Develop Reference

Turning notifications to text-to-speech when driving

I have an application that according to some events, changes a normal notification to text-to-speech in order to since sometimes the phone isn't available to users, and it'll be safer not to handle the phone.
For example, when you're driving, this is dangerous, so i want to turn the notifications to text-to-speech.
I've looked for a long time some explanation for turning text-to-speech when driving, but i can't find any reference for that no where i search.
For generating text-to-speech, i have this part, which works fine :
private TextToSpeech mTextToSpeech;
public void sayText(Context context, final String message) {
mTextToSpeech = new TextToSpeech(context, new TextToSpeech.OnInitListener() {
#Override
public void onInit(int status) {
try {
if (mTextToSpeech != null && status == TextToSpeech.SUCCESS) {
mTextToSpeech.setLanguage(Locale.US);
mTextToSpeech.speak(message, TextToSpeech.QUEUE_ADD, null);
}
} catch (Exception ex) {
System.out.print("Error handling TextToSpeech GCM notification " + ex.getMessage());
}
}
});
}
But, i don't know how to check if i'm currently driving or not.

As Ashwin suggested, you can use Activity recognition Api, but there's a downside of that, the driving samples you'll receive, has a field of 'confidence' which isn't always accurate, so you'll have to do extra work(such as check locations to see if you actually moved) in order to fully know if the user moved.
You can use google's FenceApi which allows you to define a fence of actions such as driving, walking, running, etc. This api launched recently. If you want a sample for using it, you can use this answer.
You can pull this git project (everything free), which does exactly what you want : adds to the normal notification a text-to-speech when you're driving.

In order to know whether you are driving or not you can use Activity Recognition API
Here is a great tutorial that might help you out Tutorial and Source Code

How to implement offline speech recognition [duplicate]

It looks as though Google has made offline speech recognition available from Google Now for third-party apps. It is being used by the app named Utter.
Has anyone seen any implementations of how to do simple voice commands with this offline speech rec? Do you just use the regular SpeechRecognizer API and it works automatically?

Google did quietly enable offline recognition in that Search update, but there is (as yet) no API or additional parameters available within the SpeechRecognizer class. {See Edit at the bottom of this post} The functionality is available with no additional coding, however the user’s device will need to be configured correctly for it to begin working and this is where the problem lies and I would imagine why a lot of developers assume they are ‘missing something’.
Also, Google have restricted certain Jelly Bean devices from using the offline recognition due to hardware constraints. Which devices this applies to is not documented, in fact, nothing is documented, so configuring the capabilities for the user has proved to be a matter of trial and error (for them). It works for some straight away – For those that it doesn't, this is the ‘guide’ I supply them with.
Make sure the default Android Voice Recogniser is set to Google not
Samsung/Vlingo
Uninstall any offline recognition files you already have installed
from the Google Voice Search Settings
Go to your Android Application Settings and see if you can uninstall
the updates for the Google Search and Google Voice Search
applications.
If you can't do the above, go to the Play Store see if you have the
option there.
Reboot (if you achieved 2, 3 or 4)
Update Google Search and Google Voice Search from the Play Store (if
you achieved 3 or 4 or if an update is available anyway).
Reboot (if you achieved 6)
Install English UK offline language files
Reboot
Use utter! with a connection
Switch to aeroplane mode and give it a try
Once it is working, the offline recognition of other languages,
such as English US should start working too.
EDIT: Temporarily changing the device locale to English UK also seems to kickstart this to work for some.
Some users reported they still had to reboot a number of times before it would begin working, but they all get there eventually, often inexplicably to what was the trigger, the key to which are inside the Google Search APK, so not in the public domain or part of AOSP.
From what I can establish, Google tests the availability of a connection prior to deciding whether to use offline or online recognition. If a connection is available initially but is lost prior to the response, Google will supply a connection error, it won’t fall-back to offline. As a side note, if a request for the network synthesised voice has been made, there is no error supplied it if fails – You get silence.
The Google Search update enabled no additional features in Google Now and in fact if you try to use it with no internet connection, it will error. I mention this as I wondered if the ability would be withdrawn as quietly as it appeared and therefore shouldn't be relied upon in production.
If you intend to start using the SpeechRecognizer class, be warned, there is a pretty major bug associated with it, which require your own implementation to handle.
Not being able to specifically request offline = true, makes controlling this feature impossible without manipulating the data connection. Rubbish. You’ll get hundreds of user emails asking you why you haven’t enabled something so simple!
EDIT: Since API level 23 a new parameter has been added EXTRA_PREFER_OFFLINE which the Google recognition service does appear to adhere to.
Hope the above helps.

