How do I intercept button presses on the headset in Android?

Question

I studied the ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON intent and Im trying to use it and intercept the button presses and present them on screen using a toast. I registered the receiver to intercept two intents:

ACTION_HEADSET_PLUG - plugging the headset
ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON - receiving the button presses

This is done in my main activity:

        IntentFilter mediaFilter = new IntentFilter(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON);
        mediaFilter.setPriority(10000);
        registerReceiver(_receiver, new IntentFilter(Intent.ACTION_HEADSET_PLUG));
        registerReceiver(_receiver, mediaFilter);

This is the part of the receiver that handles the button presses:

    if (action.equals(Intent.ACTION_HEADSET_PLUG))
    {
        Toast.makeText(context, "earphones activity",Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        if (intent.getExtras().getInt("state")==1)//if plugged
            Toast.makeText(context, "earphones plugged",Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
        else Toast.makeText(context, "earphones un-plugged",Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
    }
    else 
    if (action.equals(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON))
    {
        Toast.makeText(context, "button pressed",Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
        key=intent.getExtras().getString("EXTRA_KEY_EVENT");
        Toast.makeText(context, key,Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
    }

Now the part that handles the headset plug-in and removal works fine, but the part that intercept the button press isn't.

Is there any reason the code that handles the ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON doesn't work?

Is there a special permission I need to intercept such an intent?

I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S2 to test the code.

I've looked at all the similar posts and tried everything. Unfortunately nothing seems to work.

i'm not sure but it could be that TouchWiz doesn't correctly implement the ANDROID_MEDIA_BUTTON intent... — slayton, Jan 29 '12 at 21:30
is there a way to verify it, or a way around it to make it work? using another itnent perhaps? — Gabriel H, Jan 30 '12 at 05:27

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 14 '12 at 10:24

I recently developed an application which responded to the media button. I tested it in the Samsung Galaxy S II, and it worked.

First, in your AndroidManifest.xml, inside the <application> area, place the following:

<!-- Broadcast Receivers -->
<receiver android:name="net.work.box.controller.receivers.RemoteControlReceiver" >
    <intent-filter android:priority="1000000000000000" >
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.MEDIA_BUTTON" />
    </intent-filter>
</receiver>

Then, create a BroadcastReceiver in a different file:

public class RemoteControlReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {

    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        if (Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON.equals(intent.getAction()) {
            KeyEvent event = (KeyEvent) intent .getParcelableExtra(Intent.EXTRA_KEY_EVENT);

            if (event == null) {
                return;
            }

            if (event.getAction() == KeyEvent.ACTION_DOWN) {
                context.sendBroadcast(new Intent(Intents.ACTION_PLAYER_PAUSE));
            }
        }
    }

}

This is probably not the best solution out there (specially the hard coded android:priority above). However, it tried a couple of other techniques and none of them seemed to work. So I have to resort to this one... I hope I helped.

Please check at the following link. Short and easy. http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/06/allowing-applications-to-play-nicer.html — Milton, Aug 03 '13 at 13:41
PS: 1000 must be the higher value for priority, you should get an warning or error pointing that if you use android:priority="1000000000000000". Right thing would be: — leoneboaventura, Mar 12 '16 at 03:29

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 19 '12 at 22:34

Thanks for contributing.

For all the others struggling here are the final conclusions :

After lots of blood tears I finally managed to realize that there are two types of broadcasts I can intercept: some like ACTION_HEADSET_PLUG are required to be registered in the activities code.

Others like ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON are required to be registered in the Manifest file.

In this example to intercept both intents we require to do both.

Set it in the code and in the manifest file.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 14 '12 at 10:12

0

if (Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON.equals(action)) {
    if (intent.hasExtra(Intent.EXTRA_KEY_EVENT)) {
        String key = intent.getStringExtra(Intent.EXTRA_KEY_EVENT);
        toast("Button "+key+" was pressed");
    } else
        toast("Some button was pressed");
}

This code return Toast "Button null was pressed"

answered Feb 14 '12 at 10:12

Uniser

1
1

Please post a comment instead of providing an answer, if you encounter problems. – Mercurial Feb 26 '14 at 10:24

How do I intercept button presses on the headset in Android?

3 Answers3

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