Question

I need to retrieve a value from the AndroidManifest.xml file, stored as a meta data:

<meta-data android:value="3" android:name="myInterestingValue" />

In the onCreate method, I call the following method:

private Object getMetaData(String name) {
    try {
        ActivityInfo ai = getPackageManager().getActivityInfo(this.getComponentName(), PackageManager.GET_META_DATA);
        Bundle metaData = ai.metaData; 
        if(metaData == null) {
            debug("metaData is null. Unable to get meta data for " + name);
        }
        else {
            Object value = (Object)metaData.get(name);
            return value;
        }
    } catch (NameNotFoundException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    return null;
}

But the metaData is always null. Is it impossible to access the metaData in the onCreate method? i.e. The activity has not been fully initialized yet.

Answer 1

You will need to use the flags GET_ACTIVITIES and GET_META_DATA.

ActivityInfo ai = getPackageManager()
        .getActivityInfo(this.getComponentName(), PackageManager.GET_META_DATA);