Redirection Rules

Generally, UI redirection within an application is triggered by users. However, an application can call startAbility() to implement UI redirection.

The PageAbility has a UI. It can use startAbility() to start an ability that has a UI and is visible to users.

The exported field under abilities in the config.json file specifies whether an ability can be started by other application components.

Table 1 Description of exported

Name	Description	Initial Value Allowed
exported	Whether the ability can be called by other applications. true: The ability can be called by any application. false: The ability can be called only by other components of the same application.	Yes (initial value: false)

To enable an ability to be called by any application, configure the config.json file as follows:

{
  "module": {
    // ...
    "abilities": [
      {
        "exported": "true",
        // ...
      }
    ]
  }
}

If the ability contains skills, you are advised to set exported to true so that the ability can be implicitly started by other applications. If this attribute is set to false, the system returns PERMISSION_DENIED when other applications attempt to start the ability. In this case, a system application can request the START_INVISIBLE_ABILITY permission to start the ability. Example abilities with exported set to false are home screen, voice assistant, or search assistant.