to top
Android APIs
java.lang.Object
   ↳ android.content.Context
     ↳ android.content.ContextWrapper
       ↳ android.view.ContextThemeWrapper
         ↳ android.app.Activity
           ↳ android.app.NativeActivity

Class Overview

Convenience for implementing an activity that will be implemented purely in native code. That is, a game (or game-like thing). There is no need to derive from this class; you can simply declare it in your manifest, and use the NDK APIs from there.

A typical manifest would look like:

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        package="com.example.native_activity"
        android:versionCode="1"
        android:versionName="1.0">

    <!-- This is the platform API where NativeActivity was introduced. -->
    <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="9" />

    <!-- This .apk has no Java code itself, so set hasCode to false. -->
    <application android:label="@string/app_name" android:hasCode="false">

        <!-- Our activity is the built-in NativeActivity framework class.
             This will take care of integrating with our NDK code. -->
        <activity android:name="android.app.NativeActivity"
                android:label="@string/app_name"
                android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden">
            <!-- Tell NativeActivity the name of or .so -->
            <meta-data android:name="android.app.lib_name"
                    android:value="native-activity" />
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest> 

A very simple example of native code that is run by NativeActivity follows. This reads input events from the user and uses OpenGLES to draw into the native activity's window.

#include <jni.h>
#include <errno.h>

#include <EGL/egl.h>
#include <GLES/gl.h>

#include <android/sensor.h>
#include <android/log.h>
#include <android_native_app_glue.h>

#define LOGI(...) ((void)__android_log_print(ANDROID_LOG_INFO, "native-activity", __VA_ARGS__))
#define LOGW(...) ((void)__android_log_print(ANDROID_LOG_WARN, "native-activity", __VA_ARGS__))

/**
 * Our saved state data.
 */
struct saved_state {
    float angle;
    int32_t x;
    int32_t y;
};

/**
 * Shared state for our app.
 */
struct engine {
    struct android_app* app;

    ASensorManager* sensorManager;
    const ASensor* accelerometerSensor;
    ASensorEventQueue* sensorEventQueue;

    int animating;
    EGLDisplay display;
    EGLSurface surface;
    EGLContext context;
    int32_t width;
    int32_t height;
    struct saved_state state;
};

/**
 * Initialize an EGL context for the current display.
 */
static int engine_init_display(struct engine* engine) {
    // initialize OpenGL ES and EGL

    /*
     * Here specify the attributes of the desired configuration.
     * Below, we select an EGLConfig with at least 8 bits per color
     * component compatible with on-screen windows
     */
    const EGLint attribs[] = {
            EGL_SURFACE_TYPE, EGL_WINDOW_BIT,
            EGL_BLUE_SIZE, 8,
            EGL_GREEN_SIZE, 8,
            EGL_RED_SIZE, 8,
            EGL_NONE
    };
    EGLint w, h, dummy, format;
    EGLint numConfigs;
    EGLConfig config;
    EGLSurface surface;
    EGLContext context;

    EGLDisplay display = eglGetDisplay(EGL_DEFAULT_DISPLAY);

    eglInitialize(display, 0, 0);

    /* Here, the application chooses the configuration it desires. In this
     * sample, we have a very simplified selection process, where we pick
     * the first EGLConfig that matches our criteria */
    eglChooseConfig(display, attribs, &config, 1, &numConfigs);

    /* EGL_NATIVE_VISUAL_ID is an attribute of the EGLConfig that is
     * guaranteed to be accepted by ANativeWindow_setBuffersGeometry().
     * As soon as we picked a EGLConfig, we can safely reconfigure the
     * ANativeWindow buffers to match, using EGL_NATIVE_VISUAL_ID. */
    eglGetConfigAttrib(display, config, EGL_NATIVE_VISUAL_ID, &format);

