How to start an Intent if context is not Activity Context but Application Context

Question

I'm trying to start an activity from a class that extends BroadcastReceiver.

public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {

the problem is that parameter context is the Application context and not an Activity context.

Is there a way start an intent using the Application context?

Solution

Here is sample code how to call another activity using context, set flag as per your requirement:

public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) { 
    
    Intent intent = new Intent();   
    intent.setClass(context, xxx.class); 
    intent.setAction(xxx.class.getName()); 
    intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_EXCLUDE_FROM_RECENTS); 
    context.startActivity(intent);  
}

Comments

[tophyr]

This is incorrect; Application contexts are not allowed to start Activities unless the Intent contains the FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK flag.

[Alon]

This answer, while works, is vague in answering the question. In order to call startActivity with application context, include the flag FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK. Also think about changing the name from context to appContext so it is clear which context you expect.

[Anand Khinvasara]

On Android pie FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK does not help

[androidguy]

@AnandKhinvasara Do you have a citation do developer docs? Or is this an undocumented behavior?

[MNassar]

Why do we need to provide the NEW_TASK flag? Because I tried starting an activity from an app context without this flag, and it worked fine.

[Davide]

developer.android.com/reference/android/content/…