I would like to improve the guide that the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/17674655/2987828 sends to its users, with images. It is the sentence "For those that it doesn't, this is the ‘guide’ I supply them with." that I want to improve.
The user should click on the four buttons highlighted in blue in these images:
Then the user can select any desired languages. When the download is done, he should disconnect from network, and then click on the "microphone" button of the keyboard.
It worked for me (android 4.1.2), then language recognition worked out of the box, without rebooting. I can now dictates instructions to the shell of Terminal Emulator ! And it is twice faster offline than online, on a padfone 2 from ASUS.
These images are licensed under cc by-sa 3.0 with attribution required to stackoverflow.com/a/21329845/2987828 ; you may hence add these images anywhere along with this attribution.
(This the standard policy of all images and texts at stackoverflow.com)

A simple and flexible offline recognition on Android is implemented by CMUSphinx, an open source speech recognition toolkit. It works purely offline, fast and configurable It can listen continuously for keyword, for example.
You can find latest code and tutorial here.
Update in 2019: Time goes fast, CMUSphinx is not that accurate anymore. I recommend to try Kaldi toolkit instead. The demo is here.

In short, I don't have the implementation, but the explanation.
Google did not make offline speech recognition available to third party apps. Offline recognition is only accessable via the keyboard. Ben Randall (the developer of utter!) explains his workaround in an article at Android Police:
I had implemented my own keyboard and was switching between Google
Voice Typing and the users default keyboard with an invisible edit
text field and transparent Activity to get the input. Dirty hack!
This was the only way to do it, as offline Voice Typing could only be
triggered by an IME or a system application (that was my root hack) .
The other type of recognition API … didn't trigger it and just failed
with a server error. … A lot of work wasted for me on the workaround!
But at least I was ready for the implementation...
From Utter! Claims To Be The First Non-IME App To Utilize Offline Voice Recognition In Jelly Bean

I successfully implemented my Speech-Service with offline capabilities by using onPartialResults when offline and onResults when online.

I was dealing with this and I noticed that you need to install the offline package for your Language. My language setting was "Español (Estados Unidos)" but there is not offline package for that language, so when I turned off all network connectivity I was getting an alert from RecognizerIntent saying that can't reach Google, then I change the language to "English (US)" (because I already have the offline package) and launched the RecognizerIntent it just worked out.
Keys: Language setting == Offline Voice Recognizer Package

It is apparently possible to manually install offline voice recognition by downloading the files directly and installing them in the right locations manually. I guess this is just a way to bypass Google hardware requirements.
However, personally I didn't have to reboot or anything, simply changing to UK and back again did it.

