How can I use AlarmReceiver to ping GPS location every 10 minutes?

Question

I'm really sorry ahead of time, but this question is pretty lengthy.

I have a functioning GPSTracker class that contains the means of pinging GPS Location for a device. In my MainActivity, I have a button that uses the GPS tracker to display the location in a toast. I'm trying to convert this button into an automatic action to be repeated every X minutes, let's go with 10.(Right now the alarm receiver is setup for 10 seconds) Even when the app is in the background. So I set up an AlarmReceiver to try to do this, but I can't quite get it working.

Here's my GPSTracker class:

    import android.app.AlertDialog;
    import android.app.Service;
    import android.content.Context;
    import android.content.DialogInterface;
    import android.content.Intent;
    import android.location.Location;
    import android.location.LocationListener;
    import android.location.LocationManager;
    import android.os.Bundle;
    import android.os.IBinder;
    import android.provider.Settings;

public class GPSTracker extends Service implements LocationListener {
private final Context context;

boolean isGPSEnabled = false;
boolean canGetLocation = false;
boolean isNetworkEnabled = false;

Location location;

double latitude;
double longitude;

private static final long MIN_DISTANCE_CHANGE_FOR_UPDATES = 10;
private static final long MIN_TIME_BW_UPDATES = 1000 * 60 * 1;

protected LocationManager locationManager;

public GPSTracker(Context context) {
    this.context = context.getApplicationContext();
    getLocation();
}

public Location getLocation(){
    try {
        locationManager = (LocationManager) context.getSystemService(LOCATION_SERVICE);

        isGPSEnabled = locationManager.isProviderEnabled(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER);

        isNetworkEnabled = locationManager.isProviderEnabled(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER);

        if(!isGPSEnabled && !isNetworkEnabled) {

        }else {
            this.canGetLocation = true;

            if (isNetworkEnabled) {
                locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(
                        LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER,
                        MIN_TIME_BW_UPDATES,
                        MIN_DISTANCE_CHANGE_FOR_UPDATES, this);


                if(locationManager != null){
                    location = locationManager.getLastKnownLocation(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER);

                    if(location !=null){
                        latitude = location.getLatitude();
                        longitude = location.getLongitude();
                    }
                }
            }

            if(isGPSEnabled){
                if(location == null){
                    locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER, MIN_TIME_BW_UPDATES, MIN_DISTANCE_CHANGE_FOR_UPDATES, this);

                    if(locationManager !=null){
                        location = locationManager.getLastKnownLocation(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER);

                        if (location != null){
                            latitude = location.getLatitude();
                            longitude = location.getLongitude();
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

        return location;
}

public void stopUsingGPS() {
    if(locationManager != null){
        locationManager.removeUpdates(GPSTracker.this);
    }
}

public double getLatitude() {
    if(location!= null){
        latitude = location.getLatitude();
    }
    return latitude;
}

public double getLongitude() {
    if(location !=null){
        longitude = location.getLongitude();
    }
    return longitude;
}

public boolean canGetLocation(){
    return this.canGetLocation;
}

public void showSettingsAlert() {
    AlertDialog.Builder alertDialog = new AlertDialog.Builder(context);

    alertDialog.setTitle("GPS is settings");

    alertDialog.setMessage("GPS isn't enabled.  Do you want to go to settings menu?");

    alertDialog.setPositiveButton("Settings", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {

        @Override
        public void onClick(DialogInterface dialogInterface, int i) {
            Intent intent = new Intent(Settings.ACTION_LOCATION_SOURCE_SETTINGS);
            context.startActivity(intent);
        }
    });

    alertDialog.setNegativeButton("Cancel", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {

        @Override
        public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int i) {
            dialog.cancel();
        }
    });

    alertDialog.show();
}

@Override
public void onLocationChanged(Location location) {

}

@Override
public void onStatusChanged(String s, int i, Bundle bundle) {

}

@Override
public void onProviderEnabled(String s) {

}

@Override
public void onProviderDisabled(String s) {

}

@Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
    return null;
}
    }

And here's my MainActivity:

    package com.example.gwyn.locationnabtest;

    import android.app.AlarmManager;
    import android.app.PendingIntent;
    import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
    import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.Toast;

import com.google.android.gms.maps.GoogleMap;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.MapFragment;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.SupportMapFragment;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.model.LatLng;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.model.MarkerOptions;


public class MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity {

    Button btnShowLocation;
    Button btnStartService;
    Button btnStopService;
    GPSTracker gps;
    //GoogleMap mMap;

    private PendingIntent pendingIntent;
    private AlarmManager manager;



