Develop Reference

Run task periodically, *even when device is in idle*

I'm writing an app which should collect some sensor data every 10 seconds or so and write them to disk.
So far, I have an Activity which starts a service. The service has a runnable, which uses a handler to run my task periodically via handler.postDelayed(). See below for the (shortened) code.
So far, this works fine as long as the device is active. As soon as the device goes into idle, it doesn't run my task until it wakes up again.
So, my question is how to run my task ALWAYS.
With setExactAndAllowWhileIdle(), the AlarmManager seems to offer exactly what I need, but...
To reduce abuse, there are restrictions on how frequently these alarms will go off for a particular application. Under normal system operation, it will not dispatch these alarms more than about every minute (at which point every such pending alarm is dispatched); when in low-power idle modes this duration may be significantly longer, such as 15 minutes.
Battery life has just a minor priority, though not being awake the entire time would be fine. (Not sure if android can be awake for just a second or so)
MyActivity
...
public void onStartService(View view) {
Intent i= new Intent(getBaseContext(), MyAppService.class);
getBaseContext().startService(i);
}
public void onStopService(View view) {
stopService(new Intent(getBaseContext(), MyAppService.class));
}
....
MyService
public class MyAppService extends Service {
MyRunnable mr;
#Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
mr= new MyRunnable(getApplicationContext() );
mr.Start();
return Service.START_NOT_STICKY;
}
#Override
public void onDestroy() {
super.onDestroy();
mr.Stop();
}
#Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
// TODO: Return the communication channel to the service.
throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Not yet implemented");
}
}
MyRunnable
public class MyRunnable implements Runnable{
// context is needed for sensorListener (?)
private Context myContext;
private Handler handler;
public MyRunnable(Context c){
myContext=c;
handler= new Handler();
}
public void Start(){
run();
}
public void Stop(){
handler.removeCallbacks(this);
// some clean-up
}
#Override
public void run() {
//acquire and write to file some sensor data
handler.postDelayed(this, 10000);
}
}

i think what you are looking for is STICKY SERVICE.
Officail Docs: If the system kills the service after onStartCommand() returns, recreate the service and call onStartCommand(), but do not redeliver the last intent. Instead, the system calls onStartCommand() with a null intent, unless there were pending intents to start the service, in which case, those intents are delivered. This is suitable for media players (or similar services) that are not executing commands, but running indefinitely and waiting for a job.
you just need to pass a flag at the time of calling the service.

Start a Service from another Service and pass-by-value

I've got a Service in my Android application. During onStartCommand, I pass the Service object to another class. Then, from there, there's a thread that after 30 seconds starts another Service. It is something like this:
public class FooService extends Service {
#Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
return null;
}
#Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
MyClass mc = new MyClass(this);
mc.testMethod();
stopSelf();
return START_NOT_STICKY;
}
}
And this is MyClass:
public class MyClass {
private Service service;
public MyClass(Service service) {
this.service = service;
}
public void testMethod() {
new Thread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
Thread.sleep(20*1000);
Intent intent = new Intent(service, BarService.class);
service.startService(intent);
}
catch (Exception e) {
// CATCH!
}
}
}).start();
}
}
Now, as you can see, in FooService I call stopSelf() wich destroys that Service object. By the way MyClass has got a copy of that Service that was passed by value. After 20 seconds, we can start BarService from MyClass. I've tested it and it works but I can't understand why! The way I wrote the code is dirty (for me). Is it correct to start another service from one that was destroyed? Thank you for your help.

I've tested it and it works but I can't understand why
It works today on the environments you tested in. It may not work in all environments (e.g., ROM mods) and may not work tomorrow (e.g., Android OS updates). A destroyed Context, such as your stopped service, should not be used for anything. It happens that presently you can still use it to call startService() later, but that behavior is not guaranteed.
Is it correct to start another service from one that was destroyed?
No. In this case, I fail to see why you need two services in the first place.
I've got a copy of that service
No, you do not.

Android - Periodic Background Service - Advice

I am working on an app that will relay information about its location to a remote server. I am intending to do it by doing a simple HTTP post to the web-server and all is simple and fine.
But according to the spec, the app needs to execute itself from time to time, lets say once in every 30 mins. Be independent of the interface, meaning which it needs to run even if the app is closed.
I looked around and found out that Android Services is what needs to be used. What could I use to implement such a system. Will the service (or other mechanism) restart when the phone restarts?
Thanks in advance.

