How to access resources from other application (.apk)

We might be interested in accessing the resources of other application. Or inflate a particular view from other applications layout xml file.In this post, we will discuss more about how to achieve this.

1 - What ever we need to access (resources or layout), we need two main things from other application .

       
 1 - R.java.
       Required for you during compilation time.

 2 - Application's context.
       Resources needs to be inflated with the correct application's 'Context' instance.Else at runtime the prog will crash.

2 - The app1(.apk) needs to be installed on the device in order for you to create app1's context instance and then inflate the resources / layouts.

app1 :
------
Create a an android application with package (com.android.app1 ) which contains resources you want to expose to others.

AndroidManifest.xml:

Manifest file doesnt have any entry for activity or application tags. it just says, under which package the resources will be present.

      package="com.android.app1"
      android:versionCode="1"
      android:versionName="1.0">
    
 

Keep the resources you want to expose in drawables. In this case i have kept the picture named 'pic1.jpg' .

app2:

1 - Create an android application with package name com.android.app2.

we need to include the com.android.app1.R.class into app2.

2 - Select project Right click -> Properties -> Java Build Path -> Libraries -> Add External class folder -> "Choose the app1/bin folder"
Now app2 can reference 'com.android.app1.R'

And create the context for app1.

Context otherAppContext = getApplicatoinContext().createPackageContext("com.android.app1", Context.CONTEXT_IGNORE_SECURITY);
Bitmap b1 = BitmapFactory.decodeResource(otherAppContext.getResources(),com.android.app1.R.drawable.pic1);

Use the bitmap from 'app1' to apply to a Imageview.

Layout main.xml
------------------

    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    >
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
    android:text="@string/hello"
    />
 android:id="@+id/image1"  
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:src="@drawable/rajini" 
    />
 android:id="@+id/image2"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
    />

app2.java:
-----------

package com.android.app2;


import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Context;
import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.graphics.BitmapFactory;
import android.graphics.drawable.BitmapDrawable;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.ImageView;


public class app2 extends Activity {
 ImageView imgView;
    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
        imgView = (ImageView)findViewById(R.id.image2);
        try
        {
        Context otherAppContext = getApplicationContext().createPackageContext("com.android.app1", Context.CONTEXT_IGNORE_SECURITY);
      Bitmap b1 = BitmapFactory.decodeResource(otherAppContext.getResources(),com.android.app1.R.drawable.pic1);
      BitmapDrawable bitmapDrawable = new BitmapDrawable(b1);
      imgView.setBackgroundDrawable(bitmapDrawable);
        }
        catch(Exception e)
        {
         
        }
    }
}

How to start an activity if it is not see in launcher application list.

$ am start -n com.android.app2/com.android.app2.app2
Starting: Intent { cmp=com.android.app2/.app2 }