I have followed the tutorial here :
http://blog.sptechnolab.com/2011/09/14/android/starting-an-android-service-after-boot/
about creating a service, which is activating after boot of Android.
Anyway It practically never started.
I found in here : How to start a Service when .apk is Installed for the first time
that it is not anymore possible since Android 3.0+.
My question is :
How to start a boot service once installed ?
but how to start manually a service, since it does not have any visual elements ?
Add "visual elements", in the form of an activity.
You need an activity anyway, for:
Settings for managing the behavior of this service
Help and instructions for getting support
License agreement
So, write the activity. After the user has launched your activity, your manifest-registered BroadcastReceivers, such as your BOOT_COMPLETED receiver, will work again on Android 3.1+ devices.
In lates android versions you can launch on boot only when user manually started application.
Related
I have to develop an Android App that starts a service on boot. I have the privilege of creating even a new service in framework for it. But before that I have two question so this might be possible without going to framework.
Can an app (service only) signed with system keys be launched without an app launcher and start on boot without any activity ?
This is really another way of asking the first question : Can an app signed with system keys start for the very first time with BOOT COMPLETED broadcast intent ? I am aware that this is not possible for apps in user app space
Further documentation on the topic can be found here
I have a device management application, which essentially runs as a service in the background from boot. I'd like to start this application immediately after installation. How do I achieve this?
You cannot do this -- there is no way to automatically start your service merely because it was installed.
The application must first be invoked by the user through some sort of activity. Or, you are going to need to hook into some relevant broadcast Intent via the manifest, so you can get control when one of those events occur and kick off your service that way. Or, you are going to need to ask the user to reboot so your BOOT_COMPLETED Intent filter can get control.
There was a hole - the Android Analytics SDK used to send an intent right after installation - but that got closed (producing lots of confusion, of course).
But the final answer, I believe, is here:
http://developer.android.com/about/versions/android-3.1.html#launchcontrols
This seems to suggest that, as of 3.1, Google made the decision that apps are in a stopped state until the user explicitly activates them, e.g. by launching app or placing widget.
This means that the strategy of listening of a common broadcast (i.e. to get your app launched surreptitiously) won't work either.
After 3.1 , Android introduced a security feature, where the application's code can't be run unless the user opens the application. Check the link for more info http://commonsware.com/blog/2011/07/13/boot-completed-regression-confirmed.html
I would like to know if anyone has found any hack or work around for this problem, where i can listen to a system broadcasts like boot, connectivity changed and run a service without opening the installed application.
This is not what the posts said. You can still register broadcast listeners, or alarms. You just need the user to actually start your application once. And, if the user forcefully stops your application, they'll need to start it manually again.
Why would you want a way around this behavior? It seems to make a lot of sense.
i need to perform an action when my application is installed. i've looked into using
Intent.PACKAGE_ADDED
but i don't receive the intent in the app that's being installed. i want to run code when my app is installed for the first time.
the use case is registering with an online service. i can listed for BOOT_COMPLETED which is fine if the app is already installed, but i need to handle the case when the user first installs the app.
this post,
Can you run an intent or script when your app gets installed on Android?
suggests listening to TIMER_TICK and on the first broadcast, perform the registration and set a flag so as not to perform it upon the next TIMER_TICK. this seems problematic because whether you do something or not in the receiver, you are still starting your receiver every single minute and using up battery in the process.
is there a better solution?
There is no reliable event that you can catch. Even TIMER_TICK will only work below Android 3.1. From 3.1. onwards you can't receive system broadcasts until your app is in active state (which means the user has to launch it at least once manually).
Launch controls on stopped applications
Starting from Android 3.1, the system's package manager keeps track of
applications that are in a stopped state and provides a means of
controlling their launch from background processes and other
applications.
[...]
Note that the system adds FLAG_EXCLUDE_STOPPED_PACKAGES to all
broadcast intents. It does this to prevent broadcasts from background
services from inadvertently or unnecessarily launching components of
stoppped applications.
[..]
Applications are in a stopped state when they are first installed but
are not yet launched and when they are manually stopped by the user
(in Manage Applications).
from the 3.1. release notes
I recommend to do your intitial work when the user starts your app for the first time.
With the new market, the INSTALL_REFERRER intent is fired at launch time now for Android 3.1 and above. So we can receive it in our app. However it still fires at install time for 2.2 when the app is in stop state. So I am not able to receive it in case of Froyo.
If you're willing to assume that the Google Android Market app is installed, you could use INSTALL_REFERRER. See Get referrer after installing app from Android Market for more info.
I have a device management application, which essentially runs as a service in the background from boot. I'd like to start this application immediately after installation. How do I achieve this?
You cannot do this -- there is no way to automatically start your service merely because it was installed.
The application must first be invoked by the user through some sort of activity. Or, you are going to need to hook into some relevant broadcast Intent via the manifest, so you can get control when one of those events occur and kick off your service that way. Or, you are going to need to ask the user to reboot so your BOOT_COMPLETED Intent filter can get control.
There was a hole - the Android Analytics SDK used to send an intent right after installation - but that got closed (producing lots of confusion, of course).
But the final answer, I believe, is here:
http://developer.android.com/about/versions/android-3.1.html#launchcontrols
This seems to suggest that, as of 3.1, Google made the decision that apps are in a stopped state until the user explicitly activates them, e.g. by launching app or placing widget.
This means that the strategy of listening of a common broadcast (i.e. to get your app launched surreptitiously) won't work either.