# How to Extend the MeetingActivity

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_Last verified on SDK Version: 5.4.613_

When you see the default Zoom meeting UI within your Android SDK app, it
means that the SDK has launched its own **MeetingActivity**. Unless you
have created a custom UI, this Activity will always be present in the
SDK's back stack for as long as you are connected to the meeting.

While the default UI is powerful and maintains feature parity with the
Zoom client, there may be some additional desired functionality which
requires 'behind the scenes' interaction programmatically, but isn't
quite heavyweight enough to warrant building out an entirely customized
meeting UI. In this case, extending the MeetingActivity is a great
option with significantly less technical overhead than building a
meeting UI from scratch would require.

## Prerequisites

-   Android Studio
-   An Android device or emulator running API 21+
-   An Android app capable of joining or starting a Zoom meeting through
    the Zoom Android Meeting SDK

## Define an Activity

To get started, we are first going to need to define an Activity which
extends the **MeetingActivity** class. You can use Android Studio's
built-in Activity generation tools, but be sure to **avoid applying your
own layout to the activity**. The SDK already has a robust meeting UI
built into it. If you would like to create your own meeting UI, please
use the [custom UI feature](/docs/meeting-sdk/msdk-uis/).

Kotlin:

```
class MyMeetingActivity : MeetingActivity() {
```

Java:

```java
public class MyMeetingActivity extends MeetingActivity {
```

Optionally, you may also choose to implement Activity lifecycle
callbacks, such as **onCreate** and **onDestroy**.

Kotlin:

```
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
    Toast.makeText(this, 'MeetingActivity onCreate', Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
}

override fun onDestroy() {
    super.onDestroy()
    Toast.makeText(this, 'MeetingActivity onDestroy', Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
}
```

Java:

```java
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    Toast.makeText(this, 'MeetingActivity onCreate', Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}

@Override
protected void onDestroy() {
    super.onDestroy();
    Toast.makeText(this, 'MeetingActivity onDestroy', Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
```

## Assign a Config Value

After creating your Activity, you will need a way of making the SDK
aware of which Activity to use instead of the base MeetingActivity
instance. To do this, simply navigate to your **AndroidManifest.xml**
file and locate the **activity** element associated with the Activity
you created in the previous step of this guide. It should look something
like this:

```java
<activity
    android:name='com.mypackage.projectname.MyMeetingActivity' />
```

Add a **theme** attribute to this element
of **@style/ZMTheme.SubWindow**. You should also enable hardware
acceleration. Your element should now look something like this:

```java
<activity
    android:name='com.mypackage.projectname.MyMeetingActivity'
    android:theme='@style/ZMTheme.SubWindow'
    android:hardwareAccelerated='true' />
```

Next, navigate to your app's **config.xml **file. If you do not already
have one in your project, you can create one by adding it to
the **res/values** directory in your project by right-clicking and
selecting **New -> Values Resource File **and entering **config.xml** as
the name. Once the file is created, you will need to make note of
the **fully qualified name of your Activity**. This will probably look
something like **com.mypackage.projectname.MyMeetingActivity**.

Now within the **resources** element, create a new **string** element
with a **name **attribute of **zm_config_conf_activity**. The value
of this element should be set to the Activity name we mentioned above.

```java
<resources>
    <string name='zm_config_conf_activity'>com.mypackage.projectname.MyMeetingActivity</string>
</resources>
```

## Verification

Now that you have setup the Activity and designated it as the meeting
Activity through your **config.xml**, you are ready to test this out!
Join or start a Zoom meeting and the Activity you created earlier should
start up. If you have added any logs/toasts/snackbars/etc. to the
onCreate method of your Activity, they should be triggered as soon as
the meeting UI is visible.