Question

I need to be able to tell when a spawned activity (via an intent) has completed, how would I do so?

This is what I have:

    alertDialog.setButton2("Text", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) {
            String uri = "smsto:" + "";
            Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SENDTO, Uri.parse(uri));
            intent.putExtra("sms_body", PASSWORD_GENERATOR
                    .generatePasswordForSeed(seedText, hourToUse));
            intent.putExtra("compose_mode", true);

            // -- open the text message activity
            startActivity(intent);

            // -- I need to reset the calling activity now, but AFTER the text message activity has completed. Right now the SMS closes right away as I have no wait in...
            finish();
            startActivity(getIntent());
        }
    });

EDIT #1

Per the suggestions below, I’ve made some modifications. Now, however, the launched SMS activity just “sits there” once the text is sent. I can’t figure out how to get it to return to the calling activity. This is what I have:

alertDialog.setButton2("Text", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) {
                String uri = "smsto:" + "";
                Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SENDTO, Uri.parse(uri));
                intent.putExtra("sms_body", PASSWORD_GENERATOR
                        .generatePasswordForSeed(seedText, hourToUse));
                intent.putExtra("compose_mode", true);

                startActivityForResult(intent, Activity.RESULT_OK);

                registerReceiver(new BroadcastReceiver() {
                    @Override
                    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
                        finish();
                        startActivity(getIntent());
                    }

                }, new IntentFilter("SMS_SENT"));

                ContentResolver contentResolver = getContentResolver();
                Handler handler = new Handler();

                contentResolver.registerContentObserver(Uri
                        .parse("content://sms"), true, new ContentObserver(
                        handler) {

                    @Override
                    public boolean deliverSelfNotifications() {
                        setResult(Activity.RESULT_OK);
                        finish();

                        return super.deliverSelfNotifications();
                    }

                    @Override
                    public void onChange(boolean selfChange) {
                        super.onChange(selfChange);

                        setResult(Activity.RESULT_OK);
                        finish();
                    }
                });
            }
        });

        alertDialog.show();
    }

    @Override
    protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
        finish();
        startActivity(getIntent());
    }

Answer 1

Followup Answer for second question:
Out of curiosity, have you considered sending the text without creating an activity? The reason I ask is because it seems, from what I can tell, no user experience is happening within your SMS activity. If you don’t have views and user interactions then maybe just defining a thread or creating a helper class would do the job.

Original Answer for first question:
Try using startActivityForResult(Intent, int). Your current activity can get notified when the text message activity finishes.