Where do widgets declare themselves?

Question

I downloaded project "Contacts" from Google's git: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/apps/Contacts/+/refs/heads/master to look at how widgets were there implemented, but I can't find declaration of them in AndroidManifest.xml, as it should be according to wiki:

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I also can't find .xml file that should contain <appwidget-provider, according to wiki:

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But widgets in the app are present:

So how Google inits widgets now?

Answer 1

Found it. They appear as widgets but in reality they are activity-aliases with android.intent.action.CREATE_SHORTCUT intent-filter:

<activity-alias
    android:name="ContactShortcut"
    android:icon="@drawable/logo_quick_contacts_color_44in48dp"
    android:label="@string/shortcutContact"
    android:exported="true"
    android:targetActivity=".activities.ContactSelectionActivity">
    <intent-filter>
         <action android:name="android.intent.action.CREATE_SHORTCUT"/>
         <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/>
    </intent-filter>
</activity-alias>
    
<activity-alias
    android:name="alias.DialShortcut"
    android:icon="@drawable/logo_quick_contacts_dialer_color_44in48dp"
    android:label="@string/shortcutDialContact"
    android:exported="true"
    android:targetActivity=".activities.ContactSelectionActivity">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.CREATE_SHORTCUT"/>
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/>
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.CAR_MODE"/>
    </intent-filter>
</activity-alias>
    
<activity-alias
    android:name="alias.MessageShortcut"
    android:icon="@drawable/logo_quick_contacts_mail_color_44in48dp"
    android:label="@string/shortcutMessageContact"
    android:exported="true"
    android:targetActivity=".activities.ContactSelectionActivity">
    <intent-filter>
       <action android:name="android.intent.action.CREATE_SHORTCUT"/>
       <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/>
    </intent-filter>
</activity-alias>

In the end all these activities call setResult() with an intent that contains in its extras name, icon and intent of future shortcut:

Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_ICON,   bitmap);
intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_INTENT, shortcutIntent);
intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SHORTCUT_NAME,   shortcutName);
setResult(RESULT_OK, intent);
finish();

And then Launcher receives it in onActivityResult and creates an app-shortcut (not widget) on desktop.