Confusion regarding action and category

Question

I am new to the android as a programmer.In the android manifest file we have the code as:

<activity
 android:name".Class1"
 android:label="Myapp">
 <intent-filter>
  <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN/>
  <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER/>
 </intent-filter>
</activity>

Question

Why do we need to specify the category LAUNCHER, when we have specified the action to be MAIN which is enough to tell the android that Class1 is going to be initial activity of my app?

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

1

ACTION_MAIN is required Action to be performed.It is the main or starting point and wont expect any data.

CATEGORY_LAUNCHER The activity is the initial activity of a task and is listed in the system's application launcher.

You could refer these links

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Intent.html What is the meaning of android.intent.action.MAIN?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

Community

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answered Jul 16 '15 at 07:20

Dominic D'Souza

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What do you mean by task? – J J Jul 16 '15 at 07:24
I basically mean that the Activity will show up in the launcher – Dominic D'Souza Jul 16 '15 at 11:56
take a look at launchMode for activity you would better understand tasks – Dominic D'Souza Jul 16 '15 at 12:00

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 16 '15 at 07:19

"android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" means this activity will display an icon in the launcher home screen. Without this category , you can't see its icon in launcher home screen.

android.intent.action.MAIN means this activity is a entry point of your app.

Confusion regarding action and category

2 Answers2