Receiving Intent EXTRA_MESSAGE from Another Application

Receiving Intent EXTRA_MESSAGE from Another Application

In my Eclipse workspace I have my main application: A and I have another
fully functional application: B
I have configured appliction A to open up application B upon the click of
a button by using an Intent and it works.
Here is the issue:
In application B I need to receive the EXTRA_MESSAGE. However, I am unable
to access the info because application B does not recognize application A:
String message = intent.getStringExtra(MainActivity.EXTRA_MESSAGE_DESC);
states that "MainActivity" cannot be resolved to a variable.
*addendum: I am working on the actual code of application B, as opening
the class reference in application A gives me a uneditable display.
It seems that I would need to alter the manifest of application B, and add
application A in the build path of B... this seems messy and not
reusablely friendly.
Thank you for any help