requestLocationUpdates permission

Question

I have an Android application that sends GPS location to a DB. I tested it today and found that the location manager needs permission to call requestLocationUpdates.

I want to set permission on allowed and I don't want to ask the device or the user for permission.

Now, the code requires to add some code to ask for permission?

     /**
     * Enable location services
     */
    public void connect() {
        Log.d(TAG, ".connect() entered");

        // Check if location provider is enabled
        String locationProvider = LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER;
        if (!locationManager.isProviderEnabled(locationProvider)) {
            Log.d(TAG, "Location provider not enabled.");
            app.setCurrentLocation(null);
            return;
        }

        // register for location updates, if location provider and permission are available
        String bestProvider = locationManager.getBestProvider(criteria, false);
        if (bestProvider != null) {
            locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(bestProvider, Constants.LOCATION_MIN_TIME, Constants.LOCATION_MIN_DISTANCE, this);
            app.setCurrentLocation(locationManager.getLastKnownLocation(locationProvider));
        }
    }

    /**
     * Disable location services
     */
    public void disconnect() {
        Log.d(TAG, ".disconnect() entered");

        String locationProvider = LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER;
        if (locationManager.isProviderEnabled(locationProvider)) {
            locationManager.removeUpdates(this);
        }
    }

I have added to manifest too. PS: This permission is newly required because I have been testing the app days ago on the same device ( Android 4.4) and it worked well. Is it possible that some default permission on Android has changed since 2017/08/21? If so how can I change it?

Answer 1

You will have to write a method to check whether permission is given by user. If not then ask user for permission. Constants.LOCATION_PERMISSION_REQUEST is just requestcode to match when got callback in onRequestpermission result

public static boolean checkLocationPermission(Activity activity){
        if(ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(activity, android.Manifest.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION)
                != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED
            || ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(activity, android.Manifest.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION)
                != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED){

            ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(activity, new String[]{android.Manifest.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION,
                    android.Manifest.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION}, Constants.LOCATION_PERMISSION_REQUEST);
            return false;
        }
        return true;
    }

As the user allows, you will get callback on overridden method "onRequestPermissionsResult()"