Android APIs
public class

ShareCompat

extends Object
java.lang.Object
   ↳ android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat

Class Overview

Extra helper functionality for sharing data between activities. ShareCompat provides functionality to extend the ACTION_SEND/ ACTION_SEND_MULTIPLE protocol and support retrieving more info about the activity that invoked a social sharing action. ShareCompat.IntentBuilder provides helper functions for constructing a sharing intent that always includes data about the calling activity and app. This lets the called activity provide attribution for the app that shared content. Constructing an intent this way can be done in a method-chaining style. To obtain an IntentBuilder with info about your calling activity, use the static method from(Activity). ShareCompat.IntentReader provides helper functions for parsing the defined extras within an ACTION_SEND or ACTION_SEND_MULTIPLE intent used to launch an activity. You can also obtain a Drawable for the caller's application icon and the application's localized label (the app's human-readable name). Social apps that enable sharing content are encouraged to use this information to call out the app that the content was shared from.

Summary

Nested Classes
class ShareCompat.IntentBuilder IntentBuilder is a helper for constructing ACTION_SEND and ACTION_SEND_MULTIPLE sharing intents and starting activities to share content. 
class ShareCompat.IntentReader IntentReader is a helper for reading the data contained within a sharing (ACTION_SEND) Intent. 
Constants
String EXTRA_CALLING_ACTIVITY Intent extra that stores the ComponentName of the calling activity for an ACTION_SEND intent.
String EXTRA_CALLING_PACKAGE Intent extra that stores the name of the calling package for an ACTION_SEND intent.
Public Constructors
ShareCompat()
Public Methods
static void configureMenuItem(MenuItem item, ShareCompat.IntentBuilder shareIntent)
Configure a MenuItem to act as a sharing action.
static void configureMenuItem(Menu menu, int menuItemId, ShareCompat.IntentBuilder shareIntent)
Configure a menu item to act as a sharing action.
static ComponentName getCallingActivity(Activity calledActivity)
Retrieve the ComponentName of the activity that launched calledActivity from a share intent.
static String getCallingPackage(Activity calledActivity)
Retrieve the name of the package that launched calledActivity from a share intent.
[Expand]
Inherited Methods
From class java.lang.Object

Constants

public static final String EXTRA_CALLING_ACTIVITY

Intent extra that stores the ComponentName of the calling activity for an ACTION_SEND intent.

Constant Value: "android.support.v4.app.EXTRA_CALLING_ACTIVITY"

public static final String EXTRA_CALLING_PACKAGE

Intent extra that stores the name of the calling package for an ACTION_SEND intent. When an activity is started using startActivityForResult this is redundant info. (It is also provided by getCallingPackage().) Instead of using this constant directly, consider using getCallingPackage(Activity) or getCallingPackage().

Constant Value: "android.support.v4.app.EXTRA_CALLING_PACKAGE"

Public Constructors

public ShareCompat ()

Public Methods

public static void configureMenuItem (MenuItem item, ShareCompat.IntentBuilder shareIntent)

Configure a MenuItem to act as a sharing action.

If the app is running on API level 14 or higher (Android 4.0/Ice Cream Sandwich) this method will configure a ShareActionProvider to provide a more robust UI for selecting the target of the share. History will be tracked for each calling activity in a file named with the prefix ".sharecompat_" in the application's private data directory. If the application wishes to set this MenuItem to show as an action in the Action Bar it should use setShowAsAction(MenuItem, int) to request that behavior in addition to calling this method.

If the app is running on an older platform version this method will configure a standard activity chooser dialog for the menu item.

During the calling activity's lifecycle, if data within the share intent must change the app should change that state in one of several ways:

  • Call invalidateOptionsMenu(Activity). If the app is running on API level 11 or above and uses the Action Bar its menu will be recreated and rebuilt. If not, the activity will receive a call to onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu) the next time the user presses the menu key to open the options menu panel. The activity can then call configureMenuItem again with a new or altered IntentBuilder to reconfigure the share menu item.
  • Keep a reference to the MenuItem object for the share item once it has been created and call configureMenuItem to update the associated sharing intent as needed.

Parameters
item MenuItem to configure for sharing
shareIntent IntentBuilder with data about the content to share

public static void configureMenuItem (Menu menu, int menuItemId, ShareCompat.IntentBuilder shareIntent)

Configure a menu item to act as a sharing action.

Parameters
menu Menu containing the item to use for sharing
menuItemId ID of the share item within menu
shareIntent IntentBuilder with data about the content to share
See Also

public static ComponentName getCallingActivity (Activity calledActivity)

Retrieve the ComponentName of the activity that launched calledActivity from a share intent. Apps that provide social sharing functionality can use this to provide attribution for the app that shared the content.

Note: This data may have been provided voluntarily by the calling application. As such it should not be trusted for accuracy in the context of security or verification.

Parameters
calledActivity Current activity that was launched to share content
Returns
  • ComponentName of the calling activity

public static String getCallingPackage (Activity calledActivity)

Retrieve the name of the package that launched calledActivity from a share intent. Apps that provide social sharing functionality can use this to provide attribution for the app that shared the content.

Note: This data may have been provided voluntarily by the calling application. As such it should not be trusted for accuracy in the context of security or verification.

Parameters
calledActivity Current activity that was launched to share content
Returns
  • Name of the calling package