Xamarin.Android Architecture Components: Not getting callbacks for lifecycle events

Question

I'm trying to use the architecture components package for detecting when the application enters background or foreground state. The problem is that the callbacks are not being invoked. In the sample code below, the methods onApplicationForegrounded and onApplicationBackgrounded are not invoked:

namespace POC.Droid
{
    [Application]
    public class MyApp : Application, ILifecycleObserver
    {
        static readonly string TAG = "MyApp";

        public MyApp(IntPtr handle, Android.Runtime.JniHandleOwnership ownerShip) : base(handle, ownerShip)
        {
        }

        public override void OnCreate()
        {
            base.OnCreate();
            ProcessLifecycleOwner.Get().Lifecycle.AddObserver(this);
        }

        [Lifecycle.Event.OnStop]
        public void onAppBackgrounded()
        {
            Log.Debug(TAG, "App entered background state.");
        }

        [Lifecycle.Event.OnStart]
        public void onAppForegrounded()
        {
            Log.Debug(TAG, "App entered foreground state.");
        }
    }
}

My Xamarin version is 8.2.0.16 (Visual Studio Community) and Xamarin.Android.Arch.Lifecycle.Extensions version is 1.0.0. I'm using a Nougat device (7.0) for testing.

Answer 1

TL;DR Please annotate your lifecycle callbacks with [Export]

Here a more detailed description:

Generally, to get the methods of a lifecycle observer be invoked, please make sure that the related packages are present. Here is a part of my packages.config:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<packages>
  <package id="Xamarin.Android.Arch.Core.Common" version="26.1.0" targetFramework="monoandroid81" />
  <package id="Xamarin.Android.Arch.Core.Runtime" version="1.0.0.1" targetFramework="monoandroid81" />
  <package id="Xamarin.Android.Arch.Lifecycle.Common" version="26.1.0" targetFramework="monoandroid81" />
  <package id="Xamarin.Android.Arch.Lifecycle.Extensions" version="1.0.0.1" targetFramework="monoandroid81" />
  <package id="Xamarin.Android.Arch.Lifecycle.Runtime" version="1.0.3.1" targetFramework="monoandroid81" />

This is how this looks in Visual Studio:

To be able to set a lifecycle observer, we need a lifecycle owner. On the application level this can be ProcessLifecycleOwner, just like the original poster showed.

Here is a slightly modified version:

using System;
using Android.App;
using Android.Arch.Lifecycle;
using Android.Util;
using Java.Interop;

namespace Stopwatch_AAC
{
    [Application]
    public class MyApp : Application, ILifecycleObserver
    {
        const string TAG = "MyApp";

        public MyApp(IntPtr handle, Android.Runtime.JniHandleOwnership ownerShip) : base(handle, ownerShip)
        {
        }

        public override void OnCreate()
        {
            base.OnCreate();
            ProcessLifecycleOwner.Get().Lifecycle.AddObserver(this);
        }

        [Lifecycle.Event.OnStop]
        [Export]
        public void Stopped()
        {
            Log.Debug(TAG, "App entered background state.");
        }

        [Lifecycle.Event.OnStart]
        [Export]
        public void Started()
        {
            Log.Debug(TAG, "App entered foreground state.");
        }
    }
}

As you can see, you annotate your lifecycle methods with for example [Lifecycle.Event.OnStop]. Also, please note that you need to use [Export]. Please make sure that Mono.Android.Export is referenced in your project as shown in the following screenshot.

If you want to have lifecycle observers for an activity, I suggest to extend AppCompatActivity as it is a lifecycle owner:

using Android.App;
using Android.Arch.Lifecycle;
using Android.OS;
using Android.Support.V7.App;
using Android.Util;
using Java.Interop;

namespace Stopwatch_AAC
{

    [Activity(Label = "Minimal", Exported = true, MainLauncher = true)]
    public class Minimal : AppCompatActivity, ILifecycleObserver
    {
        const string TAG = "Stopwatch_AAC";

        protected override void OnCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
        {
            base.OnCreate(savedInstanceState);
            Lifecycle.AddObserver(this);
            Log.Debug(TAG, Lifecycle.CurrentState.ToString());
        }

        [Lifecycle.Event.OnAny]
        [Export]
        public void Hello()
        {
            Log.Debug(TAG, Lifecycle.CurrentState.ToString());
        }
    }
}