Reading through the document and a couple others, none really specified what an Intent does with the URI that it is passed. I’m simply curious as to what happens when it gets a URI. I know it depends on the scheme, so if the scheme was http, does it then attempt to open that web URI?
I ask since I’m trying to consume RESTful API that sends data back in JSON format. Having it open the URI for me when trying to pass the data from one Activity to another rather than making the HTTP call myself via HttpClient would be nice. Not a big deal but I was just curious if that is how works.
An Intent is just an object … it does nothing with the URI. An Intent is used in function calls like startActivity(), sendBroadcast(), etc.
For example, when you pass an Intent to startActivity(), that Intent object is made available to the Activity. The Activity can interpret the URI as it pleases.
Android also uses Intent Filters to help route intents to various installed activities, these intent filters may inspect the URI.
Review http://developer.android.com/guide/components/intents-filters.html for all the info.