CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidusagestatsmanager
user1118764
user1118764

Reputation: 9845

Using UsageStatsManager to get the foreground app

I'm trying to use UsageStatsManager to get the foreground app on a Nexus 5 with Marshmallow. I remember it used to work, but for some reason I'm getting null strings for package/class names now.

Here's my implementation

public String[] getForegroundPackageNameClassNameByUsageStats() {
    String packageNameByUsageStats = null;
    String classByUsageStats = null;
    if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP) { 
        UsageStatsManager mUsageStatsManager = (UsageStatsManager)getSystemService("usagestats");                       
        final long INTERVAL = 1000;
        final long end = System.currentTimeMillis();
        final long begin = end - INTERVAL;
        final UsageEvents usageEvents = mUsageStatsManager.queryEvents(begin, end);
        while (usageEvents.hasNextEvent()) {
            UsageEvents.Event event = new UsageEvents.Event();
            usageEvents.getNextEvent(event);
            if (event.getEventType() == UsageEvents.Event.MOVE_TO_FOREGROUND) {
                packageNameByUsageStats = event.getPackageName();
                classByUsageStats = event.getClassName();
                Log.d(TAG, "packageNameByUsageStats is" + packageNameByUsageStats + ", classByUsageStats is " + classByUsageStats);
            }
        }
    }
    return new String[]{packageNameByUsageStats,classByUsageStats};
}

For some reason, it doesn't go into the while loop, i.e. usageEvents.hasNextEvent() is false. Because of this, it returns null package/class names.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks.

Upvotes: 4

Views: 3530

Answers (2)

FrankKrumnow
FrankKrumnow

Reputation: 508

I am using this myself. I think the usage stats will only be updated when an app comes to foreground. So if the foreground app got to the foreground (and stayed) before your 'begin' timestamp then you will not get it. :(

On the other hand when you use a long time ago you will get a giant list where you only need the highest time to determine the foreground app.

So what I do is I create 3 different times: 1min ago, 1 hour ago and 12 hours ago.

When I get an empty list on 1min I repeat request with 1h and so on. That way I get foreground most of the time. But I never get it to work ALL of the time.

I really miss the old way of just asking the package manager which app is foreground (prior to android 5), the new way is a bit messy.

Upvotes: 2

user1118764
user1118764

Reputation: 9845

OK, so I found that once I set the interval to 10000 instead of 1000, it works. Apparently a 1s interval is too small.

Upvotes: 5

Related Questions