    ANativeWindow_setBuffersGeometry(engine->app->window, 0, 0, format);

    surface = eglCreateWindowSurface(display, config, engine->app->window, NULL);
    context = eglCreateContext(display, config, NULL, NULL);

    if (eglMakeCurrent(display, surface, surface, context) == EGL_FALSE) {
        LOGW("Unable to eglMakeCurrent");
        return -1;
    }

    eglQuerySurface(display, surface, EGL_WIDTH, &w);
    eglQuerySurface(display, surface, EGL_HEIGHT, &h);

    engine->display = display;
    engine->context = context;
    engine->surface = surface;
    engine->width = w;
    engine->height = h;
    engine->state.angle = 0;

    // Initialize GL state.
    glHint(GL_PERSPECTIVE_CORRECTION_HINT, GL_FASTEST);
    glEnable(GL_CULL_FACE);
    glShadeModel(GL_SMOOTH);
    glDisable(GL_DEPTH_TEST);

    return 0;
}

/**
 * Just the current frame in the display.
 */
static void engine_draw_frame(struct engine* engine) {
    if (engine->display == NULL) {
        // No display.
        return;
    }

    // Just fill the screen with a color.
    glClearColor(((float)engine->state.x)/engine->width, engine->state.angle,
            ((float)engine->state.y)/engine->height, 1);
    glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);

    eglSwapBuffers(engine->display, engine->surface);
}

/**
 * Tear down the EGL context currently associated with the display.
 */
static void engine_term_display(struct engine* engine) {
    if (engine->display != EGL_NO_DISPLAY) {
        eglMakeCurrent(engine->display, EGL_NO_SURFACE, EGL_NO_SURFACE, EGL_NO_CONTEXT);
        if (engine->context != EGL_NO_CONTEXT) {
            eglDestroyContext(engine->display, engine->context);
        }
        if (engine->surface != EGL_NO_SURFACE) {
            eglDestroySurface(engine->display, engine->surface);
        }
        eglTerminate(engine->display);
    }
    engine->animating = 0;
    engine->display = EGL_NO_DISPLAY;
    engine->context = EGL_NO_CONTEXT;
    engine->surface = EGL_NO_SURFACE;
}

/**
 * Process the next input event.
 */
static int32_t engine_handle_input(struct android_app* app, AInputEvent* event) {
    struct engine* engine = (struct engine*)app->userData;
    if (AInputEvent_getType(event) == AINPUT_EVENT_TYPE_MOTION) {
        engine->animating = 1;
        engine->state.x = AMotionEvent_getX(event, 0);
        engine->state.y = AMotionEvent_getY(event, 0);
        return 1;
    }
    return 0;
}

/**
 * Process the next main command.
 */
static void engine_handle_cmd(struct android_app* app, int32_t cmd) {
    struct engine* engine = (struct engine*)app->userData;
    switch (cmd) {
        case APP_CMD_SAVE_STATE:
            // The system has asked us to save our current state.  Do so.
            engine->app->savedState = malloc(sizeof(struct saved_state));
            *((struct saved_state*)engine->app->savedState) = engine->state;
            engine->app->savedStateSize = sizeof(struct saved_state);
            break;
        case APP_CMD_INIT_WINDOW:
            // The window is being shown, get it ready.
            if (engine->app->window != NULL) {
                engine_init_display(engine);
                engine_draw_frame(engine);
            }
            break;
        case APP_CMD_TERM_WINDOW:
            // The window is being hidden or closed, clean it up.
            engine_term_display(engine);
            break;
        case APP_CMD_GAINED_FOCUS:
            // When our app gains focus, we start monitoring the accelerometer.
            if (engine->accelerometerSensor != NULL) {
                ASensorEventQueue_enableSensor(engine->sensorEventQueue,
                        engine->accelerometerSensor);
                // We'd like to get 60 events per second (in us).
                ASensorEventQueue_setEventRate(engine->sensorEventQueue,
                        engine->accelerometerSensor, (1000L/60)*1000);
            }
            break;
        case APP_CMD_LOST_FOCUS:
            // When our app loses focus, we stop monitoring the accelerometer.
            // This is to avoid consuming battery while not being used.
            if (engine->accelerometerSensor != NULL) {
                ASensorEventQueue_disableSensor(engine->sensorEventQueue,
                        engine->accelerometerSensor);
            }
            // Also stop animating.
            engine->animating = 0;
            engine_draw_frame(engine);
            break;
    }
}