Create a Service to send your information to your server. Presumably, you've got that under control.
Your Service should be started by an alarm triggered by the AlarmManager, where you can specify an interval. Unless you have to report your data exactly every 30 minutes, you probably want the inexact alarm so you can save some battery life.
Finally, you can register your app to get the bootup broadcast by setting up a BroadcastReceiver like so:
public class BootReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
if (intent.getAction().equals(Intent.ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED)) {
// Register your reporting alarms here.
}
}
}
You'll need to add the following permission to your AndroidManifest.xml for that to work. Don't forget to register your alarms when you run the app normally, or they'll only be registered when the device boots up.
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED"/>

Here is a semi-different way to keep the service going forever. There is ways to kill it in code if you'd wish
Background Service:
package com.ex.ample;
import android.app.Service;
import android.content.*;
import android.os.*;
import android.widget.Toast;
public class BackgroundService extends Service {
public Context context = this;
public Handler handler = null;
public static Runnable runnable = null;
#Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
return null;
}
#Override
public void onCreate() {
Toast.makeText(this, "Service created!", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
handler = new Handler();
runnable = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
Toast.makeText(context, "Service is still running", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
handler.postDelayed(runnable, 10000);
}
};
handler.postDelayed(runnable, 15000);
}
#Override
public void onDestroy() {
/* IF YOU WANT THIS SERVICE KILLED WITH THE APP THEN UNCOMMENT THE FOLLOWING LINE */
//handler.removeCallbacks(runnable);
Toast.makeText(this, "Service stopped", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
#Override
public void onStart(Intent intent, int startid) {
Toast.makeText(this, "Service started by user.", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
}
Here is how you start it from your main activity or wherever you wish:
startService(new Intent(this, BackgroundService.class));
onDestroy() will get called when the application gets closed or killed but the runnable just starts it right back up.
I hope this helps someone out.
The reason why some people do this is because of corporate applications where in some instances the users/employees must not be able to stop certain things :)
http://i.imgur.com/1vCnYJW.png
EDIT
Since Android O (8.0) you have to use JobManager for scheduled tasks. There is a library called Android-Job by Evernote which will make periodic background work a breeze on all Android versions. I have also made a Xamarin Binding of this library.
Then all you need to do is the following:
In your application class:
public class MyApp extends Application {
#Override
public void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();
JobManager.create(this).addJobCreator(new MyJobCreator());
}
}
Create the following two classes YourJobCreator and YourSyncJob(Where all the work will be done. Android allocates time for all the background jobs to be run. For android versions < 8.0 it will still run with an Alarm manager and background service as per normal)
public class MyJobCreator implements JobCreator {
#Override
#Nullable
public Job create(#NonNull String tag) {
switch (tag) {
case MySyncJob.TAG:
return new MySyncJob();
default:
return null;
}
}
}
public class MySyncJob extends Job {
public static final String TAG = "my_job_tag";
#Override
#NonNull
protected Result onRunJob(Params params) {
//
// run your job here
//
//
return Result.SUCCESS;
}
public static void scheduleJob() {
new JobRequest.Builder(MySyncJob.TAG)
.setExecutionWindow(30_000L, 40_000L) //Every 30 seconds for 40 seconds
.build()
.schedule();
}
}

You should schedule your service with alarm manager, first create the pending intent of service:
Intent ii = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), MyService.class);
PendingIntent pii = PendingIntent.getService(getApplicationContext(), 2222, ii,
PendingIntent.FLAG_CANCEL_CURRENT);
Then schedule it using alarm manager:
//getting current time and add 5 seconds to it
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
cal.add(Calendar.SECOND, 5);
//registering our pending intent with alarmmanager
AlarmManager am = (AlarmManager) getSystemService(ALARM_SERVICE);
am.set(AlarmManager.RTC_WAKEUP,cal.getTimeInMillis(), pi);
this will launch your service after 5 seconds of current time. You can make your alarm repeating.

