title: How to grab text in which a user input in Java Android Development
body: <p>So i'm making this android application using Eclipse and I have created a text field where the user can input a message and send it, the application then shows the user the text they input, how would I allow them to share this message? Here's the code;</p>
  
  <p>MainActivity.java:</p>
  
  <pre><code>package com.example.myfirstapp;
  
  import android.app.Activity;
  import android.content.Intent;
  import android.os.Bundle;
  import android.view.Menu;
  import android.view.View;
  import android.widget.EditText;
  
  public class MainActivity extends Activity {
  public final static String EXTRA_MESSAGE = "com.example.myfirstapp.MESSAGE";
  
  
  @Override
  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
      super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
      setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
  }
  
  
  @Override
  public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
      // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
      getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
      return true;
  }
  /**called when user clicks the send button */
  public void sendMessage (View view) {
      //do something
      Intent intent = new Intent(this, DisplayMessageActivity.class);
      EditText editText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.edit_message);
      String message = editText.getText().toString();
      intent.putExtra(EXTRA_MESSAGE, message);
      startActivity(intent);
  }
  public void shareMessage (View view){
      Intent sendIntent = new Intent();
      sendIntent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
      sendIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, "This is my text to send.");
      sendIntent.setType("text/plain");
      startActivity(sendIntent);
  }
  
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>activity_main.xml: </p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?&gt;
  &lt;LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
  android:layout_width="match_parent"
  android:layout_height="match_parent"
  android:orientation="horizontal"&gt;
  &lt;EditText android:id="@+id/edit_message"
      android:layout_weight="1"
      android:layout_width="0dp"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:hint="@string/edit_message" /&gt;
  &lt;Button
      android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:text="@string/button_send"
      android:onClick="sendMessage" /&gt;
      &lt;Button
      android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content"
      android:text="@string/button_share"
      android:onClick="shareMessage" /&gt;
   &lt;/LinearLayout&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Oh and yes, I am very inexperienced with this type of stuff, I've just started learning about it today. Thanks for any help!</p>