Can I have an android activity run only on the first time an application is opened?

Question

OK, so I\'m playing around with an android app.

The 90% use case is that users want to go straight to the primary list screen to find what they\'re looking for. Tha

Answer 1

Many applications actually store the current version in SharedPreferences, and check against it for if an update has been installed. Its a clever way of achieving a "what's changed" popup, or making sure that some settings get set (I would be wary of just having a boolean flag because if you ever want to add an additional setting, you will need a second flag and it gets messy after the third, etc.).

Answer 2

String VersionValue = "v.1.0"; final String PREFS_NAME = "MyPrefsFile";

    SharedPreferences settings = getSharedPreferences(PREFS_NAME, 0);

    if (settings.getBoolean(VersionValue, true)) {
        //the app is being launched for first time, do something        
        NewDialogFragment newFragment = new NewDialogFragment();
        newFragment.show(getFragmentManager(), "New");
        // record the fact that the app has been started at least once
        settings.edit().putBoolean(VersionValue, false).commit(); 
    }

You could do it this way and still get the same result I tried it its a small workaround if u do not fully understand how to check if the app is updated. Instead with this code you can just simply change the String VersoinValue to your current app version and android will think the app is a new first time app and will only display the code u wrote once until you change VersionValue on your next update. (:

Answer 3

i like dweebsonduty's method. a similar way to do this is to save their configuration information in files on the SD card. your app could start out by checking for those files and loading the information. if the load is successful, it moves on to the next activity, if not it starts the appropriate activity to prompt the user for input.

I have done this same thing, but instead of swiching activities i just switch views until i have all the info i need, and then move on.

Answer 4

How will you be storing the configuration?

If it is in SQLlite you could just create a table called firstuse and put a field in there called hasbeenused and make it null. Then when the app is used you can put a 1 in there. Then you can read it each time your app loads and if that field = 1 then go to your next activity.

Answer 5

After the first time the user has loaded the app you could store the details of whether user has performed the configurations in SharedPreferences.

 protected void storeSharedPrefs(String value) {
        /*
         * Storing in Shared Preferences
         */
        editor.putString("first", value);
        editor.commit();  //Commiting changes
    } 

Check each on time application is loaded, whether its the first time and configuration details has been entered correctly by checking SharedPreferences

private boolean first_time_check() {
        /* 
         * Checking Shared Preferences if the user had pressed 
         * the remember me button last time he logged in
         * */
        String first = uPreferences.getString("first", null);
        if((first == null)){
            return false;
        }
        else 
            return true;
    }