Develop Reference

Can a Broadcast Receiver send information to an Activity only if it is active without starting a new Activity?

I have a broadcast receiver that gets triggered on geofencing events and either "clocks in" or "clocks out" with the server. If my application's "Attendance" activity is already open I would like it to display the clocking status change but I don't want the Broadcast Receiver to start the activity if it's not open - in other words display the change "live" while the activity is open only.
The way I imagine doing this is with the Broadcast Receiver sending an Intent to the activity but name "startActivity()" doesn't sound encouraging unless there are any special flags I can pass to prevent starting an Activity that isn't already open - I can't seem to find any.
The other option would be to constantly poll the value while the activity is open but it doesn't seem optimal so I would only use it if there wasn't another way and I can't think of a reason why it couldn't be possible with Intents.

There are several different ways to accomplish the same task. One is registering a listener like the following example:
MainActivity
public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity
{
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.main);
Receiver.setOnReceiveListener(new Receiver.OnReceiveListener() {
public void onReceive(Context Context, Intent intent)
{
//Do something.
}
});
}
#Override
protected void onDestroy()
{
super.onDestroy();
Receiver.setOnReceiveListener(null);
}
}
Receiver
public class Receiver extends BroadcastReceiver
{
private static OnReceiveListener static_listener;
public static abstract interface OnReceiveListener
{
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent);
}
public static void setOnReceiveListener(OnReceiveListener listener)
{
static_listener = listener;
}
#Override
public final void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent)
{
if(static_listener != null) {
static_listener.onReceive(context, intent);
}
}
}

Just have your BroadcastReceiver send a broadcast Intent. Your Activity should register a listener from this broadcast Intent and if it gets triggered, it can update the UI.
Here's an example:
Declare a private member variable in your Activity:
private BroadcastReceiver receiver;
In Activity.onCreate(), register the BroadcastReceiver:
IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter();
filter.addAction("my.package.name.CLOCK_STATUS_CHANGE");
receiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
// Here you can update the UI ...
}
};
registerReceiver(receiver, filter);
And in onDestroy() you can unregister it (probably not necessary, but cleaner):
if (receiver != null) {
unregisterReceiver(receiver);
receiver = null;
}
In your BroadcastReceiver that detects the geofencing event, you should create and send a broadcast Intent:
Intent broadcastIntent = new Intent("my.package.name.CLOCK_STATUS_CHANGE");
sendBroadcast(broadcastIntent);

How to send Internet service data to main activity?

I have a variable in FetchAddressIntentService class name addressText which holding zip code using reverse geocode. what i want is to send the addressText data to my MainActivity.

You have to register your main activity to the broadcast and then send the broadcast from the service.
In your main activity:
private BroadcastReceiver receiver;
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState){
IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter();
filter.addAction("BROADCAST_ZIP_CODE");
receiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
//get data from the intent and display it
String zipCode = intent.getStringExtra("ZIP_CODE");
//do something with the zipCode
}
};
registerReceiver(receiver, filter);
}
#Override
protected void onDestroy() {
if (receiver != null) {
unregisterReceiver(receiver);
receiver = null;
}
super.onDestroy();
}
In your service:
public class ZipCodeService extends Service {
#Override
public void onCreate() {
String zipCode = "your_zip_code";
Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setAction("BROADCAST_ZIP_CODE");
intent.putExtra("ZIP_CODE",zipCode);
sendBroadcast(intent);
}
}

You can achieve this in two ways.
Using a Bound Service and registering your Activity as a listener object with your Service by having your Activity implement a listener interface. Docs here.
Sending a Local Broadcast from the Service to your Activity. (See JackD's answer)
Depending on how you've architected your application you may prefer one solution more than the other. The Android docs will help which is best.

