Calling startActivity() from outside of an Activity context

I have implemented a ListView in my Android application. I bind to this ListView using a custom subclass of the ArrayAdapter class. Inside the overridden ArrayAdapter.getView(...) method, I assign an OnClickListener. In the onClick method of the OnClickListener, I want to launch a new activity. I get the exception:

Calling startActivity() from outside of an Activity  context requires the  
FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK flag. Is this really what you want?

How can I get the Context that the ListView(the current Activity) is working under?

Either

• cache the Context object via constructor in your adapter, or
• get it from your view.

Or as a last resort,

• add - FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK flag to your intent:

_

myIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);

Edit - i would avoid setting flags as it will interfere with normal flow of event and history stack.

You can achieve it with addFlags instead of setFlags

myIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);

According to the documentation it does:

> Add additional flags to the intent (or with existing flags value).

---

EDIT

Be careful when you are using flags that you may change the history stack as Alex Volovoy's answer says:

> ...avoid setting flags as it will interfere with normal flow of event and history stack.

Instead of using (getApplicationContext) use YourActivity.this

If you got error because of using create chooser like below:

Intent sharingIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
sharingIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
sharingIntent.setData(Uri.parse("http://google.com"));
startActivity(Intent.createChooser(sharingIntent, "Open With"));

Set the flag to create chooser like this :

Intent sharingIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
sharingIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
sharingIntent.setData(Uri.parse("http://google.com"));

Intent chooserIntent = Intent.createChooser(sharingIntent, "Open With");
chooserIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);

startActivity(chooserIntent);

In addition: if you show links in listview in fragment, do not create it like this

adapter = new ListAdapter(getActivity().getApplicationContext(),mStrings);

instead call

adapter = new ListAdapter(getActivity(),mStrings);

adapter works fine in both cases, but links work only in last one.

I think maybe you are implementing the OnClickListener in the wrong place - usually you should definitely implement an OnItemClickListener in your Activity and set it on the ListView instead, or you will get problems with your events...

At the Android 28(Android P) startActivity

if ((intent.getFlags() & Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK) == 0
		&& (targetSdkVersion < Build.VERSION_CODES.N
				|| targetSdkVersion >= Build.VERSION_CODES.P)
		&& (options == null
				|| ActivityOptions.fromBundle(options).getLaunchTaskId() == -1)) {
	throw new AndroidRuntimeException(
			"Calling startActivity() from outside of an Activity "
					+ " context requires the FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK flag."
					+ " Is this really what you want?");
}

So the best way is add FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK

Intent intent = new Intent(context, XXXActivity.class);
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.P) {
	intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
}
context.startActivity(intent);

CustomAdapter mAdapter = new CustomAdapter( getApplicationContext(), yourlist);

or

Context mContext = getAppliactionContext();
CustomAdapter mAdapter = new CustomAdapter( mContext, yourlist);

change to below

CustomAdapter mAdapter = new CustomAdapter( this, yourlist);

See, if you are creating an intent within a listiner in some method

override onClick (View v).

then call the context through this view as well:

v.getContext ()

There will not even need SetFlags ...

For anybody getting this on Xamarin.Android (MonoDroid) even when StartActivity is called from activity - this is actually Xamarin bug with new ART runtime, see https://bugzilla.xamarin.com/show_bug.cgi?id=17630

This error goes when startactivity doesn't know which is his activity. So you must add activity before startActivity()

you must set

context.startActivity(yourIntent);

Elaborating Alex Volovoy's answer a little more -

in case u are getting this problem with fragments, getActivity() works fine to get the context

In Other Cases:

If you don't want to use-

myIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);//not recommend

then make a function like this in your OutsideClass -

public void gettingContext(Context context){
	real_context = context;//where real_context is a global variable of type Context
}

Now,in your main activity when ever you make a new OutsideClass call the above method immediately after you define the OutsideClass giving the activity's context as argument. Also in your main activity make a function-

public void startNewActivity(final String activity_to_start) {
	if(activity_to_start.equals("ACTIVITY_KEY"));
    //ACTIVITY_KEY-is a custom key,just to
    //differentiate different activities
	Intent i = new Intent(MainActivity.this, ActivityToStartName.class);
	activity_context.startActivity(i);		
}//you can make a if-else ladder or use switch-case

now come back to your OutsideClass,and to start new activity do something like this-

@Override
public void onClick(View v) {
........
case R.id.any_button:
		
			MainActivity mainAct = (MainActivity) real_context;				
			mainAct.startNewActivity("ACTIVITY_KEY");					
		
		break;
	}
........
}

This way you will be able to start different activities called from different OutsideClass without messing up with flags.

