Develop Reference

How to retrieve only the last message of every conversation including the locked message using Telephony.Sms?

I'm using the below code to retrieve a message from sms.
private List<String> getEveryLastMessages(){
List<String> listSms = new ArrayList<String>();
ContentResolver contentResolver = getActivity().getContentResolver();
Cursor c = contentResolver.query(Telephony.Sms.Inbox.CONTENT_URI, // Official CONTENT_URI from docs
new String[] { Telephony.Sms.Inbox.BODY }, // Select body text
null,
null,
Telephony.Sms.Inbox.DEFAULT_SORT_ORDER); // Default sort order
int totalSMS = c.getCount();
if (c.moveToFirst()) {
for (int i = 0; i < totalSMS; i++) {
listSms.add(c.getString(0));
listSms.add("\n");
c.moveToNext();
}
} else {
//Do something, no messages
}
c.close();
return listSms;
}
my problem is all of the message was retrieved and except the locked message.
what I'm trying to achieve is retrieve only the last message of
every conversation including the lock messages and populate it into my recyclerview adapater to show it as inbox.

If you want the last message in each conversation, regardless of whether it's sent or received, there's a handy built-in URI that you can use, in lieu of just grabbing everything and filtering it yourself.
Telephony.Sms.Conversations.CONTENT_URI (in the android.provider package) can be used in a ContentResolver query to retrieve a summary of the available conversations. For example:
Cursor c = contentResolver.query(Telephony.Sms.Conversations.CONTENT_URI,
null, null, null, null);
This query will return with three columns:
Telephony.Sms.Conversations.SNIPPET ("snippet")
Telephony.Sms.Conversations.MSG_COUNT ("msg_count")
Telephony.Sms.Conversations.THREAD_ID ("thread_id")
The SNIPPET column will be the most recent available message in that conversation.
Unfortunately, starting with Marshmallow (API level 21), any app that is not the default messaging app has access to only a restricted view of the SMS table. Such an app can only get messages with a Telephony.Sms.TYPE of MESSAGE_TYPE_INBOX or MESSAGE_TYPE_SENT. This means that you won't get MESSAGE_TYPE_FAILED, MESSAGE_TYPE_DRAFT, etc., unless your app is the current default app.
However, the Telephony.Sms.LOCKED column is a completely separate categorization from the TYPE column, and so should not figure into the restricted view. That is, you should be able to get locked messages, as long as they're sent or inbox, no matter if your app is the default or not. Of course, it's possible that a manufacturer has altered any of this described behavior, and you might need to account for that in your app.

Android: performance cost of content provider queries within queries

Writing this on the fly, so I apologize for the code sample. This is NOT real code, it's something I wrote in a plain text editor on the fly. No compile checking, couldn't remember all the exact class and method names, etc. It's just a written concept of what I'm trying to do, I'm looking for feedback on the broader concepts.
I'm working on retrieving a list of contacts from the content provider. I want to be able to filter the results based on the contact's account name. the user will be presented with all available accounts, and will select which ones are to be used, and then that will be used in the retrieval method.
The thing is, the account name is in RawContacts, and the rest of the info I want (display name, lookupID) is in Contacts. I know that ContactsContract.Contacts.Entity is the shortcut to access all of this, so this code sample is what I'm planning to do.
Again, this is written on the fly with no IDE or looking up methods or anything. I'm sure my syntax is bad in many places, but this shows the concept I'm trying to do.
private static final URI URI = ContactsContract.Contacts.URI;
private static final String[] FIRST_PROJECTION = new String[]{
ContactsContract.Contacts.DISPLAY_NAME,
ContactsContract.Contacts.LOOKUP_KEY
};
private String[] acceptedAccountNames = {Accepted Account Names Will Go Here (dynamic)};
private static final String[] SECOND_PROJECTION = new String[]{
ContactsContract.Contacts.Entity.ACCOUNT_NAME //This is whatever the entity -> RawContacts field name would be
};
public List<Contact> loadContacts(Context context){
List<Contact> contacts = new ArrayList<>();
ContentProvider provider = context.getContentProvider();
Cursor contactsCursor = provider.query(URI, FIRST_PROJECTION, null, null);
contactsCursor.movetoFirst();
while(!contactsCursor.isAtLast()){
String name = contactsCursor.getString(contactsCursor.getColumnIndex(ContactsContract.Contacts.DISPLAY_NAME));
long lookupKey = contactsCursor.getLong(contactsCursor.getColumnIndex(ContactsContract.Contacts.LOOKUP_KEY));
Uri idUri = Uri.makeWithId(URI, lookupKey);
Uri entityUri = Uri.makeWithTableName(idUri, "entity");
Cursor contactEntityCursor = provider.query(entityUri, SECOND_PROJECTION, null, null);
contactEntityCursor.moveToFirst();
String accountName = contactEntityCursor.getString(contactEntityCursor.getColumnIndex(ContactsContract.Contacts.Entity.ACCOUNT_NAME));
if(Arrays.asList(acceptedAccountNames).contains(accountName)){
Contact contact = new Contact(lookupKey, name);
contacts.add(contact);
}
contactsCursor.moveToNext();
}
return contacts;
}
As you can see, I create a cursor while looping over another cursor. I'm essentially creating a new cursor for each contact in the list.
My question is twofold:
1) What would be the performance implications of this? With a large enough list, would this severely hurt app performance?
2) Is there a better way to do this? As in, a way to do this in a single query, getting all the data I'm looking for in the cursor.
Thanks so much in advance.