You can use Alarm Manager to start Service at specified time and then repeat alarm in specified interval. When alarm goes on you can start service and connect to server and make what you want

How do I cancel all pending intents that are qued for intent Service

I have an intentservice that gets qued by the user and by my app automatically. I need to be able to kill all pending intents that are qued when the user logs out of my application, but I cannot seem to get that to work. I have tried stopService() and stopself(), but the intents continue to fire off the intentservice after the user has logged out. I would try to get the id of the intent but that is difficult as everytime the intentservice starts, the variable holding the intent id's is empty. Here is my intentservice code:
public class MainUploadIntentService extends IntentService {
private final String TAG = "MAINUPLOADINTSER";
private GMLHandsetApplication app = null;
private SimpleDateFormat sdf = null;
public boolean recStops = true;
public MainUploadIntentService() {
super("Main Upload Intent Service");
GMLHandsetApplication.writeToLogs(TAG,
"GMLMainUploadIntentService Constructor");
}
#Override
protected void onHandleIntent(Intent intent) {
GMLHandsetApplication.writeToLogs(TAG, "onHandleIntent Started");
if (app == null) {
app = (GMLHandsetApplication) getApplication();
}
uploadData(app);
GMLHandsetApplication.writeToLogs(TAG, "onHandleIntent Finished");
}
#Override
public void onDestroy() {
GMLHandsetApplication.writeToLogs(TAG, "onDestroy Started");
app = null;
stopSelf();
GMLHandsetApplication.writeToLogs(TAG, "onDestroy completed");
}
public void uploadData(GMLHandsetApplication appl) {
//All of my code that needs to be ran
}

Unfortunately, I don't think it's possible to accomplish that with the standard IntentService methods since it doesn't offer a way to interrupt it while it's already going.
There are a few options I can think of that you can try to see if they fit your need.
Copy the IntentService code to make your own modifications to it that would allow you to remove pending messages. Looks like someone had some success with that here: Android: intentservice, how abort or skip a task in the handleintent queue
Instead of copying all the IntentService code, you might also be able to Bind to it like a normal Service (since IntentService extends Service) so you can write your own function to remove pending messages. This one is also mentioned in that link.
Rewrite the IntentService as a regular Service instead. With this option, you'd have more control over adding and removing messages.
I had what sounds like a similar situation where I was using an IntentService, and I eventually just converted it to a Service instead. That let me run the tasks concurrently and also cancel them when I needed to clear them.

Here
When should I free the native (Android NDK) handles? is the HangAroundIntentService class that has the method cancelQueue().
The class also has the method
public static Intent markedAsCancelIntent(Intent intent)
that converts an intent into a cancel intent, and
public static boolean isCancelIntent(Intent intent).
The class is based on the open-sourced Google's code.

Just a thought but inside of your onhandleintent can you have an argument that checks to see if app is running if not then don't run the code? example. In the start of your app you could have a static var
boolean appRunning;
Next in your onhandle of the intent, when you set the appRunning to false, after an onPause or onDestroy of activity, you could wrap the onhandleintent code in a boolean:
protected void onHandleIntent(final Intent intent) {
if(MainActivity.appRunning){
...
}
}
Just a thought

Android: How to periodically send location to a server

I am running a Web service that allows users to record their trips (kind of like Google's MyTracks) as part of a larger app. The thing is that it is easy to pass data, including coords and other items, to the server when a user starts a trip or ends it. Being a newbie, I am not sure how to set up a background service that sends the location updates once every (pre-determined) period (min 3 minutes, max 1 hr) until the user flags the end of the trip, or until a preset amount of time elapses.
Once the trip is started from the phone, the server responds with a polling period for the phone to use as the interval between updates. This part works, in that I can display the response on the phone, and my server registers the user's action. Similarly, the trip is closed server-side upon the close trip request.
However, when I tried starting a periodic tracking method from inside the StartTrack Activity, using requestLocationUpdates(String provider, long minTime, float minDistance, LocationListener listener) where minTime is the poll period from the server, it just did not work, and I'm not getting any errors. So it means I'm clueless at this point, never having used Android before.
I have seen many posts here on using background services with handlers, pending intents, and other things to do similar stuff, but I really don't understand how to do it. I would like the user to do other stuff on the phone while the updates are going on, so if you guys could point me to a tutorial that shows how to actually write background services (maybe these run as separate classes?) or other ways of doing this, that would be great.

