How to simulate home, back, menu, search, task and volume buttons?

Question

I want to simulate all physical buttons of our Android devices.

So is there a way to simulate:

BACK BUTTON
HOME BUTTON
MENU BUTTON
SEARCH BUTTON
TASK BUTTON
VOLUME (+ AND -) BUTTONS

@RajeshRajaram No I want to go to home or show menu (etc etc) programmatically — Meroelyth, Dec 14 '12 at 16:44
@AnandTiwari I found only Home Button code http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2752319/android-simulate-home-click — Meroelyth, Dec 14 '12 at 16:45

Aleksander Gralak · Answer 1 · 2014-05-18T10:30:25.577

17

Create a KeyEvent and publish it.

KeyEvent kdown = new KeyEvent(KeyEvent.ACTION_DOWN, KeyEvent.KEYCODE_BACK);
Activity.dispatchKeyEvent(kdown);
KeyEvent kup = new KeyEvent(KeyEvent.ACTION_UP, KeyEvent.KEYCODE_BACK);
Activity.dispatchKeyEvent(kup);

edited May 18 '14 at 10:30

answered Dec 14 '12 at 09:56

Aleksander Gralak

1,509
10
26

Many thanks..but I want to do this programmatically and not only from an activity... – Meroelyth Dec 14 '12 at 16:46
4

This is exactly "programmatically" and you can always have a reference of your activity to call this method (you are not forced to call it within your activity). – Raphael Royer-Rivard Dec 26 '13 at 19:47
@Aleksander Gralak : Your code does not call the `activity.onBackPressed` method btw... – Raphael Royer-Rivard Dec 26 '13 at 21:03
2

You need to call it for both action down and action up. Like so this.dispatchKeyEvent(new KeyEvent(KeyEvent.ACTION_DOWN, KeyEvent.KEYCODE_BACK)); this.dispatchKeyEvent(new KeyEvent(KeyEvent.ACTION_UP, KeyEvent.KEYCODE_BACK)); – Katianie May 16 '14 at 23:30
this method doesn't work anymore: ``` ComponentActivity.dispatchKeyEvent can only be called from within the same library group prefix(referenced groupId=androidx.core)``` – Mneckoee May 10 '22 at 17:19

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 12 '20 at 22:39

You can simulate pressing buttons even your app is closed, but you'll need Accessibility permission:

Create service extended from AccessibilityService:

class ExampleAccessService:AccessibilityService() {
    override fun onInterrupt() {
    }

    override fun onAccessibilityEvent(event: AccessibilityEvent?) {
    }
    
    fun doAction(){
        performGlobalAction(GLOBAL_ACTION_RECENTS)
//        performGlobalAction(GLOBAL_ACTION_BACK)
//        performGlobalAction(GLOBAL_ACTION_HOME)
//        performGlobalAction(GLOBAL_ACTION_NOTIFICATIONS)
//        performGlobalAction(GLOBAL_ACTION_POWER_DIALOG)
//        performGlobalAction(GLOBAL_ACTION_QUICK_SETTINGS)
//        performGlobalAction(GLOBAL_ACTION_TOGGLE_SPLIT_SCREEN)
    }
}

Call doAction() where you want action

Add to Manifest:

<application
...
    <service
        android:name=".ExampleAccessService"
        android:permission="android.permission.BIND_ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE"
        android:label="Name of servise" // it will be viewed in Settings->Accessibility->Services
        android:enabled="true"
        android:exported="false" >
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.accessibilityservice.AccessibilityService"/>
        </intent-filter>
        <meta-data
            android:name="android.accessibilityservice"
            android:resource="@xml/accessibility_service_config"/>
    </service>
...
</application>

accessibility_service_config.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<accessibility-service xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:accessibilityEventTypes="typeAllMask"
    android:accessibilityFeedbackType="feedbackAllMask"
    android:accessibilityFlags="flagDefault"
    android:canRetrieveWindowContent="false"
    android:description="your description"
    android:notificationTimeout="100"
    android:packageNames="your app package, ex: ex: com.example.android"
    android:settingsActivity="your settings activity ex: com.example.android.MainActivity" />

for more info look at https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/accessibility/services.html

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 14 '12 at 09:58

0

If you test your application's specific component such as Activity so you may use InstrumentationTestCase's sendKeys()method, passing there any combination of keys. Also you can use TouchUtils to simulate tapping, dragging and clicking actions

answered Dec 14 '12 at 09:58

Alex Bonel

1,344
1
9
22

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

0

Simulation for following keys:

-BACK BUTTON : override onBackPressed() in current activity.

-MENU BUTTON : you should look here and also openOptionsMenu(), menu

you should also look at this blog.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

Community

1
1

answered Dec 15 '12 at 05:17

Anand Tiwari

1,583
10
22

back button doesn't always close the current activity, especially if the activity has "onBackPressed" being implemented in a different way. – android developer Apr 30 '14 at 07:02
Also this won't work if you want to simulate the button click as part of a unit test. – Martin Dec 28 '14 at 12:42

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 13 '20 at 02:14

0

Try using android dispatchKeyEvent override method.

answered Jul 13 '20 at 02:14

KalanaChinthaka

323
4
13

Renjith · Answer 6 · 2012-12-14T10:14:53.367

-1

Use onKeyListener for overriding the physical buttons in your device. See the doc.

The KeyEvent class have all the values for the physical buttons and on screen keyboard on your device. For Example KeyEvent.KEYCODE_HOME substitutes for the home button in the device.

Google it, you can find a lot of examples for KEYCODE events

edited Dec 14 '12 at 10:14

answered Dec 14 '12 at 10:07

Renjith

5,783
9
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score -2 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 14 '12 at 10:16

-2

Try this your activity

public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent event)   
{
 if (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_BACK)
 {

 }
 if (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_HOME)
 {

 }
 if (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MENU)
 {

 }
 if (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_VOLUME_UP)
 {

 }
 if (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_VOLUME_DOWN)
 {

 }
}

answered Dec 14 '12 at 10:16

Rajesh Rajaram

3,271
4
29
48

Many thanks but I don't want to pick buttons event but to simulate them – Meroelyth Dec 14 '12 at 16:46
wrong direction.. the question clearly states simulate, not catch – baash05 Feb 03 '13 at 10:46

How to simulate home, back, menu, search, task and volume buttons?

7 Answers7