How to pass data from BroadcastReceiver to Activity without in onCreate()

I have a serious issue about passing data from BroadcastReceiver to an Activity. Let see my issue carefully. I have a class PhoneStateReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver that used to received an incoming phone.
public class PhoneStateReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
try {
System.out.println("Receiver start");
String state = intent.getStringExtra(TelephonyManager.EXTRA_STATE);
String incomingNumber = intent.getStringExtra(TelephonyManager.EXTRA_INCOMING_NUMBER);
if(state.equals(TelephonyManager.EXTRA_STATE_RINGING)){
}
}
catch (Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
The incoming phone will be sent to an Activity, called ReceiverActivity. The ReceiverActivity receives the incoming phone and sends it to a server via a socket connection. The socket connection is initialized in the onCreate function. I googled and found server way to pass the data from BroadcastReceiver to an Activity. The common way is that send data via putExtra function and call startActivity. However, the way will call the onCreate again and then connect the socket, draw the UI again. Thus, it is not helpful in my case.
In my goal, If the phone receives an incoming call, it will send the incoming call to the ReceiverActivity. The ReceiverActivity receives the message and calls the send function. Which is the best way to do it? Thank you
The common way to pass data from a BroadcastReceiver to a ReceiverActivity that I used as follows
In PhoneStateReceiver class :
Intent intent_phonenum = new Intent(context, ReceiverActivity.class);
intent_phonenum.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
intent_phonenum.putExtra("phone_num", incomingNumber);
context.startActivity(intent_phonenum);
In ReceiverActivity class :
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
connect_socket();
Intent intent = getIntent();
phone_num = intent.getStringExtra("phone_num");
send(phone_num);
}

Simple without any third party libs.
Make sure BroadcastReceiver must be registered and also unregistered on OnPause().
You have to do two thing
Register a receiver in you activity like below.
public class MainActivity extends Activity {
Context context;
BroadcastReceiver updateUIReciver;
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
context = this;
IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter();
filter.addAction("service.to.activity.transfer");
updateUIReciver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
//UI update here
if (intent != null)
Toast.makeText(context, intent.getStringExtra("number").toString(), Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
};
registerReceiver(updateUIReciver, filter);
}
}
Now in you service
public class PhoneStateReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
try {
System.out.println("Receiver start");
String state = intent.getStringExtra(TelephonyManager.EXTRA_STATE);
String incomingNumber = intent.getStringExtra(TelephonyManager.EXTRA_INCOMING_NUMBER);
if (state.equals(TelephonyManager.EXTRA_STATE_RINGING)) {
Intent local = new Intent();
local.setAction("service.to.activity.transfer");
local.putExtra("number", incomingNumber);
context.sendBroadcast(local);
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

There is a very simple design pattern you can use here to ease communication between your classes and also decouple your code: publisher/subscriber. My favorite library for this is EventBus:
First, add to your build.gradle file:
compile 'org.greenrobot:eventbus:3.0.0'
Then, create a simple POJO - Plain Old Java Object like this:
public class OnReceiverEvent{
private String phoneNumber;
public OnReceiverEvent(String phone){
this.phoneNumber = phone;
}
public String getPhoneNumber(){
return phoneNumber;
}
}
Next, by making your Receiver class a publisher, and your Activity a subscriber, you should be able to easily pass the information to your activity like this:
//inside your PhoneStateReceiver class when you want to pass info
EventBus.getDefault().post(new OnReceiverEvent(phoneNumber));
Next, inside your activity, simply do this:
//onStart
#Override
public void onStart(){
super.onStart();
EventBus.getDefault().register(this);
}
//onStop
#Override
public void onStop(){
super.onStop();
EventBus.getDefault().unregister(this);
}
Finally, handle the posted data i.e phoneNumber value:
#Subscribe
public void onPhoneNumberReceived(OnReceiverEvent event){
//get the phone number value here and do something with it
String phoneNumber = event.getPhoneNumber();
//display or something?
}
UPDATE
If you have another Event that you want this activity to subscribe to, simply create a method like you did in the first one using the #Subscribe annotation.
#Subscribe
public void onSomeOtherEvent(EventClassName event){
//get the variables here as usual;
}
This is the easiest way to pass the data from your receiver to your activity without having to worry about starting the activity over and over!
I hope this helps and good luck!