Get Android contacts with type-to-filter functionality, restricted to a specific account

I'm trying to:
Display a list of contacts
Let the user search through them by typing a query
Limit search results only to a specific Google/Gmail account.
This is how I build the URI for the cursor:
// User is searching for 'jo'
String query = "jo";
Uri uri = Uri.withAppendedPath(Contacts.CONTENT_FILTER_URI, Uri.encode(query));
// Restrict the query to contacts from 'example#gmail.com'
Uri.Builder builder = uri.buildUpon();
builder.appendQueryParameter(
ContactsContract.DIRECTORY_PARAM_KEY, String.valueOf(ContactsContract.Directory.DEFAULT));
builder.appendQueryParameter(ContactsContract.RawContacts.ACCOUNT_NAME, "example#gmail.com");
builder.appendQueryParameter(ContactsContract.RawContacts.ACCOUNT_TYPE, "com.google");
uri = builder.build();
This is the final URI:
content://com.android.contacts/contacts/filter/jo?directory=0&account_name=example%40gmail.com&account_type=com.google
Currently, this shows search results from all accounts on the phone.
NOTE: If I use Contacts.CONTENT_URI instead of Contacts.CONTENT_FILTER_URI, then specifying the directory/account works as expected, but I can no longer use 'type-to-filter' style search.
The documentation does state:
The most important use case for Directories is search. A Directory
provider is expected to support at least Contacts.CONTENT_FILTER_URI.
Could anyone help point out what I might be doing wrong?

I added your code in Google's example for contact retrieving, and with a couple of changes it worked perfectly with my Google for Work account.
The changes I made were:
remove the line with DIRECTORY_PARAM_KEY, as I didn't find it to make any difference
removed ContactsQuery.SELECTION from the return statement, because that constant prevents "invisible" contacts from being displayed.
The changes were made to ContactsListFragment.java
#Override
public Loader<Cursor> onCreateLoader(int id, Bundle args) {
// If this is the loader for finding contacts in the Contacts Provider
// (the only one supported)
if (id == ContactsQuery.QUERY_ID) {
Uri contentUri;
// There are two types of searches, one which displays all contacts and
// one which filters contacts by a search query. If mSearchTerm is set
// then a search query has been entered and the latter should be used.
if (mSearchTerm == null) {
// Since there's no search string, use the content URI that searches the entire
// Contacts table
contentUri = ContactsQuery.CONTENT_URI;
} else {
// Since there's a search string, use the special content Uri that searches the
// Contacts table. The URI consists of a base Uri and the search string.
contentUri = Uri.withAppendedPath(ContactsQuery.FILTER_URI, Uri.encode(mSearchTerm));
}
// HERE COMES YOUR CODE (except the DIRECTORY_PARAM_KEY line)
Uri.Builder builder = contentUri.buildUpon();
builder.appendQueryParameter(ContactsContract.RawContacts.ACCOUNT_NAME, "example#mycompany.com");
builder.appendQueryParameter(ContactsContract.RawContacts.ACCOUNT_TYPE, "com.google");
contentUri = builder.build();
// Returns a new CursorLoader for querying the Contacts table. No arguments are used
// for the selection clause. The search string is either encoded onto the content URI,
// or no contacts search string is used. The other search criteria are constants. See
// the ContactsQuery interface.
return new CursorLoader(getActivity(),
contentUri,
ContactsQuery.PROJECTION,
null, // I REMOVED SELECTION HERE
null,
ContactsQuery.SORT_ORDER);
}
Log.e(TAG, "onCreateLoader - incorrect ID provided (" + id + ")");
return null;
}

Xamarin.Mobile Contacts API takes up a lot of time while fetching contacts?