I recently wrote one of these and decided it is not a good idea to leave a background service running. It will probably be shut down by the operating system anyway, or it could be. What I did was use a filter for the boot intent and then set an alarm using the alarm manager so that my app was restarted at regular intervals, and then it sent the data. You can find good info on services and the alarm manager in the Android documentation.
First I created a broadcast receiver that simply starts my service when an internet connection is opened (I'm only interested if there is a connection - you might want to filter for the boot event as well). The launch receiver must be short-lived, so just start your service:
public class LaunchReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
public static final String ACTION_PULSE_SERVER_ALARM =
"com.proofbydesign.homeboy.ACTION_PULSE_SERVER_ALARM";
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
AppGlobal.logDebug("OnReceive for " + intent.getAction());
AppGlobal.logDebug(intent.getExtras().toString());
Intent serviceIntent = new Intent(AppGlobal.getContext(),
MonitorService.class);
AppGlobal.getContext().startService(serviceIntent);
}
}
In the manifest I have:
<receiver
android:name="LaunchReceiver"
android:label="#string/app_name" >
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.net.conn.CONNECTIVITY_CHANGE" />
</intent-filter>
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="com.proofbydesign.homeboy.ACTION_PULSE_SERVER_ALARM" />
</intent-filter>
</receiver>
Notice how I have a filter for my own alarm, which is what allows me to shut the service and have it restarted after it's done its work.
The top of my monitor service looks like:
public class MonitorService extends Service {
private LoggerLoadTask mTask;
private String mPulseUrl;
private HomeBoySettings settings;
private DataFile dataFile;
private AlarmManager alarms;
private PendingIntent alarmIntent;
private ConnectivityManager cnnxManager;
#Override
public void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();
cnnxManager = (ConnectivityManager)
getSystemService(Context.CONNECTIVITY_SERVICE);
alarms = (AlarmManager) getSystemService(Context.ALARM_SERVICE);
Intent intentOnAlarm = new Intent(
LaunchReceiver.ACTION_PULSE_SERVER_ALARM);
alarmIntent = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(this, 0, intentOnAlarm, 0);
}
#Override
public void onStart(Intent intent, int startId) {
super.onStart(intent, startId);
// reload our data
if (mPulseUrl == null) {
mPulseUrl = getString(R.string.urlPulse);
}
AppGlobal.logDebug("Monitor service OnStart.");
executeLogger();
}
executeLogger starts an asyncTask, which is probably me being excessively cautious (this was only my third Android app). The asyncTask grabs the GPS data, sends it to the internet and finally sets the next alarm:
private void executeLogger() {
if (mTask != null
&& mTask.getStatus() != LoggerLoadTask.Status.FINISHED) {
return;
}
mTask = (LoggerLoadTask) new LoggerLoadTask().execute();
}
private class LoggerLoadTask extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, Void> {
// TODO: create two base service urls, one for debugging and one for live.
#Override
protected Void doInBackground(Void... arg0) {
try {
// if we have no data connection, no point in proceeding.
NetworkInfo ni = cnnxManager.getActiveNetworkInfo();
if (ni == null || !ni.isAvailable() || !ni.isConnected()) {
AppGlobal
.logWarning("No usable network. Skipping pulse action.");
return null;
}
// / grab and log data
} catch (Exception e) {
AppGlobal.logError(
"Unknown error in background pulse task. Error: '%s'.",
e, e.getMessage());
} finally {
// always set the next wakeup alarm.
int interval;
if (settings == null
|| settings.getPulseIntervalSeconds() == -1) {
interval = Integer
.parseInt(getString(R.string.pulseIntervalSeconds));
} else {
interval = settings.getPulseIntervalSeconds();
}
long timeToAlarm = SystemClock.elapsedRealtime() + interval
* 1000;
alarms.set(AlarmManager.ELAPSED_REALTIME_WAKEUP, timeToAlarm,
alarmIntent);
}
return null;
}
}
I notice that I am not calling stopSelf() after setting the alarm, so my service will sit around doing nothing unless shut down by the op sys. Since I am the only user of this app, that doesn't matter but for a public app, the idea is you set the alarm for the next interval then stopSelf to close down.
Update See the comment from #juozas about using 'alarms.setRepeating()'.

You need to create a separate class that is a subclass of the Service class.
Service Documentation
Your primary application should can call startService and stopService to start up the background process. Theres also some other useful calls in the context class to manage the service:
Context Documentation

I agree with Rob Kent, and in additional I think could be beter to extends WakefulBroadcastReceiver in your BroadcastReceiver and use it's static method startWakefulService(android.content.Context context,android.content.Intent intent), because it garanted your service will not shut by os.
public class YourReceiver extends WakefulBroadcastReceiver {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
Intent service = new Intent(context, YourService.class);
startWakefulService(context, service);
}
}
Official documentation