So I understand you don't want to recreate your Activity everytime.
In your Intent changing this flag will help you :
intent_phonenum.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);
In Intent class if you read method summary of FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP:
If set, and the activity being launched is already running in the
current task, then instead of launching a new instance of that activity,
all of the other activities on top of it will be closed and this Intent
will be delivered to the (now on top) old activity as a new Intent. (you can read more ...)
In this case: If your app is running and you have an Activity instance then Intent will not recreate your Activity. But assume that your app is in closed state and when BroadcastReceiver triggered, the Intent will create new Activity because you don't have instance of that Activity.
#Edit :
You can specify special Intent like that in your BroadcastReceiver:
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
Bundle extras = intent.getExtras();
Intent i = new Intent("mycustombroadcast");
i.putExtra("phone_num", incomingNumber);
context.sendBroadcast(i);
}
Then in your Activity inside onCreate() register receiver like that :
BroadcastReceiver broadcastReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
Bundle bundle = intent.getExtras();
int incoming_number= bundle.getInt("phone_num");
Log.e("incoming number", "" + incoming_number);
}
};
//then register receiver like that :
registerReceiver(broadcastReceiver, new IntentFilter("mycustombroadcast"));
You can unregister Receiver in onDestroy() : unregisterReceiver(broadcastReceiver);
Also another way is overriding onNewIntent() in your Activity:
#Override
protected void onNewIntent(Intent intent) {
//your intent is here, you can do sth.
super.onNewIntent(intent);
}

BroadcastReceiver is not receiving broadcast intents

I need to send broadcast intent for specific receiver.
I use this function for it:
void sendTestBroadcast(Class<? extends BroadcastReceiver> clazz) {
Intent intent = new Intent(context, clazz);
intent.setAction(MY_ACTION);
context.sendBroadcast(intent);
}
Then I handle results in my Activity:
#Override
protected void onStart() {
super.onStart();
mReceiver = new Receiver();
registerReceiver(mReceiver, new IntentFilter(MY_ACTION));
}
#Override
protected void onStop() {
super.onStop();
unregisterReceiver(mReceiver);
mReceiver = null;
}
Receiver is private and non-static class. I pass Receiver.class to my receiver sender as an argument. I also tried to use ComponentName to set destanation target, but it's still not working. I even tried to do Receiver class static -- same result.
What am I doing wrong?

Custom BroadcastReceiver won't receive the broadcast

I have 5 fragments on a ViewPager (they're all in memory all the time, onPause() and such are never called while the containing Activity is on screen).
Anyway, I need to update one fragment (GroupsListFragment) depending on what's happening in another one (TimetableListFragment). I'm using LocalBroadcastManager and a BroadcastReceiver for this.
Now on to the relevant parts.
Registering for the broadcast Intent (severely abbreviated):
public class GroupsListFragment extends Fragment {
#Override
public void onResume() {
super.onResume();
mBroadcastManager = LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(getActivity());
mBroadCastReceiver = new UpdateGroupsReceiver(this);
IntentFilter iFilter = new IntentFilter(UpdateGroupsReceiver.UPDATE_TIMETABLE_ACTION);
Log.d("GroupsListFragment", "Registering for receiver with intentfilter:[action=" + iFilter.getAction(0) + "]");
mBroadcastManager.registerReceiver(mBroadCastReceiver, iFilter);
}
}
Sending the broadcast (once again severely abbreviated):
public class TimetableListFragment extends Fragment {
public void updateStatus() {
Intent intent = new Intent(UpdateGroupsReceiver.UPDATE_TIMETABLE_ACTION);
mBroadcastManager.sendBroadcast(intent);
Log.d(TAG, "Sending broadcast with intent:[action=" + intent.getAction() + "]");
}
}
The problem is that my UpdateGroupsReceiver never receives it (onReceive() is never fired).
Any advice on what might be the culprit?

I am using this code that is working well
#Override
public void onResume() {
super.onResume();
if (myReceiver == null) {
myReceiver = new UpdateGroupsReceiver(this);
IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter(
UpdateGroupsReceiver.UPDATE_TIMETABLE_ACTION);
registerReceiver(myReceiver, filter);
}
}
public void updateStatus() {
Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setAction(UpdateGroupsReceiver.UPDATE_TIMETABLE_ACTION);
sendBroadcast(intent);
}
A runnig minimal example testapp can be found at https://github.com/k3b/EzTimeTracker/ under BroadCastTest.