How to access the application context from an android listener

Question

I have an Android widget (extends the AppWidgetProvider class) and I'm trying to access the application context from within a service Listener. I need to access the context so that I can change the application wallpaper. Here's the error I get: Cannot refer to a non-final variable context inside an inner class defined in a different method. I tried the suggested fix to change the modifier context to Final but the Bitmap I create comes back as null. Can someone suggestion the appropriate way to handle this? Here's a snippet of the code:

private void startWallpaperService(Context context) {
    Intent wpIntent = new Intent(context, Wallpaper_Service.class);
    context.startService(wpIntent);

    Wallpaper_Service wpSrv = Wallpaper_Service.getService();

    if(wpSrv != null) {
        Log.i(TAG, "Wallpaper Service is not null");

        Wallpaper_Service.repetitionInterval=30*1000;

        wpSrv.setWallpaperListener(new Wallpaper_Service.WallpaperListener() {
            @Override
            public void onWallpaperUpdate(int imageId) {
                if(wpm == null)
                    Log.w(TAG, "wpm or context is null");
                else {
                    Bitmap background = BitmapFactory.decodeResource(context.getResources(), R.drawable.image1);  // I get a syntax error here
                    if(background==null){
                        Log.w(TAG, "background is null");
                    }else{

                        try {
                            wpm.setBitmap(background);
                        } catch (IOException e) {
                            e.printStackTrace();
                        }
                    }
                }

            }
        });

    } else {
        Log.e(TAG, "Wallpaper Service failed");
    }
    }

Answer 1

Can you just create a final application context instance in the third line of your method like:

final Context ctx  = context.getApplicationContext();

or

final Context ctx  = context;

And I presume you can now use the "ctx" in your inner method deceleration.

This just sounds like a java syntax limitation and not a code issue.

Hope this helps.

-serkan