12.2. Using Content Providers Through Widgets

As mentioned before, content providers make the most sense when you want to expose the data to other applications. It is a good practice to always think of your application as part of a larger Android ecosystem and, as such, a potential provider of useful data to other applications.

To demonstrate how content providers can be useful, we’ll create a Home screen widget. We’re not using the term widget here as a synonym for Android’s View class, but as a useful embedded service offered by the Home screen.