Google Play Activity
The Google Play activity is used to create an item on the dashboard that points to an application, or list of applications on Google Play. This allows you to do things such as provide easy access to a paid version of your app, or show other apps you've created.
Adding a Google Play Activity
To add a Google Play activity to your project: start editing your project and go to the Activities tab. Under 'Your App Activities' click the + Add an Activity button and select Google Play from the list.
Now let's take a look at the Google Play Activity settings.
Settings
Activity Name
The name that you want to give your activity. This will appear on the dashboard and navigation drawer. It can be whatever you want but should probably describe what it is used for. For our example "My Other Apps".
Subtitle
A few words describing this activity. This subtitle text may be displayed on the dashboard if the dashboard's item style supports it.
Description
A longer paragraph describing this activity. This description text may be displayed on the dashboard if the dashboard's item style supports it.
Position
This is a relative index that controls the order of the activities in your application. The position will effect where your activity is displayed on the dashboard and navigation drawer. For more information on this setting please read: How to change the order of the icons on the dashboard.
Build this activity (include it in the app)
Whether or not this activity will be included in the app. This may be useful if you're creating different versions of your app that you want to contain different content.
Hide this activity (don't list it on any dashboards or navigation drawer)
When selected, this activity won't show on the dashboard or the navigation drawer. You can still access this activity from an HTML-based activity using its Activity URL. For more information, refer to the topic Linking to Another Activity.
Theme
The Theme setting allows you to inherit theme settings from the global theme, parent theme, or override the theme settings for the activity. See the Activity Theme topic for descriptions of these settings.
Images
The Images section allows you to provide the images that will be used to represent it on it's parent dashboard and navigation drawer. See the Activity Images topic for descriptions of these settings.
Toolbar
This activity type does not contain a user interface therefore these Toolbar settings do not apply. See the Activity Toolbar topic for descriptions of these settings.
Details
Google Play URL
The URL of a specific application, or a search query you want to perform in Google Play. See the Examples section below for samples of its usage.
Activity URL
The unique reference URL for this activity that can be used for linking to it. For an example of its usage, refer to the topic Linking to Another Activity.
Examples
Linking to Specific Apps - Links to specific apps have the following form, where <package_name> is the package name of that specific app:
http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=<package_name>
As an example, a real application would look like the following, where the package name is 'com.andromo.dev6.app23495':
http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andromo.dev6.app23495
Showing all of your Apps - To show all of your apps, you would provide a search using your Google Play 'publisher name'. This type of link has the following form, where <publisher_name> is your publisher's name in Google Play. The publisher name of apps is usually shown below the app name in Google Play:
http://play.google.com/store/search?q=pub:<publisher_name>
Using a General Search Query - If you want to create a link that uses a general search query in Google Play, the link should have the following form, where <query> is the search query you want to perform:
http://play.google.com/store/search?q=<query>
For example, you could provide a search for any apps that contain the keyword 'hockey' using the following:
http://play.google.com/store/search?q=hockey