Question

My app widget needs to be configured when it first added to the home screen. I want to open a configuration view right after the user adds the widget.

AppWidgetProvider has no onCreated event, so I’m showing the confugration activity on the onUpdate event, and store a boolean value in SharedConfiguration that marks that the configuration has already been shown. Is there an easier way?

Answer 1

In the AppWidgetProvider XML file there is an attribute called android:configure

You can use this to point to an Activity to launch when the app is dropped onto the home screen. ex:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<appwidget-provider xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:configure="com.bandsintown.WidgetSettingsActivity"
    android:minWidth="250dp"
    android:minHeight="110dp"
    android:minResizeWidth="180dp"
    android:minResizeHeight="110dp"
    android:resizeMode="vertical|horizontal"
    android:initialLayout="@layout/widget_layout"
    android:updatePeriodMillis="10000" />

In your chosen configuration activity, the user can make whatever choice they want. You’ll need to grab and store the widget’s id. In the onCreate method, get the id like this:

Intent intent = getIntent();
Bundle extras = intent.getExtras();
if (extras != null)
    mAppWidgetId = extras.getInt(AppWidgetManager.EXTRA_APPWIDGET_ID, AppWidgetManager.INVALID_APPWIDGET_ID);

When they’ve made their selection, use this to send a message back to your home screen widget that it is ready to be displayed:

Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.putExtra(AppWidgetManager.EXTRA_APPWIDGET_ID, mAppWidgetId);
setResult(RESULT_OK, intent);

finish();

That’ll get what you’re after.