Working example is given below,
MyService.class
public class MyService extends Service implements SpeechDelegate, Speech.stopDueToDelay {
public static SpeechDelegate delegate;
#Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
//TODO do something useful
try {
if (VERSION.SDK_INT >= VERSION_CODES.KITKAT) {
((AudioManager) Objects.requireNonNull(
getSystemService(Context.AUDIO_SERVICE))).setStreamMute(AudioManager.STREAM_SYSTEM, true);
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
Speech.init(this);
delegate = this;
Speech.getInstance().setListener(this);
if (Speech.getInstance().isListening()) {
Speech.getInstance().stopListening();
} else {
System.setProperty("rx.unsafe-disable", "True");
RxPermissions.getInstance(this).request(permission.RECORD_AUDIO).subscribe(granted -> {
if (granted) { // Always true pre-M
try {
Speech.getInstance().stopTextToSpeech();
Speech.getInstance().startListening(null, this);
} catch (SpeechRecognitionNotAvailable exc) {
//showSpeechNotSupportedDialog();
} catch (GoogleVoiceTypingDisabledException exc) {
//showEnableGoogleVoiceTyping();
}
} else {
Toast.makeText(this, R.string.permission_required, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
});
}
return Service.START_STICKY;
}
#Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
//TODO for communication return IBinder implementation
return null;
}
#Override
public void onStartOfSpeech() {
}
#Override
public void onSpeechRmsChanged(float value) {
}
#Override
public void onSpeechPartialResults(List<String> results) {
for (String partial : results) {
Log.d("Result", partial+"");
}
}
#Override
public void onSpeechResult(String result) {
Log.d("Result", result+"");
if (!TextUtils.isEmpty(result)) {
Toast.makeText(this, result, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
}
#Override
public void onSpecifiedCommandPronounced(String event) {
try {
if (VERSION.SDK_INT >= VERSION_CODES.KITKAT) {
((AudioManager) Objects.requireNonNull(
getSystemService(Context.AUDIO_SERVICE))).setStreamMute(AudioManager.STREAM_SYSTEM, true);
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
if (Speech.getInstance().isListening()) {
Speech.getInstance().stopListening();
} else {
RxPermissions.getInstance(this).request(permission.RECORD_AUDIO).subscribe(granted -> {
if (granted) { // Always true pre-M
try {
Speech.getInstance().stopTextToSpeech();
Speech.getInstance().startListening(null, this);
} catch (SpeechRecognitionNotAvailable exc) {
//showSpeechNotSupportedDialog();
} catch (GoogleVoiceTypingDisabledException exc) {
//showEnableGoogleVoiceTyping();
}
} else {
Toast.makeText(this, R.string.permission_required, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
});
}
}
#Override
public void onTaskRemoved(Intent rootIntent) {
//Restarting the service if it is removed.
PendingIntent service =
PendingIntent.getService(getApplicationContext(), new Random().nextInt(),
new Intent(getApplicationContext(), MyService.class), PendingIntent.FLAG_ONE_SHOT);
AlarmManager alarmManager = (AlarmManager) getSystemService(Context.ALARM_SERVICE);
assert alarmManager != null;
alarmManager.set(AlarmManager.ELAPSED_REALTIME_WAKEUP, 1000, service);
super.onTaskRemoved(rootIntent);
}
}
For more details,
https://github.com/sachinvarma/Speech-Recognizer
Hope this will help someone in future.

How to use the DriveApi.OnSyncFinishCallback (Android's Google Play Services)

The Android's developer documentation states that you can use a DriveApi.OnSyncFinishCallback to (presumably) handle when a synchronization between your local contet and your google drive account is completed. Normally such synchronization appens automatically, trasparently managed by Google Play Services, but apparently you can force a sync request with a call to:
Drive.DriveApi.requestSync(mGoogleApiClient);
I say "apparently" because the official documentation of this function is very poor, at least (https://developer.android.com/reference/com/google/android/gms/drive/DriveApi.html#requestSync(com.google.android.gms.common.api.GoogleApiClient))
Anyway, a OnSyncFinishCallback can be instantiated with this code:
OnSyncFinishCallback myCallback = new OnSyncFinishCallback(){
#Override
public void onSyncFinish(com.google.android.gms.common.api.Status arg0) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
}
};
My question is where and how can I register this callback so it will be called automatically when the sync is completed? The requestSync call returns a PendingResult that only have a setResultCallback(ResultCallback arg0) method, that can't be used for a OnSyncFinishCallback.

I must say that requestSync is working absolutely fine for me (January 2015, with Google Play Services 6.5.87). I do a backup of my database on one device and restore it on another device, but before the restore I call requestSync this way:
Drive.DriveApi.requestSync(mGoogleApiClient)
.setResultCallback(new ResultCallback<Status>() {
#Override
public void onResult(Status result) {
if (!result.isSuccess()) {
// Sync not ok
showMessage("Sync error");
return;
}
// Sync ok. I can safely do a query to get
// the database file and restore it.
...
By the way, I'm using the root folder, not the appfolder. The appfolder might have additional synchronization issues when installing/uninstalling the app from different devices, so for the moment I prefer to stick with root folder.

OnSyncFinishCallback is a red herring, it shouldn't be exposed.
Just add a callback handler to requestSync like any other GoogleApiClient method:
Drive.Drive.requestSync(mGoogleApiClient).setResultCallback(
new ResultCallback<Success>() {
//...
});

It turned out that OnSyncFinishCallback was removed from API and DriveAPI.requestSync() doesn't do what it's supposed to. Fortunately Google just introduced new Drive API for Android in version 6.1 of Google Play Services, in particular the Completion Events, that makes exactly what OnSyncFinishCallback was supposed to do. More official detail here https://developers.google.com/drive/android/completion

In App Billing v3 IllegalArgumentException using IabHelper

I've had in app billing v3 implemented in my app for about a week now. I used a lot of android's sample code to simplify the integration. I've been logging a crash fairly often that I can't seem to reproduce:
Exception Type: java.lang.RuntimeException
Reason: Unable to destroy activity {[package].billing.BillingActivity}: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Service not registered: [package].billing.util.IabHelper$1#40646a70
It seems to be breaking on this line:
if (mContext != null) mContext.unbindService(mServiceConn);
I'm binding this service in my onCreate method and disposing it in my onDestroy method (which is where this error is logged). Any pointers?