/**
 * This is the main entry point of a native application that is using
 * android_native_app_glue.  It runs in its own thread, with its own
 * event loop for receiving input events and doing other things.
 */
void android_main(struct android_app* state) {
    struct engine engine;

    // Make sure glue isn't stripped.
    app_dummy();

    memset(&engine, 0, sizeof(engine));
    state->userData = &engine;
    state->onAppCmd = engine_handle_cmd;
    state->onInputEvent = engine_handle_input;
    engine.app = state;

    // Prepare to monitor accelerometer
    engine.sensorManager = ASensorManager_getInstance();
    engine.accelerometerSensor = ASensorManager_getDefaultSensor(engine.sensorManager,
            ASENSOR_TYPE_ACCELEROMETER);
    engine.sensorEventQueue = ASensorManager_createEventQueue(engine.sensorManager,
            state->looper, LOOPER_ID_USER, NULL, NULL);

    if (state->savedState != NULL) {
        // We are starting with a previous saved state; restore from it.
        engine.state = *(struct saved_state*)state->savedState;
    }

    // loop waiting for stuff to do.

    while (1) {
        // Read all pending events.
        int ident;
        int events;
        struct android_poll_source* source;

        // If not animating, we will block forever waiting for events.
        // If animating, we loop until all events are read, then continue
        // to draw the next frame of animation.
        while ((ident=ALooper_pollAll(engine.animating ? 0 : -1, NULL, &events,
                (void**)&source)) >= 0) {

            // Process this event.
            if (source != NULL) {
                source->process(state, source);
            }

            // If a sensor has data, process it now.
            if (ident == LOOPER_ID_USER) {
                if (engine.accelerometerSensor != NULL) {
                    ASensorEvent event;
                    while (ASensorEventQueue_getEvents(engine.sensorEventQueue,
                            &event, 1) > 0) {
                        LOGI("accelerometer: x=%f y=%f z=%f",
                                event.acceleration.x, event.acceleration.y,
                                event.acceleration.z);
                    }
                }
            }

            // Check if we are exiting.
            if (state->destroyRequested != 0) {
                engine_term_display(&engine);
                return;
            }
        }

        if (engine.animating) {
            // Done with events; draw next animation frame.
            engine.state.angle += .01f;
            if (engine.state.angle > 1) {
                engine.state.angle = 0;
            }

            // Drawing is throttled to the screen update rate, so there
            // is no need to do timing here.
            engine_draw_frame(&engine);
        }
    }
}

