Question

When I launch my app from Eclipse to my phone, it launches the Launcher first and then my main activity. It successfully passes a variable to the main activity. I check that the username has been logged with a toast.
When I launch my app from my phone directly, it goes straight to the main activity; the main activity registers the variable as null.

I created a test app that performs EXACTLY the same function as the launcher in this one; their manifests are identical except for the activity names; and that test app functions correclty from the phone and when I install it from Eclipse.

this is a real brain-teaser.

Here is the code for the starter activity:

public class SecureAppStarter extends Activity {


TextView report;
WebView input;
Context thisContext = this;
String thisValue, url;

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.starter);
    initialize();


    WebViewClient rclient = new WebViewClient(){
        @Override
        public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView  view, String  url){
            return false;
        }
        @Override
        public void onLoadResource(WebView  view, String  url){ 
            input.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
            input.addJavascriptInterface(new CustomJavaScriptInterface(thisContext), "Android");
        }

        @Override
        public void onPageFinished(WebView view, String url){
            report.setText(""+thisValue);
            if (thisValue!= null){
                Intent passOn = new Intent("arbuckle.app.MainActivity");
                passOn.putExtra("username", thisValue);
                startActivity(passOn);
            }
        }
    };
    rclient.onPageFinished(input, url);
    input.setWebViewClient(rclient);
    input.loadUrl(url);
}


public class CustomJavaScriptInterface {
    Context mContext;

    CustomJavaScriptInterface(Context context) {

        mContext = context;
    }

    public void getValue(String value){
        thisValue = value;
    }
}

private void initialize() {
    report = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.tvViewName);
    input = (WebView) findViewById(R.id.wbWebAuth);
    url = "http://URL.of.data.com";
}
}

And here is the manifest:

 <application
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name" >
        <activity
            android:name="SecureAppStarter"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:configChanges="keyboardHidden|orientation">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
          <activity
            android:name=".ArbuckleAppActivity"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:configChanges="keyboardHidden|orientation">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="arbuckle.app.ArbuckleAppActivity" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

Answer 1

Well I figured it out.

I have been installing/uninstalling versions of the app for weeks where the main activity was the launcher. clearly that gets kept somewhere in Android cache and it was choosing the main activity to launch even though it wasn’t the launcher anymore.

So I uninstalled the app completely; and reinstalled. Now it works.

Does anyone think I hacked at the problem instead of solving it? Should I expect further problems down the road?