Preventing the HOME button to close activity

Question

I am currently using a custom AlertDialog which has a Theme.Dialog theme in a Activity that requires users to type the current password to proceed.

According to Android - Is It possible to disable the click of home button i have tried most of the methods but it doesn't work.

Activity - onCreate

      SharedPreferences sp = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(PhysicalTheftDialog.this);

        boolean isServerRunning = sp.getBoolean("isServerRunning", false);
            if (isServerRunning == false) {
                startService(new Intent(PhysicalTheftDialog.this, MyService.class));

            }
            else {
                sp.getBoolean("isServerRunning", true);
            }

Service

    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
/*      //Toast.makeText(this, "My Service Created", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
        Log.d(TAG, "onCreate");

        player = MediaPlayer.create(this, R.raw.braincandy);
        player.setOnPreparedListener(this);
        try {
            player.prepareAsync();

        } catch (Exception e) {
            Log.e(TAG, "", e);
        }
        player.setLooping(true); // Set looping*/
        this.context = getApplicationContext();
        //Toast.makeText(this, "My Service Created", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
        SharedPreferences sp = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(this);
        boolean isServerRunning = sp.getBoolean("isServerRunning", true);

        while (!isServerRunning) {
            // THAT CODE: check if activity is on the top
            Handler handler = new Handler(); 

            handler.postDelayed(new Runnable() { 
                 public void run() { 

                        // get a list of running processes and iterate through them
                        ActivityManager activityManager = (ActivityManager)context.getSystemService(Activity.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);

                        // get the info from the currently running task
                        List<ActivityManager.RunningTaskInfo> taskInfo = activityManager.getRunningTasks(1);
                        ComponentName componentInfo = taskInfo.get(0).topActivity;

                        // if top activity is not "MyActivity" activity, then launch it
                        if("nyp.android.project".equals(componentInfo.getClassName()) == false) {
                            Intent intent = new Intent(MyService.this, PhysicalTheftDialog.class);
                            intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
                            startActivity(intent);
}
                 } 
            }, 2000); 

            boolean serviceStatus = sp.getBoolean("isServerRunning", false);
        }
    }

Logcat

E/AndroidRuntime( 9799): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
E/AndroidRuntime( 9799): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start service nyp.android.project.MyService@41b29ff0 with Intent { cmp=xxxx }: java.lang.NullPointerException
E/AndroidRuntime( 9799):    at android.app.ActivityThread.handleServiceArgs(ActivityThread.java:2387)
E/AndroidRuntime( 9799):    at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1900(ActivityThread.java:127)
E/AndroidRuntime( 9799):    at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1221)
E/AndroidRuntime( 9799):    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
E/AndroidRuntime( 9799):    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137)
E/AndroidRuntime( 9799):    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4511)
E/AndroidRuntime( 9799):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
E/AndroidRuntime( 9799):    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:511)
E/AndroidRuntime( 9799):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:980)
E/AndroidRuntime( 9799):    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:747)
E/AndroidRuntime( 9799):    at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
E/AndroidRuntime( 9799): Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
E/AndroidRuntime( 9799):    at nyp.android.project.MyService.onStart(MyService.java:95)
E/AndroidRuntime( 9799):    at android.app.Service.onStartCommand(Service.java:438)
E/AndroidRuntime( 9799):    at android.app.ActivityThread.handleServiceArgs(ActivityThread.java:2370)
E/AndroidRuntime( 9799):    ... 10 more

Answer 1

Try overiding the onPause() method so that the activity will not stop when the home button press calls it

Answer 2

McAfee Wave Secure did it in the following way: they run a background service that checks every couple seconds if your screen is active. If not Service relaunch your activity or bring it to the front (make it active). In onPause you can save input data to reload it when activity restarted.

My example:

// get a list of running processes and iterate through them
ActivityManager activityManager = (ActivityManager)_context
        .getSystemService(Activity.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);

// get the info from the currently running task
List<ActivityManager.RunningTaskInfo> taskInfo = activityManager.getRunningTasks(1);
ComponentName componentInfo = taskInfo.get(0).topActivity;

// if top activity is not "MyActivity" activity, then launch it
if(componentInfo.getClassName().equals("com.namespace.MyActivity") == false) {
    Intent intent = new Intent(context, MyActivity.class);
    intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
    context.startActivity(intent);
}

I do "FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK" because I`ve been gotten many instances of the same activity. Maybe there is a way just to make it active.

Example "PSEUDO"

{
    Activity:
    preference isServerRunning = getPreference("isServerRunning");
    if (serviceIsRunning == false) {
        runService();
    }
    // othervise, service is running and will do the job
    Onclick.UserLogged() {
        setPreference("isUserLoged", true);
    }

    Service:
    while (!userIsLogged) {
        // THAT CODE: check if activity is on the top

        sleepFor2seconds();
        userIsLogger = getPreference("isUserLogged");
    }

}

Answer 3

Try to override the method onKeyDown of your Activity class where u want to disable HOME button. In this method check if the user has pressed the HOME button.