You could replace the line you mentioned:
if (mContext != null) mContext.unbindService(mServiceConn);
by this line
if (mContext != null && mService != null) mContext.unbindService(mServiceConn);
This should do the trick

I checked out the latest version of the sample project and up to today my recommendation is to currently to NOT use IabHelper. It is massively flawed.
To give you an idea:
1.) the async methods of IabHelper start a new thread. If IabHelper.dispose() is called while a thread is running you will always get various exceptions you cannot even handle.
2.) If the connection to the billing service goes down, they set it to null. But apart from that they never check if mService is null before accessing the methods. So it will always crash with NullPointerException in this case.
public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName name) {
logDebug("Billing service disconnected.");
mService = null;
and this is just the tip of the ice berg. Seriously I do not understand how somebody can publish this as reference code.

I just encountered the same issue but on android emulator. Billing v3 requires that Google Play app should be launched at least once and since the emulator lack of Google Play app it cannot set up helper and cannot dispose it in onDestroy().
My personal workaround is just skipping that error in try/catch:
#Override
protected void onDestroy() {
super.onDestroy();
if (bHelper != null){
try {
bHelper.dispose();
}catch (IllegalArgumentException ex){
ex.printStackTrace();
}finally{}
}
bHelper = null;
}
Add this in every onDestroy() where you dispose helper. Works fine for me.

The IabHelper class is working in a normal way.
What you need to do is:
when you call startSetup for the helper, you need to pass a callback IabHelper.OnIabSetupFinishedListener which will tell you the result of starting setup. If you get failure in the callback, the service connection with the google play services was not established.
You should handle future calls to IabHelper depending upon the result received in IabHelper.OnIabSetupFinishedListener. You can surely keep a boolean field to know what was the status.
The answer sam provided is actually a trick (in his own words). The helper classes aren't supposed to throw exceptions so that the user of those classes can implement some task in such scenarios.
And of-course, try/catch is best way if you don't want to go in details (whenever anything breaks due to exception, surely first thing which comes in mind is to put that in a try/catch block).

Android inapp billing - BillingService has compile errors with onServiceConnected and onServiceDisconnected

I am using the Dungeons application example and I am using the BillingService class provided in that example.
I am using Java 6 and #override works for me, but I get a compile error on these two methods inside BillingService.java:
/**
* This is called when we are connected to the MarketBillingService.
* This runs in the main UI thread.
*/
#Override
public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName name, IBinder service) {
if (Consts.DEBUG) {
Log.d(TAG, "Billing service connected");
}
mService = IMarketBillingService.Stub.asInterface(service);
runPendingRequests();
}
/**
* This is called when we are disconnected from the MarketBillingService.
*/
#Override
public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName name) {
Log.w(TAG, "Billing service disconnected");
mService = null;
}
Would someone help me understand why this is happening?
Thanks!

Make sure your class implements the ServiceConnection interface.

In App billing is a challenge to get started with. The trick is to get it started in a independent project and then do all your specific feature. Trust me on this, and done be brave and do it all together, its not worth the time it takes to get started. I hope google improves on in app billing overall, to make it easy to implement, understand and debug. I had blogged about it a while back and created a helloworld kinda project for people to download and get working. I hope it helps you too.
Debug Android inapp billing using Eclipse

I think you should simply remove the #Override decorator from both methods. I'm using the Google BillingService class and this is my method:
public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName name, IBinder service)
{
mService = IMarketBillingService.Stub.asInterface(service);
runPendingRequests();
}
You are implementing an interface, not extending a class with abstract methods.

You might try to use default compile options.
Right-click (or Control-Click) the project and select "Properties"
Select "Java Compiler"
Uncheck "Enable Project Specific Settings"
Eclipse will prompt to re-compile and it should be all good.

Install your app Signed ...so go to android tools export signed application .... now that its signed you can get back queries. This was my issue at least on a physical device.

Right click on the Project
Select --> Android Tools
Select --> Fix Project Properties
This fixed it for me (I believe it was a Java compiler setting throwing it off).