Summary

Constants
String META_DATA_FUNC_NAME Optional meta-that can be in the manifest for this component, specifying the name of the main entry point for this native activity in the META_DATA_LIB_NAME native code.
String META_DATA_LIB_NAME Optional meta-that can be in the manifest for this component, specifying the name of the native shared library to load.
[Expand]
Inherited Constants
From class android.app.Activity
From class android.content.Context
From interface android.content.ComponentCallbacks2
[Expand]
Inherited Fields
From class android.app.Activity
Public Constructors
NativeActivity()
Public Methods
boolean dispatchKeyEvent(KeyEvent event)
Called to process key events.
void onConfigurationChanged(Configuration newConfig)
Called by the system when the device configuration changes while your activity is running.
void onGlobalLayout()
Callback method to be invoked when the global layout state or the visibility of views within the view tree changes
void onInputQueueCreated(InputQueue queue)
Called when the given InputQueue is now associated with the thread making this call, so it can start receiving events from it.
void onInputQueueDestroyed(InputQueue queue)
Called when the given InputQueue is no longer associated with the thread and thus not dispatching events.
void onLowMemory()
This is called when the overall system is running low on memory, and would like actively running process to try to tighten their belt.
void onWindowFocusChanged(boolean hasFocus)
Called when the current Window of the activity gains or loses focus.
void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int width, int height)
This is called immediately after any structural changes (format or size) have been made to the surface.
void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder)
This is called immediately after the surface is first created.
void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder)
This is called immediately before a surface is being destroyed.
void surfaceRedrawNeeded(SurfaceHolder holder)
Called when the application needs to redraw the content of its surface, after it is resized or for some other reason.
Protected Methods
void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
Called when the activity is starting.
void onDestroy()
Perform any final cleanup before an activity is destroyed.
void onPause()
Called as part of the activity lifecycle when an activity is going into the background, but has not (yet) been killed.
void onResume()
Called after onRestoreInstanceState(Bundle), onRestart(), or onPause(), for your activity to start interacting with the user.
void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState)
Called to retrieve per-instance state from an activity before being killed so that the state can be restored in onCreate(Bundle) or onRestoreInstanceState(Bundle) (the Bundle populated by this method will be passed to both).
void onStart()
Called after onCreate(Bundle) — or after onRestart() when the activity had been stopped, but is now again being displayed to the user.
void onStop()
Called when you are no longer visible to the user.
[Expand]
Inherited Methods
From class android.app.Activity
From class android.view.ContextThemeWrapper
From class android.content.ContextWrapper
From class android.content.Context
From class java.lang.Object
From interface android.content.ComponentCallbacks
From interface android.content.ComponentCallbacks2
From interface android.view.InputQueue.Callback
From interface android.view.KeyEvent.Callback
From interface android.view.LayoutInflater.Factory
From interface android.view.LayoutInflater.Factory2
From interface android.view.SurfaceHolder.Callback
From interface android.view.SurfaceHolder.Callback2
From interface android.view.View.OnCreateContextMenuListener
From interface android.view.ViewTreeObserver.OnGlobalLayoutListener
From interface android.view.Window.Callback

Constants

public static final String META_DATA_FUNC_NAME

Added in API level 9

Optional meta-that can be in the manifest for this component, specifying the name of the main entry point for this native activity in the META_DATA_LIB_NAME native code. If not specified, "ANativeActivity_onCreate" is used.

Constant Value: "android.app.func_name"

public static final String META_DATA_LIB_NAME

Added in API level 9

Optional meta-that can be in the manifest for this component, specifying the name of the native shared library to load. If not specified, "main" is used.

Constant Value: "android.app.lib_name"

Public Constructors

public NativeActivity ()

Added in API level 9

Public Methods

public boolean dispatchKeyEvent (KeyEvent event)

Added in API level 9

Called to process key events. You can override this to intercept all key events before they are dispatched to the window. Be sure to call this implementation for key events that should be handled normally.

Parameters
event The key event.
Returns
  • boolean Return true if this event was consumed.

public void onConfigurationChanged (Configuration newConfig)

Added in API level 9

Called by the system when the device configuration changes while your activity is running. Note that this will only be called if you have selected configurations you would like to handle with the configChanges attribute in your manifest. If any configuration change occurs that is not selected to be reported by that attribute, then instead of reporting it the system will stop and restart the activity (to have it launched with the new configuration).

At the time that this function has been called, your Resources object will have been updated to return resource values matching the new configuration.

Parameters
newConfig The new device configuration.

public void onGlobalLayout ()

Added in API level 9

Callback method to be invoked when the global layout state or the visibility of views within the view tree changes

public void onInputQueueCreated (InputQueue queue)

Added in API level 9

Called when the given InputQueue is now associated with the thread making this call, so it can start receiving events from it.

public void onInputQueueDestroyed (InputQueue queue)

Added in API level 9

Called when the given InputQueue is no longer associated with the thread and thus not dispatching events.

public void onLowMemory ()

Added in API level 9

This is called when the overall system is running low on memory, and would like actively running process to try to tighten their belt. While the exact point at which this will be called is not defined, generally it will happen around the time all background process have been killed, that is before reaching the point of killing processes hosting service and foreground UI that we would like to avoid killing.

