Android create shortcuts on the home screen

Question

What I want to do is:

1) I\'m inside an activity, there are 2 buttons. If I click the first one a shortcut is created in my home screen. The shortcut open an

Answer 1

I have developed one method below for creating the shortcut icon on android Homescreen [Tested on my own app]. Just call it.

private void ShortcutIcon(){

    Intent shortcutIntent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), MainActivity.class);
    shortcutIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
    shortcutIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);

    Intent addIntent = new Intent();
    addIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_INTENT, shortcutIntent);
    addIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_NAME, "Test");
    addIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_ICON_RESOURCE, Intent.ShortcutIconResource.fromContext(getApplicationContext(), R.drawable.ic_launcher));
    addIntent.setAction("com.android.launcher.action.INSTALL_SHORTCUT");
    getApplicationContext().sendBroadcast(addIntent);
}

Don't forget to change your activity name, icon resource & permission.

<uses-permission android:name="com.android.launcher.permission.INSTALL_SHORTCUT" />

Happy coding !!!

Edit:

For Duplicate Issue, First Option is to add below line in the code otherwise it creates new one every time.

addIntent.putExtra("duplicate", false);

Second Option is to First uninstall The App Shortcut Icon and then Install It Again If the First Option Didn't Work.

Answer 2

The example code uses undocumented interfaces (permission and intent) to install a shortcut. As "someone" told you, this may not work on all phones, and may break in future Android releases. Don't do it.

The correct way is to listen for a shortcut request from the home screen-- with an intent filter like so in your manifest:

<activity android:name=".ShortCutActivity" android:label="@string/shortcut_label">
  <intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.CREATE_SHORTCUT" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
  </intent-filter>
</activity>

Then in the activity that receives the intent, you create an intent for your shortcut and return it as the activity result.

// create shortcut if requested
ShortcutIconResource icon =
    Intent.ShortcutIconResource.fromContext(this, R.drawable.icon);

Intent intent = new Intent();

Intent launchIntent = new Intent(this,ActivityToLaunch.class);

intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_INTENT, launchIntent);
intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_NAME, someNickname());
intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_ICON_RESOURCE, icon);

setResult(RESULT_OK, intent);

Answer 3

To add a shortcut to the home screen use this code.

public void addShortcutToHomeScreen(Context context) {
        if (ShortcutManagerCompat.isRequestPinShortcutSupported(context)) {
            ShortcutInfoCompat shortcutInfo = new ShortcutInfoCompat.Builder(context, "#1")
                    .setIntent(new Intent(context, MainActivity.class).setAction(Intent.ACTION_MAIN)) // !!! intent's action must be set on oreo
                    .setShortLabel("Label Goes Here")
                    .setIcon(IconCompat.createWithResource(context, R.mipmap.ic_launcher_shortcut))
                    .build();
            ShortcutManagerCompat.requestPinShortcut(context, shortcutInfo, null);
        } else {
            Toast.makeText(context, R.string.no_shortcut, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }
    }

and no extra permission need !!!

Answer 4

final Intent shortcutIntent = new Intent(this, SomeActivity.class);

final Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_INTENT, shortcutIntent);
// Sets the custom shortcut's title
intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_NAME, getString(R.string.app_name));
// Set the custom shortcut icon
intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_ICON_RESOURCE, Intent.ShortcutIconResource.fromContext(this, R.drawable.icon));
// add the shortcut
intent.setAction("com.android.launcher.action.INSTALL_SHORTCUT");
sendBroadcast(intent);

Answer 5

Since API level 26, using com.android.launcher.action.INSTALL_SHORTCUT is deprecated. The new way of creating shortcuts are using ShortcutManager.

It mentions that there are 3 kinds of shortcuts, static, dynamic and pinned. Based on your requirements, you can choose to create them.

Answer 6

@Siddiq Abu Bakkar Answer works. But in order to prevent creating shortcut every time app launches use shared Preferences.

final String PREF_FIRST_START = "AppFirstLaunch";
 SharedPreferences settings = getSharedPreferences(PREF_FIRST_START, 0);
    if(settings.getBoolean("AppFirstLaunch", true)){

        // record the fact that the app has been started at least once
        settings.edit().putBoolean("AppFirstLaunch", false).commit();
        ShortcutIcon();

    }