Send LocalBroadcast if activity is running else send notification from a background service

Question

I need to update my Activity from a background service using LocalBroadcast if the Activity is running. If the Application or Activity is not running at present, I would like to add a Pending Notification.

I went through following posts -

Check if activity is running from service

Activity or Notification via Ordered Broadcast

I have following queries -

• How to check if Application/Activity is running from a background service?
• If I register and un-register broadcast listener in onPause() and onResume() in my activity, do i still need to check if activity is running?
• According to link#2 above - If the activity is not on-screen, its receiver will not be registered, so the event will go to the default handler, in the form of your manifest-registered BroadcastReceiver, which will raise the Notification - How to achieve this if possible?

If there are other solutions, please share them too.

Answer 1

I faced the same situation from the past one week. I found out a better solution which might help you.

To find whether the activity is the currently running activity in service

boolean isNotificationRequired = true;
ActivityManager am = (ActivityManager) this.getSystemService(ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
List<ActivityManager.RunningTaskInfo> taskInfo = am.getRunningTasks(1);
Log.d("TEST", "CURRENT Activity ::" + taskInfo.get(0).topActivity.getClassName());
ComponentName componentInfo = taskInfo.get(0).topActivity;
componentInfo.getPackageName();

Add in manifest file

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.GET_TASKS" />

Now Perform the operation if the activity is current running activity.

if(taskInfo.get(0).topActivity.getClassName().equals(YOUR_CURRENT_ACTIVITY.class.getName())
{
     //Perform the Operations
     isNotificationRequired = false;
}

Now send the notification only if isNotificationRequired is true.

if(isNotificationRequired){
        NotificationCompat.Builder mBuilder = new NotificationCompat.Builder(
                this).setSmallIcon(R.drawable.ic_launcher)
                .setContentTitle("Notification Title")
                .setContentText("Notification Message");
        PendingIntent notifyIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(this, requestcode,
                resultIntent, PendingIntent.FLAG_ONE_SHOT);
        mBuilder.setContentIntent(notifyIntent);
        mBuilder.setAutoCancel(true);
        mBuilder.setDefaults(Notification.DEFAULT_VIBRATE
                | Notification.DEFAULT_SOUND | Notification.DEFAULT_LIGHTS);
        NotificationManager mNotificationManager = (NotificationManager) getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);

        mNotificationManager.notify(requestcode, mBuilder.build());    
}

Else, send the broadcast and update your activity.

(For me if I send the existing intent, its not received properly in the receiver. So i created new intent and passed the existing intent's data in putExtras() of this newIntent.)

else {
            Log.i("TEST", "Sending broadcast to activity");
            Intent newIntent = new Intent();
            newIntent.setAction("TestAction");
            sendBroadcast(newIntent);
     }

Then in your activity handle the broadcast by Creating broadcat receiver. Dont forget to instantiate. No need to mention your receiver in manifest.xml.

public class YourCurrentRunningActivity extends Activity {
    YourBroadcastReceiver receiver = new YourBroadcastReceiver();

    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    (this).registerReceiver(receiver, new IntentFilter("TestAction"));

     public class YourBroadcastReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {

         @Override
         public void onReceive(Context arg0, Intent arg1) {
              // Perform the Actions u want.
         }
     }
}

Then you can unregister the receiver in onStop()/onPause()/onDestroy() like this :

this.unregisterReceiver(receiver);