    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        btnShowLocation = (Button) findViewById(R.id.show_location);

        btnShowLocation.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener(){

            @Override
            public void onClick(View view) {
                FragmentActivity activity = (FragmentActivity)view.getContext();
                FragmentManager manager = activity.getSupportFragmentManager();
                //MapFragment myMap = (MapFragment) (MainActivity.getFragmentManager()).findFragmentById((R.id.mapFragment));

                // Test, remove me.
               // mMap = ((SupportMapFragment) getSupportFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.mapFragment)).getMap();

                gps = new GPSTracker(MainActivity.this);

                if(gps.canGetLocation()) {
                    // Location Achieved.
                    double latitude = gps.getLatitude();
                    double longitude = gps.getLongitude();

                    // Draw Marker for Current Location on Fragment
                    // Currently Crashing App
                   //  mMap.addMarker(new MarkerOptions().position(new LatLng(latitude, longitude)).title("Marker"));

                    // Toast a popup of the location data.
                    Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Your Location is -\nLat:" + latitude + "\nLong:" + longitude, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
                } else {
                    gps.showSettingsAlert();
                }
            }
        });

        Intent alarmIntent = new Intent(this, AlarmReceiver.class);
        pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(this, 0, alarmIntent, 0);





        btnStartService = (Button) findViewById(R.id.start_service);
        btnStartService.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                manager = (AlarmManager)getSystemService(Context.ALARM_SERVICE);
                int interval = 10000;
                // 10 Second Interval.  Good for testing, but turn this off.
                manager.setRepeating(AlarmManager.RTC_WAKEUP, System.currentTimeMillis(), interval, pendingIntent);
                Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Service Started", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

                //startService(new Intent(getBaseContext(), MyServices.class));
            }
                        });

        btnStopService = (Button) findViewById(R.id.stop_service);
        btnStopService.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                // Cancel pending intents
                manager.cancel(pendingIntent);
                Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Pending Intents Cancelled", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            }
        });
        }

    }

To highlight specifically, this is the part in MainActivity that works to display the GPS:

public void onClick(View view) {
                FragmentActivity activity = (FragmentActivity)view.getContext();
                FragmentManager manager = activity.getSupportFragmentManager();
                //MapFragment myMap = (MapFragment) (MainActivity.getFragmentManager()).findFragmentById((R.id.mapFragment));

                // Test, remove me.
               // mMap = ((SupportMapFragment) getSupportFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.mapFragment)).getMap();

                gps = new GPSTracker(MainActivity.this);

                if(gps.canGetLocation()) {
                    // Location Achieved.
                    double latitude = gps.getLatitude();
                    double longitude = gps.getLongitude();

                    // Draw Marker for Current Location on Fragment
                    // Currently Crashing App
                   //  mMap.addMarker(new MarkerOptions().position(new LatLng(latitude, longitude)).title("Marker"));

                    // Toast a popup of the location data.
                    Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Your Location is -\nLat:" + latitude + "\nLong:" + longitude, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
                } else {
                    gps.showSettingsAlert();
                }
            }

My AlarmReceiver is as follows, and produces an error when creating the GPSTracker:

import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.widget.Toast;


public class AlarmReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
    GPSTracker gps;

    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context arg0, Intent arg1) {
       // Here's where we'd grab location and store it into DB.

        //gps = new GPSTracker(AlarmReceiver.this);

       // if(gps.canGetLocation()) {
       //     double latitude = gps.getLatitude();
       //     double longitude = gps.getLongitude();
            // Draw Marker for Current Location on Fragment

            // Toast a popup of the location data.
       //     Toast.makeText(arg0, "Your Location is -\nLat:" + latitude + "\nLong:" + longitude, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
       // } else {
        //    gps.showSettingsAlert();
       // }


        // Toast that the alarm ran.
        Toast.makeText(arg0, "Location Pinged.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

    }

More specifically, a part of the problem is the way I'm calling for the new gps Tracker object here:

//gps = new GPSTracker(AlarmReceiver.this);

I'm not sure how to achieve the original result while using the alarmreceiver instead of a button, which is the main source of my problem. Does anyone know exactly what I can tinker with here to get the alarm receiver to properly use the GPSTracker Class?

Answer 1

DO not use GPSTracker. Its broken in over a dozen ways. Forget it exists. If you want a better version, you can use http://gabesechansoftware.com/location-tracking/ That link also explains why GPSTracker is broken by design and why it should never be used. It basically kinda works if used in optimal circumstances, and gives you horrible data in all the others.

Secondly, if you're using GPS and not network- you need to give it time to get a location sync. This can take seconds to minutes (or hours, if the user is in a basement or something) so the immediate forms of getting a location won't work- you have to wait for it to actually sync the location.

I suggest you not look for libraries to solve this and actually try to understand how the base APIs work. Until you do, you're going to have troubles with anything you use as there's lots of corner cases here and its not a trivial thing to do.