Switching Apps on Xibo for Android

[natasha]

By default, when the Android Player screen is clicked a menu bar, known as the Action Bar, appears at the top of the screen. Following the release of 1.8.11 a new option, named Run Intent, is available in the CMS. When Run Intent is set and the Action Bar Intent is set, touching the screen will run the configured intent and can be used to direct a user to an alternative application.

Prior to set up

Ensure that you have installed the following:

• Xibo CMS 1.8.11 or later
• Xibo for Android R107 or later

Installation instructions for both the CMS and Xibo for Android Player can be found in our Administration Manual.

Set up

Navigate to Display Settings under the Display section of the menu in the CMS.

Use the row menu for the Android Profile and click Edit.

Click on the Advanced tab of the Edit Profile form.

Use the drop down menu for the Action Bar Mode field and select Run Intent.

You now need to enter the intent that will open your application in the Action Bar Intent field in the following format:

Action|Extrakey,ExtraMsg

Please note: The application would need to listen for this intent and open itself at the topmost window.

Untick the Automatic Restart checkbox to ensure that the Xibo Player does not automatically re-open during the time you wish users to interact with your application.

Click on the Save button at the bottom of the form.

Listening for the event (from the 3rd party application)

The event will be raised implicitly and so the 3rd party application will have to register to listen for the event in code.

@Nuno_Veloso

1. Define a BroadcastReceiver class that will receive the intent. In this class, override the onReceive() method to perform the desired action when the intent is received. For example:

public class MyReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        // Perform action here
    }
}

2. In the app’s manifest file, declare the BroadcastReceiver with an <intent-filter> that specifies the action and package name of the external app. For example:

<receiver android:name=".MyReceiver">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="com.example.MY_ACTION" />
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
        <data android:scheme="package" android:path="uk.org.xibo.client" />
    </intent-filter>
</receiver>

3. In the app’s code, register the BroadcastReceiver with the IntentFilter that matches the action string used by the external app. For example:

MyReceiver receiver = new MyReceiver();
IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter("com.example.MY_ACTION");
registerReceiver(receiver, filter);

The action bar intent for the above example would be:

com.example.MY_ACTION|test,Message

Reopening the Player

You will need to include a method for reopening the Xibo Player app, once the user no longer requires the alternative application. Xibo for Android will respond to an intent which you can set with one of the following commands:

Intent i = new Intent(context, “uk.org.xibo.client.Player”);
i.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
i.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TASK);
context.startActivity(i);