Android - Sending data from an activity to a service - android

I've a local service that is started in my main activity. The service is responsible for network I/O. It also interacts with other activities in my application. Till, now the service was only "providing" data to activity (using callbacks and not Intents.)
Now I need to send data (custom objects) from my activities to the service. I understand one way to do it using Intents. I know it is possible to receive an Intent in the service by overriding the onStartCommand() in my service. But it's not clear to me if the onStartCommand will be invoked every time I broadcast an Intent from my sending activity. Can a Service also be BroadcastReceiver ? If yes - how ?
Thanks.

You can create a BroadcastReceiver object in the service and register it to listen to any broadcast event you want. It's something like this:
BroadcastReceiver mScreenStateReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
//handle the broadcast event here
}
};
#Override
public void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();
IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_OFF);
filter.addAction(Intent.ACTION_SCREEN_ON);
registerReceiver(mScreenStateReceiver, filter);
}
#Override
public void onDestroy() {
super.onDestroy();
unregisterReceiver(mScreenStateReceiver);
}
Regards,

Related

How can I update Recyclerview with Broadcast Receiver from Service class?

I am working on music player app and I have included the basic functionality like Play, Pause, next and Previous tracks using service class.
Now I want to update myrecyclerview UI according to the action that user clicks(eg: on the play, there should be an image of the selected element in recyclerview).
I thought to use Broadcast Receiver that service class will broadcast on different actions and then recyclerview can update according to the broadcast action. But how do I add such functionality?
You'd need an in-activity broadcast receiver. Such receivers are registered when your activity is shown and unregistered once it's hidden.
public class MainActivity extends Activity {
private final BroadcastReceiver mReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
// Here update your RecyclerView
}
};
#Override
protected void onResume() {
super.onResume();
IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter(YourService.YOUR_CUSTOM_ACTION);
registerReceiver(mReceiver, filter);
}
#Override
protected void onPause() {
super.onPause();
unregisterReceiver(mReceiver);
}
}
And in your service, simply send broadcasts:
Intent intent = new Intent(YOUR_CUSTOM_ACTION);
// put extras in the intent as you wish
sendBroadcast(intent);

Android Activity communication with IntentService

I need to have a two way communication between my activity and a running IntentService.
The scenario is like this: the app can schedule alarms which on run, start an IntentService which fetches some data from web and process it. There are three possible situations when IntentService finishes:
The app is in focus, which means that when the IntentService will finish, the app needs to refresh its views with the new data.
The app is closed and when opened after IntentService has finished the work, so the app will have access to processed data
The app is opened while the IntentService is running, in which case I need to have a way from the activity to ask the IntentService if its doing something in the background.
For 1. I have already implemented a BroadcastReceiver in my activity which gets registered with the LocalBroadcastManager. When IntentService finishes the work, sends a broadcast and the activity reacts. This works fine
For 2. There is nothing needed to be done
For 3. I don't know what to do. So far I've tried this:
In Activity:
LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(this).sendBroadcast(new Intent(BROADCAST_SEND_TO_SERVICE));
In IntentService
private LocalBroadcastManager localBroadcastManager;
private BroadcastReceiver broadcastReceiverService = new BroadcastReceiver() {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
if (intent.getAction().equals(BROADCAST_SEND_TO_SERVICE)) {
//does not reach this place
//Send back a broadcast to activity telling that it is working
}
}
};
#Override
protected void onHandleIntent(Intent intent) {
localBroadcastManager = LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(context);
IntentFilter intentFilter = new IntentFilter();
intentFilter.addAction(BROADCAST_SEND_TO_SERVICE);
localBroadcastManager.registerReceiver(broadcastReceiverService, intentFilter);
.... //do things
}
The problem with my implementation is that n the IntentService the BroadcastReceiver does not fire onReceive. Any suggestions or maybe a simpler way for the Activity to ask the IntentService what it is doing?
LE:
Trying to get atomicboolean.
In Service:
public static AtomicBoolean isRunning = new AtomicBoolean(false);
#Override
protected void onHandleIntent(Intent intent) {
isRunning.set(true);
// do work
// Thread.sleep(30000)
isRunning.set(false);
}
In Activity, restarting the app while service is running:
Log(MyIntentService.isRunning.get());
//this returns always false, even if the intent service is running
On AndroidManifest
<service
android:name=".services.MyIntentService"
android:exported="false" />

