Binding Widgets in Custom Launcher

Question

I'm having some issues adding widgets to the homescreen in a custom Launcher I've been working on.

I've been able to generate a list of widgets to add with an AppWidgetManager and I've developed the workflow for adding the widget to my home screen. The code is not quite what is below but looks something like the following:

AppWidgetHost widget_host = new AppWidgetHost(this, 1);
AppWidgetManager widget_manager = AppWidgetManager.getInstance(this);

int widget_id = widget_host.allocateAppWidgetId(); 
AppWidgetProviderInfo widget_provider = ... //from an array;

Intent bindIntent = new Intent(AppWidgetManager.ACTION_APPWIDGET_BIND);
bindIntent.putExtra(AppWidgetManager.EXTRA_APPWIDGET_ID, widget_id);
bindIntent.putExtra(AppWidgetManager.EXTRA_APPWIDGET_PROVIDER, widget_provider.provider);
startActivityForResult(bindIntent, REQUEST_BIND_APPWIDGET);

if (widget_provider.configure != null) {
    Intent intent = new Intent(AppWidgetManager.ACTION_APPWIDGET_CONFIGURE);
    intent.setComponent(widget_provider.configure);
    intent.putExtra(AppWidgetManager.EXTRA_APPWIDGET_ID, widget_id);
    startActivityForResult(intent, REQUEST_CREATE_APPWIDGET);
} else {
    createWidget(widget_id);
}

I then have an onActivityResult method that leads to the configuration of widgets if necessary, and the createWidget method uses the createView method of the AppWidgetHost.

This workflow works but the ACTION_APPWIDGET_BIND intent asks the user for permission to bind the app, which is kind of annoying. My understanding is that only system apps can request this permission and that I am out of luck in binding widgets without asking for this permission while the app is running. On the other hand, I know there are many other launchers out there and they can all add widgets seamlessly, so there must be another approach to this.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers

Answer 1

Hope that the question is still open...

You do too much things within you method. Under specific circumstances you fire to events shorty one after the other. I am not working too long on android, so I can not tell you, whether this may be ok or not.

And you always fire the intent here:

Intent bindIntent = new Intent(AppWidgetManager.ACTION_APPWIDGET_BIND);
bindIntent.putExtra(AppWidgetManager.EXTRA_APPWIDGET_ID, widget_id);
bindIntent.putExtra(AppWidgetManager.EXTRA_APPWIDGET_PROVIDER, widget_provider.provider);
startActivityForResult(bindIntent, REQUEST_BIND_APPWIDGET);

The intent above causes the question most probarbly. You may check beforehand, whether you need to ask for permission or not. You can ask with this routine:

Boolean callProviderIntent = false;
if (checkCallProviderIntent)
{
    callProviderIntent = true;
    Method m = null;
    try
    {
        m = AppWidgetManager.class
            .getMethod("bindAppWidgetIdIfAllowed", new Class[]
            { Integer.TYPE, ComponentName.class });
    }
    catch (NoSuchMethodException e)
    {
    }
    if (m != null)
    {
        try
        {
            callProviderIntent = !(Boolean) m
             .invoke(mAppWidgetManager,
                     appWidgetId,
                     launcherAppWidgetInfo.provider);
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
        }
    }
}

It is dummy code. And it uses reflection, since I am under Android 2.3.

Answer 2

This is the solution I finally found for my application.

            AppWidgetManager manager = m.getAppWidgetManager();
            AppWidgetHost host = m.getWidgetHost();

            List<AppWidgetProviderInfo> widgetList = manager.getInstalledProviders();

            AppWidgetProviderInfo provider = null;
            for(AppWidgetProviderInfo info : widgetList){
                //To get the google search box
                if(info.provider.getClassName().equals("com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox.SearchWidgetProvider")){
                    provider = info;
                    break;
                }
            }
            if(provider != null){
                int id = host.allocateAppWidgetId();

                boolean success = false;
                success = manager.bindAppWidgetIdIfAllowed(id, provider.provider);
                if (success) {
                    AppWidgetHostView hostView = host.createView(getActivity(), id, provider);
                    AppWidgetProviderInfo appWidgetInfo = manager.getAppWidgetInfo(id);

                    LauncherAppWidgetInfo info = new LauncherAppWidgetInfo(id);
                    info.hostView = hostView;
                    info.hostView.setAppWidget(id, appWidgetInfo);
                    attachWidget(info);
                } else {
                    Intent intent = new Intent(AppWidgetManager.ACTION_APPWIDGET_BIND);
                    intent.putExtra(AppWidgetManager.EXTRA_APPWIDGET_ID, id);
                    intent.putExtra(AppWidgetManager.EXTRA_APPWIDGET_PROVIDER,
                            provider.provider);
                    // TODO: we need to make sure that this accounts for the options
                    // bundle.
                    // intent.putExtra(AppWidgetManager.EXTRA_APPWIDGET_OPTIONS,
                    // options);
                    m.startActivityForResult(intent, Main.REQUEST_BIND_APPWIDGET);
                }

            }
        }