How to launch another Android app using cocos2d-x? - android-ndk

Question

I'm making a game with cocos2d-x for Android using C++. Now I'm looking for a way to open another Android App (likes YouTube, Google Play Store, ...) using their package name from inside my game through a button . I have searched around and found that it could be done in Java code with something like this:
Intent launchIntent = getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage("com.package.address");
if (launchIntent != null) {
startActivity(launchIntent);//null pointer check in case package name was not found
}
My question is: Is it possible to open another Android App in my native code (.cpp files) or I have to put them in java side (.java files)? If I have to do it in .java files, where should I put it? I always work with .cpp files in Visual Studio, compile with cmd and run with emulator on Android Studio, I have never worked with .java files that generated by cocos2d-x in Android Studio, the engine just makes everything ready for me so I got a little confused here.
Update 1:
Abhishek Aryan's advice works but my Game crashed on resume when I'm in another App. I'm trying to performs some actions before opening others app and they might cause the crash because I could run it without any problem if I remove those action and leave openApp function alone.
My expect: Press the button => pause my game and open You Tube on Android => Press Back Button => pause You Tube and resume my game.
What happens: I could open You Tube but my App crashed when I press back button. I got the following error code from Android Studio:
A/libc: Fatal signal 11 (SIGSEGV) at 0x0004fb18 (code=1), thread 1975 (Thread-55)
Any idea how could I fix it?
My code :
auto imageOpeningAction = CallFunc::create([&]() {
mOpeningImage->setEnabled(true);
mOpeningImage->setOpacity(255);
mOpeningImage->setPosition(menuItem->getPosition());
mOpeningImage->runAction(fullScale);
});
auto imageClosingAction = CallFunc::create([&]() {
mOpeningImage->runAction(reverseScale);
mOpeningImage->setOpacity(0);
mOpeningImage->setEnabled(false);
});
auto openAnotherApp = CallFunc::create([&]() { // Open YouTube app
HelloWorld::openApp(packageName);
});
runAction(Sequence::create(imageOpeningAction->clone(), DelayTime::create(0.5f), openAnotherApp->clone(), nullptr));
Your attention and help is very much appreciated.

Answer 1

You need to use JNI for your requirement.
Create a method that open any app in your AppActivity.
public class AppActivity extends Cocos2dxActivity {
private static Activity activity;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
activity=this;
}
public static void openOtherApp(String packageName){
Intent launchIntent = activity.getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage(packageName);
if (launchIntent != null) {
activity.startActivity(launchIntent);
}
}
}
Done !
Not yet, now only I need to call openOtherApp method from c++ so I create a method in my .cpp file.
#if (CC_TARGET_PLATFORM == CC_PLATFORM_ANDROID)
#include "platform/android/jni/JniHelper.h"
#endif
void openApp(std::string packageName){
#if(CC_TARGET_PLATFORM==CC_PLATFORM_ANDROID)
JniMethodInfo methodInfo;
const char* class_name="org/cocos2dx/cpp/AppActivity";
const char* method_name="openOtherApp";
const char* parameter= "(Ljava/lang/String;)V";
if (! cocos2d::JniHelper::getStaticMethodInfo(methodInfo, class_name, method_name ,parameter )) {
return;
}
jstring jStringParam = methodInfo.env->NewStringUTF(packageName.c_str());
methodInfo.env->CallStaticVoidMethod(methodInfo.classID, methodInfo.methodID,jStringParam);
methodInfo.env->DeleteLocalRef(methodInfo.classID);
#endif
}
Want to open facebook call openApp(com.facebook.katana);