java - How do I intercept button presses on the headset in Android?

Question

I studied the ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON intent and Im trying to use it and intercept the button presses and present them on screen using a toast. I registered the receiver to intercept two intents:

1. ACTION_HEADSET_PLUG - plugging the headset

2. ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON - receiving the button presses

This is done in my main activity:

        IntentFilter mediaFilter = new IntentFilter(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON);
        mediaFilter.setPriority(10000);
        registerReceiver(_receiver, new IntentFilter(Intent.ACTION_HEADSET_PLUG));
        registerReceiver(_receiver, mediaFilter);

This is the part of the receiver that handles the button presses:

    if (action.equals(Intent.ACTION_HEADSET_PLUG))
    {
        Toast.makeText(context, "earphones activity",Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        if (intent.getExtras().getInt("state")==1)//if plugged
            Toast.makeText(context, "earphones plugged",Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
        else Toast.makeText(context, "earphones un-plugged",Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
    }
    else 
    if (action.equals(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON))
    {
        Toast.makeText(context, "button pressed",Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
        key=intent.getExtras().getString("EXTRA_KEY_EVENT");
        Toast.makeText(context, key,Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
    }

Now the part that handles the headset plug-in and removal works fine, but the part that intercept the button press isn't.

Is there any reason the code that handles the ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON doesn't work?

Is there a special permission I need to intercept such an intent?

I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S2 to test the code.

I've looked at all the similar posts and tried everything. Unfortunately nothing seems to work.

Answer 1

I recently developed an application which responded to the media button. I tested it in the Samsung Galaxy S II, and it worked.

First, in your AndroidManifest.xml, inside the <application> area, place the following:

<!-- Broadcast Receivers -->
<receiver android:name="net.work.box.controller.receivers.RemoteControlReceiver" >
    <intent-filter android:priority="1000000000000000" >
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.MEDIA_BUTTON" />
    </intent-filter>
</receiver>

Then, create a BroadcastReceiver in a different file:

public class RemoteControlReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {

    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        if (Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON.equals(intent.getAction()) {
            KeyEvent event = (KeyEvent) intent .getParcelableExtra(Intent.EXTRA_KEY_EVENT);

            if (event == null) {
                return;
            }

            if (event.getAction() == KeyEvent.ACTION_DOWN) {
                context.sendBroadcast(new Intent(Intents.ACTION_PLAYER_PAUSE));
            }
        }
    }

}

This is probably not the best solution out there (specially the hard coded android:priority above). However, it tried a couple of other techniques and none of them seemed to work. So I have to resort to this one... I hope I helped.