View data

android.intent.action.VIEW

Display the specified data to the user.

An activity implementing this action will display to the user the given data. It is not intended for the user to edit it, though an implementation can allow that to be done as a secondary part of its UI if desired (as it can provide any other optional features in its UI for the user).

This is the most common action performed on data – it is the generic action you can use on a piece of data to get the most reasonable thing to occur. For example, when used on a contacts entry it will view the entry; when used on a mailto: URI it will bring up a compose window filled with the information supplied by the URI; when used with a tel: URI it will invoke the dialer.

See related web site

Use

public void startViewData() {
    Intent intent = new Intent("android.intent.action.VIEW"); 
    intent.setData(dataUri); // Uri of the data to be displayed 
    if (intent.resolveActivity(getPackageManager()) != null) { 
        startActivity(intent);
    }
}

Example intent filter

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

Apps Providing an Implementation

Search on Github

Search on Google Play, AppBrain, Amazon App store or similar (not yet available - please make this happen!)

For Specification Writers

Edit on Github

2023-02-16