CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidalarm
Andy
Andy

Reputation: 10830

How to create a persistent alarm to notify user of events?

I currently have an AlarmManager with BroadcastReceiver implementation as my Alarm. There is one major flaw with this though; it does not go off when force closing the app. I tested out what happens with ICS calendar app, and it goes off even if I force close it. I know some people will say "if the user closes the app in that manner, they do not want it going off." What about task killers? That is the case I am looking for. Its pretty obvious my method cannot accomplish this, and I have looked and looked, but most if not all the examples are like how I implemented it. Any ideas how I can accomplish this?

Edit: So it seems all the research I've done that what I want to do is not possible without having the user install two separate apps, which is not ideal. There is a possibility that Google just made there Calendar app in that way (since they do write the source code), because I tested the top Calendar apps on the market and they all did not go off when the user force closed the app. So this begs the question, simply put, can this even be done in a single application? It is looking slim that it can be done due to Google trying to curb developers from not allowing the user control over random running broadcasts or services, which is understandable. Hopefully this helps others quickly realize there really isn't a real way to actually do this. All you can do is warn the user, that in closing your app in that manner they will not get alarms; enough said.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 1073

Answers (1)

Ashterothi
Ashterothi

Reputation: 3282

I would not use a Broadcast Receiver with your alarm

Broadcast Receivers in general provide two functions

1) Listen to broadcasts from the system

2) Allow apps outside of your own to make requests of your app.

Alarm Manager sets up new alarms with: set(int type, long triggerAtMillis, PendingIntent operation) Schedule an alarm. (from Android Documentation)

The Pending Intent placed in there is the intent that will be fired when the Alarm is up. You can have this Intent begin a Service by placing the service in the intent. Ex:

Intent i = new Intent(context, MyService.class)

Where MyService is a class that extends Service. (you can just as easily do an activity, but having activities popping up out of nowhere is terrible design.

A Service is like an Activity that has no UI. Basically you can have it perform some background functions and possibly post a notification to the user that something has occurred.

Upvotes: 2

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