Applications that want to be nice can implement this method to release any caches or other unnecessary resources they may be holding on to. The system will perform a gc for you after returning from this method.

public void onWindowFocusChanged (boolean hasFocus)

Added in API level 9

Called when the current Window of the activity gains or loses focus. This is the best indicator of whether this activity is visible to the user. The default implementation clears the key tracking state, so should always be called.

Note that this provides information about global focus state, which is managed independently of activity lifecycles. As such, while focus changes will generally have some relation to lifecycle changes (an activity that is stopped will not generally get window focus), you should not rely on any particular order between the callbacks here and those in the other lifecycle methods such as onResume().

As a general rule, however, a resumed activity will have window focus... unless it has displayed other dialogs or popups that take input focus, in which case the activity itself will not have focus when the other windows have it. Likewise, the system may display system-level windows (such as the status bar notification panel or a system alert) which will temporarily take window input focus without pausing the foreground activity.

Parameters
hasFocus Whether the window of this activity has focus.

public void surfaceChanged (SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int width, int height)

Added in API level 9

This is called immediately after any structural changes (format or size) have been made to the surface. You should at this point update the imagery in the surface. This method is always called at least once, after surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder).

Parameters
holder The SurfaceHolder whose surface has changed.
format The new PixelFormat of the surface.
width The new width of the surface.
height The new height of the surface.

public void surfaceCreated (SurfaceHolder holder)

Added in API level 9

This is called immediately after the surface is first created. Implementations of this should start up whatever rendering code they desire. Note that only one thread can ever draw into a Surface, so you should not draw into the Surface here if your normal rendering will be in another thread.

Parameters
holder The SurfaceHolder whose surface is being created.

public void surfaceDestroyed (SurfaceHolder holder)

Added in API level 9

This is called immediately before a surface is being destroyed. After returning from this call, you should no longer try to access this surface. If you have a rendering thread that directly accesses the surface, you must ensure that thread is no longer touching the Surface before returning from this function.

Parameters
holder The SurfaceHolder whose surface is being destroyed.

public void surfaceRedrawNeeded (SurfaceHolder holder)

Added in API level 9

Called when the application needs to redraw the content of its surface, after it is resized or for some other reason. By not returning from here until the redraw is complete, you can ensure that the user will not see your surface in a bad state (at its new size before it has been correctly drawn that way). This will typically be preceeded by a call to surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder, int, int, int).

Parameters
holder The SurfaceHolder whose surface has changed.

Protected Methods

protected void onCreate (Bundle savedInstanceState)

Added in API level 9

Called when the activity is starting. This is where most initialization should go: calling setContentView(int) to inflate the activity's UI, using findViewById(int) to programmatically interact with widgets in the UI, calling managedQuery(android.net.Uri, String[], String, String[], String) to retrieve cursors for data being displayed, etc.

You can call finish() from within this function, in which case onDestroy() will be immediately called without any of the rest of the activity lifecycle (onStart(), onResume(), onPause(), etc) executing.

Derived classes must call through to the super class's implementation of this method. If they do not, an exception will be thrown.

Parameters
savedInstanceState If the activity is being re-initialized after previously being shut down then this Bundle contains the data it most recently supplied in onSaveInstanceState(Bundle). Note: Otherwise it is null.

protected void onDestroy ()

Added in API level 9

Perform any final cleanup before an activity is destroyed. This can happen either because the activity is finishing (someone called finish() on it, or because the system is temporarily destroying this instance of the activity to save space. You can distinguish between these two scenarios with the isFinishing() method.

Note: do not count on this method being called as a place for saving data! For example, if an activity is editing data in a content provider, those edits should be committed in either onPause() or onSaveInstanceState(Bundle), not here. This method is usually implemented to free resources like threads that are associated with an activity, so that a destroyed activity does not leave such things around while the rest of its application is still running. There are situations where the system will simply kill the activity's hosting process without calling this method (or any others) in it, so it should not be used to do things that are intended to remain around after the process goes away.

Derived classes must call through to the super class's implementation of this method. If they do not, an exception will be thrown.

protected void onPause ()

Added in API level 9

Called as part of the activity lifecycle when an activity is going into the background, but has not (yet) been killed. The counterpart to onResume().

