How do i override the Live TV player being the default handler of an Intent set to the action ACTION_VIEW?

Question

I am trying to follow along here. I have just starting learning to work with channels on GoogleTV.

https://developers.google.com/tv/android/docs/gtv_channelchanging

This doc says...

*Any Google TV Android application can change the TV channel programmatically. To do this, the app calls startActivity() with an Android Intent object set to the action ACTION_VIEW. Any Google TV Android application can change the TV channel programmatically...Notice that this Intent does not specify a component name, By default, this Intent is handled by the Live TV player, which is part of the Google TV platform. If you want, you can declare an intent filter for this Intent in your Google TV application's manifest (AndroidManifest.xml). You can then offer your application as an alternative for handling the Intent.*

I am trying to do this. I want to intercept the channel change when the user types the channel (a number) into their gtv remote, do something with that channel number data, and then let the Live Player change the channel. I was hoping that an activity that was set with an intent-filter action of ACTION_VIEW would catch the channel change when the user types into the remote.

<activity android:name="com.xxx.ActionViewActivity">
   <intent-filter>
      <action android:name="android.intent.action.ACTION_VIEW" />
      <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
   </intent-filter>
</activity>

Then, the ActionViewActivity.java:

public class ActionViewActivity extends Activity 
{
    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) 
    {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
        Intent intent = getIntent();
        Log.i(getClass().getName(), intent.getAction());
    }
}

It never makes it to the onCreate method. What am i missing here?

Answer 1

Try: android.intent.action.VIEW

Answer 2

This worked for me:

<intent-filter>
  <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
  <data android:scheme="tv" />
  <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
</intent-filter>

No special permissions were required.

However, this only handles the case when the channel changing API is invoked. It does not handle the cases when the user presses the channel up/down buttons or enters a channel number when the TV is active. The Google TV Remote app does not use the channel changing API, it just passes the key codes to Google TV. The Able Remote app does use the channel changing API for its favorite channels feature.

If you add this intent filter to your app, the user will be prompted onscreen whether your app or the TV app should be used to do the action. If the user selects your app, you will get the following intent:

Intent { act=android.intent.action.VIEW dat=tv://channel?deviceId=Logitech01&channelNumber=756 flg=0x13c00000 cmp=com.x.x./.xActivity }

Answer 3

You need the scheme (protocol). Try:

<intent-filter>
  <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
  <data android:scheme="tv" />
  ...