How to change password programmatically?

Question

I'm trying to create an android application that can change the password of the device. I read about Device Administration Application I try to run this sample and this is my main activity code:

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    final Activity context = this;
    final String new_pass = ((EditText)findViewById(R.id.editext)).getText().toString();
    ((Button)findViewById(R.id.button)).setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View view) {
            DevicePolicyManager devicePolicyManager =
                    (DevicePolicyManager)context.getSystemService(context.DEVICE_POLICY_SERVICE);
            ComponentName demoDeviceAdmin = new ComponentName(context, MainActivity.class);

            devicePolicyManager.setPasswordQuality(
                    demoDeviceAdmin,DevicePolicyManager.PASSWORD_QUALITY_UNSPECIFIED);
            devicePolicyManager.setPasswordMinimumLength(demoDeviceAdmin, 5);

            boolean result = devicePolicyManager.resetPassword("123456",
                    DevicePolicyManager.RESET_PASSWORD_REQUIRE_ENTRY);

            Toast.makeText(context,
                    "button_lock_password_device..."+result,
                    Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
        }
    });
}

and I got this error:

08-26 22:36:51.280  15249-15249/co.rishe.secretpolice.app E/AndroidRuntime﹕ FATAL EXCEPTION: main
java.lang.SecurityException: No active admin ComponentInfo{com.example.secretpolice.app/com.example.secretpolice.app.MainActivity}
        at android.os.Parcel.readException(Parcel.java:1425)
        at android.os.Parcel.readException(Parcel.java:1379)
        at android.app.admin.IDevicePolicyManager$Stub$Proxy.setPasswordQuality(IDevicePolicyManager.java:1359)
        at android.app.admin.DevicePolicyManager.setPasswordQuality(DevicePolicyManager.java:323)
        at co.rishe.secretpolice.app.MainActivity$1.onClick(MainActivity.java:32)
        at android.view.View.performClick(View.java:4211)
        at android.view.View$PerformClick.run(View.java:17267)
        at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:615)
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:92)
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4898)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:511)
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:1006)
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:773)
        at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

Can any one help me how can I fix it?

The error message essentially states that you're not an administrator on the device. — Robert Harvey, Aug 26 '14 at 18:12

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 26 '14 at 18:18

Quoting the documentation that you linked to:

One of the major events a device admin application has to handle is the user enabling the application. The user must explicitly enable the application for the policies to be enforced. If the user chooses not to enable the application it will still be present on the device, but its policies will not be enforced, and the user will not get any of the application's benefits.

As Mr. Harvey indicates, the error message means that the user has not enabled your app as a device administrator as yet.

Further quoting the documentation:

The process of enabling the application begins when the user performs an action that triggers the ACTION_ADD_DEVICE_ADMIN intent.

Here is a sample project that demonstrates setting up a device administrator. The key is in the LockMeNowActivity:

/***
  Copyright (c) 2012 CommonsWare, LLC
  Licensed 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.

  From _The Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development_
    http://commonsware.com/Android
 */

package com.commonsware.android.lockme;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.app.admin.DevicePolicyManager;
import android.content.ComponentName;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;

public class LockMeNowActivity extends Activity {
  private DevicePolicyManager mgr=null;
  private ComponentName cn=null;

  @Override
  public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    setContentView(R.layout.main);
    cn=new ComponentName(this, AdminReceiver.class);
    mgr=(DevicePolicyManager)getSystemService(DEVICE_POLICY_SERVICE);
  }

  public void lockMeNow(View v) {
    if (mgr.isAdminActive(cn)) {
      mgr.lockNow();
    }
    else {
      Intent intent=
          new Intent(DevicePolicyManager.ACTION_ADD_DEVICE_ADMIN);
      intent.putExtra(DevicePolicyManager.EXTRA_DEVICE_ADMIN, cn);
      intent.putExtra(DevicePolicyManager.EXTRA_ADD_EXPLANATION,
                      getString(R.string.device_admin_explanation));
      startActivity(intent);
    }
  }
}

Here, when the user clicks a button that triggers lockMeNow(), I check to see if my app is a device administrator, and if not I lead the user to the proper spot in the Settings app to decide whether or not to make my app be a device administrator.

How to change password programmatically?

1 Answers1