When activity B is launched in front of activity A, this callback will be invoked on A. B will not be created until A's onPause() returns, so be sure to not do anything lengthy here.

This callback is mostly used for saving any persistent state the activity is editing, to present a "edit in place" model to the user and making sure nothing is lost if there are not enough resources to start the new activity without first killing this one. This is also a good place to do things like stop animations and other things that consume a noticeable amount of CPU in order to make the switch to the next activity as fast as possible, or to close resources that are exclusive access such as the camera.

In situations where the system needs more memory it may kill paused processes to reclaim resources. Because of this, you should be sure that all of your state is saved by the time you return from this function. In general onSaveInstanceState(Bundle) is used to save per-instance state in the activity and this method is used to store global persistent data (in content providers, files, etc.)

After receiving this call you will usually receive a following call to onStop() (after the next activity has been resumed and displayed), however in some cases there will be a direct call back to onResume() without going through the stopped state.

Derived classes must call through to the super class's implementation of this method. If they do not, an exception will be thrown.

protected void onResume ()

Added in API level 9

Called after onRestoreInstanceState(Bundle), onRestart(), or onPause(), for your activity to start interacting with the user. This is a good place to begin animations, open exclusive-access devices (such as the camera), etc.

Keep in mind that onResume is not the best indicator that your activity is visible to the user; a system window such as the keyguard may be in front. Use onWindowFocusChanged(boolean) to know for certain that your activity is visible to the user (for example, to resume a game).

Derived classes must call through to the super class's implementation of this method. If they do not, an exception will be thrown.

protected void onSaveInstanceState (Bundle outState)

Added in API level 9

Called to retrieve per-instance state from an activity before being killed so that the state can be restored in onCreate(Bundle) or onRestoreInstanceState(Bundle) (the Bundle populated by this method will be passed to both).

This method is called before an activity may be killed so that when it comes back some time in the future it can restore its state. For example, if activity B is launched in front of activity A, and at some point activity A is killed to reclaim resources, activity A will have a chance to save the current state of its user interface via this method so that when the user returns to activity A, the state of the user interface can be restored via onCreate(Bundle) or onRestoreInstanceState(Bundle).

Do not confuse this method with activity lifecycle callbacks such as onPause(), which is always called when an activity is being placed in the background or on its way to destruction, or onStop() which is called before destruction. One example of when onPause() and onStop() is called and not this method is when a user navigates back from activity B to activity A: there is no need to call onSaveInstanceState(Bundle) on B because that particular instance will never be restored, so the system avoids calling it. An example when onPause() is called and not onSaveInstanceState(Bundle) is when activity B is launched in front of activity A: the system may avoid calling onSaveInstanceState(Bundle) on activity A if it isn't killed during the lifetime of B since the state of the user interface of A will stay intact.

The default implementation takes care of most of the UI per-instance state for you by calling onSaveInstanceState() on each view in the hierarchy that has an id, and by saving the id of the currently focused view (all of which is restored by the default implementation of onRestoreInstanceState(Bundle)). If you override this method to save additional information not captured by each individual view, you will likely want to call through to the default implementation, otherwise be prepared to save all of the state of each view yourself.

If called, this method will occur before onStop(). There are no guarantees about whether it will occur before or after onPause().

Parameters
outState Bundle in which to place your saved state.

protected void onStart ()

Added in API level 9

Called after onCreate(Bundle) — or after onRestart() when the activity had been stopped, but is now again being displayed to the user. It will be followed by onResume().

Derived classes must call through to the super class's implementation of this method. If they do not, an exception will be thrown.

protected void onStop ()

Added in API level 9

Called when you are no longer visible to the user. You will next receive either onRestart(), onDestroy(), or nothing, depending on later user activity.

Note that this method may never be called, in low memory situations where the system does not have enough memory to keep your activity's process running after its onPause() method is called.

Derived classes must call through to the super class's implementation of this method. If they do not, an exception will be thrown.