How to integrate searchable Activity with Ok Google voice search?

Question

I am trying to implement the Ok Google Voice Search integration. However, I am unable to deeplink into my app when I say "Search for Android on app_name." Instead, it simply searches the term on the web.

Here's what I did:

Create /res/xml/searchable.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<searchable xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:hint="@string/search_hint">
</searchable>

Create a new Activity

public class ExposedSearchActivity extends Activity {
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        String search = getIntent().getStringExtra(SearchManager.QUERY);
        Log.wtf("", "q=" + search);
    }
}

Attach intent filters to the searchable activity

<activity
    android:name=".search.ExposedSearchActivity"
    android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden|screenSize"
    android:screenOrientation="fullSensor">
    <!--Deeplink from google now-->
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="com.google.android.gms.actions.SEARCH_ACTION"/>
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/>
    </intent-filter>
    <!--Making it searchable-->
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.SEARCH"/>
    </intent-filter>
    <meta-data
        android:name="android.app.searchable"
        android:resource="@xml/searchable"/>
</activity>

My test device is a Nexus 5 running Lollipop LPX13D with Google Search 4.0.26.1499465.arm

What other steps might I have forgotten? Thanks in advance.

@1, thanks for your input. Unfortunately, I tried both methods with no avail. T___T — Some Noob Student, Nov 17 '14 at 22:35
@SomeNoobStudent Is your app published in the Play Store? It needs to be before the feature will work. — adneal, Nov 17 '14 at 22:45
@4, Indeed! That was the missing link. Looks like we can only test via adb commands for now. — Some Noob Student, Nov 17 '14 at 22:52

score 17 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 17 '14 at 22:50

17

After lots of searching, I have found the answer in a comment on Google+ by the author of the blog post, Jarek Wilkiewicz.

Yes, the app must be published to the Play Store in order for the feature to work. One way to help debug your end is to trigger the intent via adb, for example: adb shell am start -a com.google.android.gms.actions.SEARCH_ACTION -e query foo

So I tested this feature on an app that is already in the Play Store, and it works flawlessly.

answered Nov 17 '14 at 22:50

Some Noob Student

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Thank you. This has been driving me nuts for the best part of a day – Dale May 15 '15 at 05:24
Any hacks to make it work? Has anyone found anything on this? – Vishal jotshi Dec 28 '16 at 19:37
@2 you must implement the code in an app that is already published in the Play Store. Simply redo the steps I listed in my question in a published app and voice search should work. – Some Noob Student Jan 03 '17 at 21:23
@SomeNoobStudent, my app is published on playstore but i am installing from adb and its not working. Do i need to download from playstore to make it work ? – SimpleCoder Nov 22 '18 at 13:34
No, you can make it work with debug builds installed via ADB. – Some Noob Student Jan 05 '19 at 02:13
The google plus link is not working now. Any other links where I can look up the solution? – i_raqz Jan 01 '20 at 19:10

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 27 '18 at 11:43

I have found working solution for this google voice search commands for our Android Application.

Refer below links to make it works:

1) https://gist.github.com/raveeshbhalla/186325d1bb25d13bd7a0

2) https://github.com/google/search-samples/issues/24

3) https://antonioleiva.com/voice_search_google_now/

4) https://developers.google.com/voice-actions/system/

5) https://developer.android.com/guide/components/intents-common#java

As the above answer listed by Some Noob Student. i am going further for how to test it with debug apk with adding String in search query?

Open command prompt in your PC then change path to your adb path. then execute below commands.

Note: before executing below commands close your debug app then test.

1) adb shell am start -a com.google.android.gms.actions.SEARCH_ACTION -e query app_package_name

2)adb shell am start -a com.google.android.gms.actions.SEARCH_ACTION -e query "Hello" app_package_name

You don't need first adb command. the second is enough to open android application and execute the code. — Ghasem Sadeghi, Dec 12 '19 at 18:29

How to integrate searchable Activity with Ok Google voice search?

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