[android] Android BroadcastReceiver within Activity

I'm just trying this little sample project, all it does: Activity one has a Button that sends a Broadcast. Activity two displays a toast when received. Below is the code, the Broadcast is never received. What do I do wrong?

Sending the Broadcast

public class SendBroadcast extends Activity {

    public static String BROADCAST_ACTION = "com.unitedcoders.android.broadcasttest.SHOWTOAST";

    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
    }

    public void sendBroadcast(View v){
        Intent broadcast = new Intent();
        broadcast.setAction(BROADCAST_ACTION);
        sendBroadcast(broadcast);
    }
}

Receiving it

public class ToastDisplay extends Activity {

    private BroadcastReceiver receiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
        @Override
        public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
            Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "received", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT);
        }
    };

    @Override
    protected void onResume() {
        IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter();
        filter.addAction(SendBroadcast.BROADCAST_ACTION);
        registerReceiver(receiver, filter);
        super.onResume();
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPause() {
        unregisterReceiver(receiver);
        super.onPause();
    }
}

Manifest

<application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name">
    <activity android:name=".SendBroadcast" android:label="@string/app_name">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
    <activity android:name=".ToastDisplay">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="com.unitedcoders.android.broadcasttest.SHOWTOAST"></action>
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
</application>

Your also have to register the receiver in onCreate(), like this:

IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter();
filter.addAction("csinald.meg");
registerReceiver(receiver, filter);

Extends the ToastDisplay class with BroadcastReceiver and register the receiver in the manifest file,and dont register your broadcast receiver in onResume() .

<application
  ....
  <receiver android:name=".ToastDisplay">
    <intent-filter>
      <action android:name="com.unitedcoders.android.broadcasttest.SHOWTOAST"/>
    </intent-filter>
  </receiver>
</application>

if you want to register in activity then register in the onCreate() method e.g:

onCreate(){

    sentSmsBroadcastCome = new BroadcastReceiver() {

        @Override
        public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
            Toast.makeText(context, "SMS SENT!!", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }
    };
    IntentFilter filterSend = new IntentFilter();
    filterSend.addAction("m.sent");
    registerReceiver(sentSmsBroadcastCome, filterSend);
}

You forget to write .show() at the end, which is used to show the toast message.

Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "received", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

It is a common mistake that programmer does, but i am sure after this you won't repeat the mistake again... :D

You need to define the receiver as a class in the manifest and it will receive the intent:

<application
  ....
  <receiver android:name=".ToastReceiver">
    <intent-filter>
      <action android:name="com.unitedcoders.android.broadcasttest.SHOWTOAST"/>
    </intent-filter>
  </receiver>
</application>

And you don't need to create the class manually inside ToastDisplay.

In the code you provided, you must be inside ToastDisplay activity to actually receive the Intent.

 Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "received", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT);

makes the toast, but doesnt show it.

You have to do Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "received", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

I think your problem is that you send the broadcast before the other activity start ! so the other activity will not receive anything .

1. The best practice to test your code is to sendbroadcast from thread or from a service so the activity is opened and its registered the receiver and the background process sends a message.
2. start the ToastDisplay activity from the sender activity ( I didn't test that but it may work probably )