Invoking Android dialer application in background?

Question

My professor has given me the following assignment:

The screen should look as follows from top to bottom:

• A top bar showing in the center the called phone number
• A bar showing in the center the string "Calling..." while the destination phone number is being called. When the recipient replies, this message should disappear and a timer should appear in its place showing minutes and seconds. The time should tick by seconds. The timer should be formatted as MM:SS where MM are the minutes while SS are the seconds. When the call ends, a brief message "Call ended" should appear in this bar before the call is terminated.
• A button labeled "End Call". When this button is pushed, the call is terminated. This button can be tapped at any time during the phone conversation.

OK, so those are the software specification requirements. Obviously, because this is a school project I don't want the answer provided. What I do want to know, is how should I go about tackling this problem in terms of starting a phone call and moving to my own custom activity? If I create an Intent, won't it invoke the dialer application? Is there a way to put the dialer application in the background and stay on my activity?

Also, I thought it wasn't possible to manually end an Android phone call with the exception of the built in dialer?

Answer 1

If I create an Intent, won't it invoke the dialer application?

There are different Intents for dialing the phone and calling a phone number. The former brings up the dialer. The latter brings up the in-call screen.

Is there a way to put the dialer application in the background and stay on my activity?

AFAIK, there is no way to do this that is officially supported. There are a variety of hacks for this.

I thought it wasn't possible to manually end an Android phone call with the exception of the built in dialer?

Same thing -- AFAIK there is no way that is officially supported, but there is at least one hack for this, but it uses techniques (reflection to get at non-SDK classes) that is so not a good idea.

Now, if this happens to be an Android firmware course, the story presumably changes. Given the nature of your question, though, I'm assuming that this is a course on building apps with the SDK, in which case while it's certainly possible to do what your professor wants, and there are apps on the Market that do it, it's not exactly what I'd call a stellar example of professional Android application development.