Before we dig into the code for creating an App Widget, let's cover the basics. There are three required and one optional component:
- The
AppWidgetProviderInfo
file: It's an XML resource (described later) - The
AppWidgetProvider class
: This is a Java class - The
View layout
file: It's a standard layout XML file, with some restrictions (explained later) - The App Widget configuration Activity (optional): This is an Activity the OS will launch when placing the widget to provide configuration options
The AppWidgetProvider
must also be declared in the AndroidManifest
file. Since AppWidgetProvider
is a helper class based on the Broadcast Receiver, it is declared in the manifest with the <receiver>
element. Here is an example manifest entry:
<receiver android:name=".HomescreenWidgetProvider" > <intent-filter> <action android:name="android.appwidget.action.APPWIDGET_UPDATE" /> </intent-filter> <meta-data android:name="android...