How To Add The Share Option In Android Applications

Introduction

Android is one of the most popular operating systems for mobile. Sharing is an important thing in our lives especially technology and knowledge sharing. If you create a photo editing app, it will share the photos on social media apps after editing. Functionality is the most important thing in Android development. So, I will show you how to add the "Share" option in Android applications using Android Studio. Android is a kernel based operating system that allows users to modify the GUI components and source code.

Prerequisites

• Android Studio
• Little bit XML and JAVA knowledge.
• Android Emulator (or) Android mobile
• Download link (Android Studio)

The Process

Carefully follow my steps to create "Share" option in your Android application using Android Studio. I have included the source code too.

Step 1

Open the Android Studio and start a new project.

Step 2

Put the application name and company domain. If you wish to use C++ for coding the project , mark the "Include C++ support" and then click Next.

Step 3

Select the Android Minimum SDK. After you chose the minimum SDK, it will show approximate percentage of people using that SDK. Just click Next.

Step 4

Choose the basic activity then click Next.

Step 5

Put activity name and layout name. Android Studio basically takes Java class name to what you provide the activity name. Click Finish.

Step 6

First, you need to design the application. So, go to activity_main.xml and click the text botton. This XML file contains the designing code for Android app. Into the activity_main.xml, copy and paste the below code.

Activity_main.xml code

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    tools:context="ganeshannt.sharing.MainActivity">

    <EditText
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="Enter the text that you want to share!"
        android:textSize="20sp"
        android:id="@+id/editText"/>
    <Button
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="80dp"
        android:text="Share"
        android:onClick="Clicked"
        android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"/>
</LinearLayout>

The above code is used to create the edit text row and button.

Step 7

Into the MainActivity.java file, copy and paste the below code. Java programming is the back-end language for Android. Do not replace your package name, otherwise this app will not run.

MainActivity.java code

package ganeshannt.sharing;

import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.EditText;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    private EditText editText;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        editText = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.editText);

    }

    public void Clicked(View view)
    {
       /* ACTION_SEND: Deliver some data to someone else.
        createChooser (Intent target, CharSequence title): Here, target- The Intent that the user will be selecting an activity to perform.
            title- Optional title that will be displayed in the chooser.
        Intent.EXTRA_TEXT: A constant CharSequence that is associated with the Intent, used with ACTION_SEND to supply the literal data to be sent.
        */
        Intent sendIntent = new Intent();
        sendIntent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
        sendIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT,editText.getText().toString());
        sendIntent.setType("text/plain");
        Intent.createChooser(sendIntent,"Share via");
        startActivity(sendIntent);
    }
}

Step 8

Create new dimens.xml file into the values folder (File ⇒ New ⇒Activity⇒values resource file).

Go to dimens.xml and click the text bottom. This XML file contains the designing code for Android app. Into the dimens.xml, copy and paste the below code.

dimens.xml code

<resources>
    <!-- Default screen margins, per the Android Design guidelines. -->
    <dimen name="activity_horizontal_margin">16dp</dimen>
    <dimen name="activity_vertical_margin">16dp</dimen>
</resources>

Step 9

This is our user interface of the application. Click the "Make Project" option.

Step 10

Run the application, choose the desired Virtual Machine, and click OK.

Deliverables

Here, we have successfully created share option in the Android application.

Compiler: HTC DESIRE 820S , API 21 (lollipop version)

Enter text message into the Edit text box.

Click "Share" button.

It will show some shareable applications.

Let's choose to share on the messages application.

This will open the message application, and it shows my sharing content. Now, choose contact number to share the message.

Once more, I want to share the content to another app. I have selected the Gmail application, then clicked JUST ONCE.

Here also, our shareable content is shown in the mail body. Give the recipient's id and share the data.

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