Is it possible to send intents to another application like a command, telling it what to do?

Question

I have an application that runs as a service in the background. I want another third-party application to be able to call multiple functionalities on this app via an intent. How would I achieve this. Presently the only thing i know how to do with intent is launching other applications and starting activities.

Answer 1

This can be achieved with a BroadcastReceiver.

Create a class that extends BroadcastReceiver and implements it's onReceive() method to handle intent appropriately:

@Override public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
    if (ACTION.equals(intent.getAction())) {
        // Do something..
    }
}

This receiver must be declared in the manifest of the app and be exported and enabled like below:

<receiver android:name=".BroadcastReceiver"
    android:enabled="true"
    android:exported="true">
        <intent-filter>
          <action android:name="ACTION" />
        </intent-filter>
</receiver>

You will need to send your intent from the first app as a broadcast:

sendBroadcast(intent);