How to send message from BroadcastReceiver to activity or fragment

I have a receiver, it does call details saving task like storing incoming call, outgoing call etc.. all these details goes to sqlite DB. If my activity is not running, then its fine.
Sometime, when my activity is running, i get some incoming call. the receiver runs & stores data to DB. UI wont get refreshed because it never knows about change in DB.
Here i need to manually tell from receiver that, if activity is running refresh screen. How to implement this process in android.
I'm slightly confused in this part
You can use a LocalBroadcastManager to send a local broadcast to your Activity (more efficient and more secure than using a global broadcast):
Intent intent = new Intent(action);
LocalBroadcastManager mgr = LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(context);
mgr.sendBroadcast(intent);
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/support/v4/content/LocalBroadcastManager.html
Your Activity would have to register a BroadcastReceiver in onStart and unregister it in onStop:
private BroadcastReceiver mBroadcastReceiver;
mBroadcastReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
// do your thing
}
};
LocalBroadcastManager mgr = LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(this);
mgr.registerReceiver(mBroadcastReceiver, new IntentFilter(action));
in onStop:
mgr.unregisterReceiver(mBroadcastReceiver)
Now that's the official Android way to do it. I most certainly prefer to use an event/message bus like Otto or EventBus (https://github.com/greenrobot/EventBus). You can use those to broadcast messages/events across different components in your app. The advantage is you don't need access to a Context (like you do when using Broadcasts), it's faster and it forces the developer to object oriented programming (since the events are always objects). Once you start using an event bus you'll never look back to local broadcasts and you'll replace many of the sometimes messy observer / listener patterns used across your app.
You can create a BroadcastReceiver inside an activity. Register it in onResume() and unregister it in onPause(). Whenever your other receiver receives a broadcast, send a broadcast to this receiver too. If the activity is running(i.e. on front), the broadcast will be received. Do whatever you want in its onReceive().
Example:
BroadcastReceiver br = new BroadcastReceiver() {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
//Do stuff
}
};
Also override methods:
#Override
protected void onPause() {
super.onPause();
unregisterReceiver(br);
}
#Override
protected void onResume() {
super.onResume();
registerReceiver(br, new IntentFilter("intent_filter"));//Use any string for IntentFilter you like
}
You can update fragments from activiy by creating methods inside fragment and access them from Fragment object inside activity.

Update the UI of the calling activity or start a new activity when the alarm is triggered from a broadcast receiver

I am writing an alarm code and using a broadcast receiver. I am able to receive the broadcast receiver. but now I want to come back to the calling activity and update the UI of my activity. I am not able to this.
I used the following code in my activity but it is never executing that code.
private BroadcastReceiver myBroadcastReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
Toast.makeText(context, "I am back!!", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
};
#Override
protected void onPause()
{
super.onPause();
unregisterReceiver(myBroadcastReceiver);
}
#Override
protected void onResume()
{
super.onResume();
IntentFilter intentFilter = new IntentFilter("com.test.Main");
registerReceiver(myBroadcastReceiver, intentFilter);
}
in the manifest file I have included the following, here gotAlarm is the broadcast receiver file
<receiver android:name=".gotAlarm"
android:enabled="true">
</receiver>
gotAlarm file is one which gets called from the pending intent of the alarm set
public class gotAlarm extends BroadcastReceiver {
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent){
Toast.makeText(context, "Wake Up!!", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
}
May be I am missing something very basic.
please help.
Two things:
If you dynamically register the receiver via Context.registerReceiver() then you won't receive broadcasts when Activity is paused (or stopped or not-running). If you need to receive broadcasts even when Activity is paused then create a top-level BroadcastReceiver class (as opposed to your inner class) and use <receiver> to register it.
BroadcastReceiver lifecycle docs state that BroadcastReceiver object is alive only during processing of onReceive(). You can not do any async tasks like showing dialogs, etc.. In your case (Activities might not be running and you receive a broadcast) you should use NotificationManager to notify user something happened.
I have dropped this way and I am starting a new activity on receiving broadcast. And I am sending information data from calling activity to broadcast and from broadcast to next activity. This has served the purpose.
Did you register your BroadcastReceiver (you can do this in the 'onResume'-method of your Activity)? Also, you should unregister your BroadcastReceiver in the 'onPause'-method.

service displays points on map android

i have a android service running in the background which receives the coordinates from the server every few seconds. i am not sure how do i display the coordinates on a map every time the service receives a response from the server. kindly help or give an idea.
thanks
I don't know any tutorials on this, but here's a version of mine:
To send a broadcast, you use the 'sendBroadcast(Intent i)' method of the Context class. The Service class extends Context, so you can access it from your implementation.
So in your Service goes:
public static final String BROADCAST_ACTION="com.yourservice.update";
public void onStart( Intent intent, int startId ) {
...
Intent broadcastIntent = new Intent(BROADCAST_ACTION);
sendBroadcast(broadcastIntent);
...
}
You have to register a receiver for this broadcast in you Activity (possibly before you start boradcasting them), like this:
private BroadcastReceiver receiver=new BroadcastReceiver() {
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
//Here goes handling the stuff you got from the service
Bundle extras = intent.getExtras();
if(extras != null)processUIUpdate(extras);
}
};
public void onResume() {
...
//Register for the update broadcasts from the torrent service
registerReceiver(receiver, new IntentFilter(YourService.BROADCAST_ACTION));
...
}
Don't forget to deregister when the Activity goes background:
public void onPause() {
...
//Deregister for the update broadcast from the torrent service
unregisterReceiver(receiver);
...
}
This should work.
Your service could broadcast intents whenever it wants to update the displayed location on the map. The Activity displaying the map should register a receiver for that boradcast, and the boradcast's intent can hold the values for lat. and long.

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