Question

I have hard time intercepting HW camera button on Desire Z (Froyo). I wrote a sample that runs fine on G1 (1.6) but not on aforementioned phone.

AndroidManifest.xml

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="net.company" android:versionCode="1" android:versionName="1.0">
<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="4" />

<application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name">
    <activity android:name=".CameraReceiverTestActivity"
        android:label="@string/app_name">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
    <receiver android:enabled="true" android:exported="true"
        android:name=".CameraButtonReceiver">
        <intent-filter android:priority="999">
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.CAMERA_BUTTON" />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
        </intent-filter>
    </receiver>
</application>
</manifest>

And CameraButtonReceiver.java

package net.company;

public class CameraButtonReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
  static {
    Log.w("CBR", "onReceive clazz init");
  }

  @Override
  public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
      Log.w("CBR", "onReceive camera");
      abortBroadcast();
  }
}

On G1 (1.6) I see both messages as soon as press the camera button and default camera app is suppressed. However, on Desire Z (Froyo) no such thing happens. After playing with priority, code/xml declarations I dare to say this phone sends this broadcast with some other name.

Answer 1

There is no requirement for a device manufacturer to send any broadcast when the CAMERA button is clicked, from my reading of the Compatibility Definition Document. It might only be used by the foreground activity on the Desire Z. I don’t have a Z and so cannot confirm your tests.

Since the vast majority of Android devices do not have a CAMERA button at all, you will need to ensure that your app works well without such a button, and that you advise users that the CAMERA button may or may not work with your app depending upon device.