Add Shortcut for android application To home screen On button click

Question

I want to make it easy to add my app to home screen by pressing a button. So What I am Thinking is a button at the bottom of my app that says "Add to home screen" and when it is pressed, it adds the shortcut to the home screen without closing the application. what code should I add To do that?

Answer 1

Send an INSTALL_SHORTCUT broadcast with the resulting Intent as an extra (in this case, the result Intent is opening some activity directly).

    //where this is a context (e.g. your current activity)
    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);

You also need this permission in your manifest:

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

Answer 2

First step,you should make the luncher could receive a broadcast:

 <!-- Intent received used to install shortcuts from other applications -->
    <receiver
        android:name="com.android.launcher2.InstallShortcutReceiver"
        android:permission="com.android.launcher.permission.INSTALL_SHORTCUT">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="com.android.launcher.action.INSTALL_SHORTCUT"/>
        </intent-filter>
    </receiver>

Next,add a permission in manifest.xml

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

Finally,create a function and call it when you click the button:

public void createShortCut(){
    // a Intent to create a shortCut
    Intent shortcutintent = new Intent("com.android.launcher.action.INSTALL_SHORTCUT");
    //repeat to create is forbidden
    shortcutintent.putExtra("duplicate", false);
    //set the name of shortCut
    shortcutintent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_NAME, getString(R.string.shortcutname));
    //set icon
    Parcelable icon = Intent.ShortcutIconResource.fromContext(getApplicationContext(), R.drawable.icon);
    shortcutintent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_ICON_RESOURCE, icon);
    //set the application to lunch when you click the icon
    shortcutintent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_INTENT, new Intent(getApplicationContext() , EnterActivity.class));
    //sendBroadcast,done
    sendBroadcast(shortcutintent);
}

do it like this:

button.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
        public void onClick(View v) {
            createShortCut();
        }
    });

Answer 3

Ok ... I know this is old thread but i wanted to make sure engineers visiting this thread have latest information.

Starting from Android O - As part of Background Check Limits ( Implicit receivers in this case ), The com.android.launcher.action.INSTALL_SHORTCUT broadcast no longer has any effect on your app, because it is now a private, implicit broadcast.

Per Android O ActivityManagerService.java :

 case "com.android.launcher.action.INSTALL_SHORTCUT":
                // As of O, we no longer support this broadcasts, even for pre-O apps.
                // Apps should now be using ShortcutManager.pinRequestShortcut().
                Log.w(TAG, "Broadcast " + action
                        + " no longer supported. It will not be delivered.");

I hope this helps !