I'm using Xamarin.Mobile Component for Android to fetch contacts using the code:
var book = new AddressBook (Activity) {PreferContactAggregation = true};
var contData = data.Data;
var cur = Activity.ManagedQuery (contData, null, null, null, null);
Contact myContact = null;
var lookupKeyList = new List<string> ();
while (cur.MoveToNext ()) {
lookupKeyList.Add (cur.GetString (cur.GetColumnIndexContactsContract.Contacts.InterfaceConsts.LookupKey)));
}
myContact = book.Where (c => c.Id == lookupKeyList [0]).First ();
This code is part of picking a contact from the phone book and receiving the data on OnActivityResult method.
Unfortunately, this code is taking up too much time on some devices and is instantaneous on others. I guess its related to Contact Aggregation but I am not sure. Any pointers?

Sounds like an Android issue, not necessarily a Xamarin issue. Take a look at the question Getting name and email from contact list is very slow. One of the things this answer does is use a Projection in the query to get all the columns in one go.

Can't update event on phone's calendar from code

I'm attempting to update a calendar's event on my phone from my code, but context.getContentResolver().update keeps returning 0, and of course there are no changes made to the event when I look at it in the Calendar app.
I'm getting the event ID, start time, etc with context.getContentResolver().query, and I'm getting unique numbers like 431, 4, 233, etc, so I'm presuming the event IDs I'm using are real.
I understand the official way to do this is to go through Google's servers instead of using update(), but for my implementation it doesn't make sense to do it that way (or even in general, but I digress).
Am I doing something wrong, or am I trying to do something that Android simply isn't going to allow?
Uri updateEventUri = ContentUris.withAppendedId(Uri.parse("content://com.android.calendar/events"), id);
ContentValues cv = new ContentValues();
begin.set(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY, arg0.getCurrentHour()); //begin is a java.util.Calendar object
begin.set(Calendar.MINUTE, arg0.getCurrentMinute());
//cv.put("_id", id);
//cv.put("title", "yeahyeahyeah!");
cv.put("dtstart", begin.getTimeInMillis());
int updatedrowcount = context.getContentResolver().update(updateEventUri, cv, null, null);
System.out.println("updated "+updatedrowcount+" rows with id "+id);
A related question was posted here with no replies https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5636350/update-android-calendar-event
Let me know if I can clarify anything; I would really appreciate any input you guys and dolls could provide!

i had tried a lot and finally ended up with solution (Unreliable though).. but works fine..
public static boolean updateCalendar(Context context,String cal_Id,String eventId)
{
try{
Uri CALENDAR_URI = Uri.parse(CAL_URI+"events");
Cursor c = context.getContentResolver().query(CALENDAR_URI, null, null, null, null);
String[] s = c.getColumnNames();
if (c.moveToFirst())
{
while (c.moveToNext())
{
String _id = c.getString(c.getColumnIndex("_id"));
String CalId = c.getString(c.getColumnIndex("calendar_id"));
if ((_id==null) && (CalId == null))
{
return false;
}
else
{
if (_id.equals(eventId) && CalId.equals(cal_Id))
{
Uri uri = ContentUris.withAppendedId(CALENDAR_URI, Integer.parseInt(_id));
context.getContentResolver().update(uri, null, null, null);// need to give your data here
return true;
}
}
}
}
}
finally
{
return true;
}
}
and finally i'm not sure if it works with every device.

Ok, so, the problem was that I was using different URIs between fetching the events and editing them. I used the code sample from here and was using the URI "content://com.android.calendar/instances/when" to fetch the events and display them on the screen. When I had made a change I was using "content://com.android.calendar/events" to edit by id as in my example above.
What I found, thanks to your response, ntc, was that the ids for events between the two URIs were different, and therefore I couldn't edit the events consistently with the information each was giving me. I was presuming the event ids I was getting were system ids and universal to the phone.
I guess I'll have to do some testing and see what hardware isn't compatible with this method. I am using an HTC Evo for testing and so far so good.

When querying the Instances table, use Instances.EVENT_ID to get the identifier for the event you want to edit, instead of Instances._ID.