Note-Try not to cache context object via constructor for fragment(with adapter,its fine).A fragment should have a empty constructor otherwise application crashes in some scenarios.

remember to call

OutsideClass.gettingContext(Context context);

in the onResume() function as well.

In my opinion, it's better to use the method of startActivity() just in the your code of the Activity.class. If you use that in the Adapter or other class, it will result in that.

I also had the same problem. Check all the context that you have passed. For 'links' it needs Activity Context not Application context.

This are the place where you should check :

1.) If you used LayoutInflater then check what context you have passed.

2.) If you are using any Adapter check what context you have passed.

I had the same problem. The problem is with context. If you want to open any links (for example share any link through chooser) pass activity context, not application context.

Dont forget to add myIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK) if you are not in your activity.

Use this code in your Adapter_Activity and use context.startActivity(intent_Object) and intent_Object.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);

Like this:

Intent n_act = new Intent(context, N_Activity.class);
n_act.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
context.startActivity(n_act);

It Works....

In your Activity (where you're calling the adapter) just change getActivityContext() with YourActivity.this. Here's an exemple:

yourAdapter = new YourAdapter(yourList, YourActivity.this); // Here YourActivity.this is the Context instead of getActivityContext()
recyclerView.setAdapter(yourAdapter);

Intent viewIntent = new Intent(Settings.ACTION_LOCATION_SOURCE_SETTINGS);    
viewIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);    
startActivity(viewIntent);   

i hope this will work.

Faced the same issue then implemented

intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);

and got solved the problem.

There may be an another reason which is related to list view adapter.
You can see This blog, described it very well.

Use this code. Works fine for me. Share Something from Outside of an activity:

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
intent.setType("text/plain");

// Append Text
String Text = "Your Text Here"

intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, Text);
intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);

Intent shareIntent = Intent.createChooser(intent,"Share . . . ");
shareIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
G.context.getApplicationContext().startActivity(shareIntent);

Since adding flags affect event_flow and stack_history it is better to pass the 'application context' to the non-activity from where you need to call an activity class in the following way:

"ActivityClassName.this" (While you pass the context in this manner it will contain all the detail and info that you need to call an Activity from a non-activity scenario)

So there is no need to set or add flags, this will work fine in every case.

Intent i= new Intent(context, NextActivity.class);
i.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP);

If you are invoking share Intent in Cordova plugin, setting the Flag will not help. Instead use this -

cordova.getActivity().startActivity(Intent.createChooser(shareIntent, "title"));

My situation was a little different, I'm testing my app using Espresso and I had to launch my Activity with ActivityTestRule from the instrumentation Context (which is not the one coming from an Activity).

fun intent(context: Context) = 
    Intent(context, HomeActivity::class.java)
        .addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP)

I had to change the flags and add an or bitwise ( | in Java) with Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK

So it results in:

fun intent(context: Context) = 
    Intent(context, HomeActivity::class.java)
        .addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP or Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK)

Kotlin version

val intent = Intent(Intent.ACTION_EDIT, ContactsContract.Profile.CONTENT_URI)
intent.flags = Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK
this.startActivity(intent)

If you use databinding, just get your context with

binding.root.context

This solved my problem.

Calling startActivity() from outside of an Activity context get from your view

> Don't

val context = activity.applicationContext
openBrowser(context, MenuUrl.TERM_CONDITION)

> Do

   1. val context = binding.root.context // If you are using view binding
   2. val context = yourView.context // If you are not use view binding
    openBrowser(context, MenuUrl.TERM_CONDITION)

Thank You.

For people coming from Xamarin.Forms or Xamarin.Android, In your Xamarin.Android project, use:

Xamarin.Essentials.Platform.CurrentActivity.StartActivity(intent);

Note that this might require Xamarin.Essentials v1.5 or above

As @Alex Volovoy mentioned, setting flags should be avoided as it will interfere with normal flow of event and history stack.