JSSEProvider() {
        super("HarmonyJSSE", 1.0, "Harmony JSSE Provider");
        AccessController.doPrivileged(new java.security.PrivilegedAction<Void>() {
            public Void run() {
                put("SSLContext.TLS",
                        "org.apache.harmony.xnet.provider.jsse.SSLContextImpl");
                put("Alg.Alias.SSLContext.TLSv1", "TLS");
                put("KeyManagerFactory.X509",
                        "org.apache.harmony.xnet.provider.jsse.KeyManagerFactoryImpl");
                put("TrustManagerFactory.X509",
                        "org.apache.harmony.xnet.provider.jsse.TrustManagerFactoryImpl");
                return null;
            }
        });
    }
}

ADD 3 jars found in the following link to your Android Project

Click here - How to add External Jars

And don't forget to add this line in your manifest:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

Just click below link to change account access for less secure apps https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps

Run the project and check your recipient mail account for the mail. Cheers!

P.S. And don't forget that you cannot do network operation from any Activity in android. Hence it is recommended to use AsyncTask or IntentService to avoid network on main thread exception.

Jar files: https://code.google.com/archive/p/javamail-android/

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Android – How to close/hide the Android soft keyboard programmatically

Java – Sending Email in Android using JavaMail API without using the default/built-in app

Steps to create a sample Project:

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