Android location updates in a Service

Question

I want to do something like this:

• When my application starts I want to start a Service which should check my location

• When the application goes to background I want to stop the service

I have two major problems:

1. How can I detect that my application goes to background? I haver several activities, and I tried that in my MainActivity overriding onPause, but the onPause is also called when I start an other activity.

2. This problem is more important: How should my Service which checks for my location look like? I tried several approaches, but no success.

My Service looks like this, and it's not working. What should I change to make it work?

package com.pivoscore.service;

import android.app.Service;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.location.Location;
import android.location.LocationListener;
import android.location.LocationManager;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.IBinder;

public class LocationService extends Service {

    private LocationListener locationListener;

    @Override
    public IBinder onBind(final Intent intent) {
        return null;
    }

    @Override
    public int onStartCommand(final Intent intent, final int flags, final int startId) {
        super.onStartCommand(intent, flags, startId);
        return Service.START_STICKY;
    }

    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();
        final LocationManager locationManager = (LocationManager) this.getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE);
        this.locationListener = new MyLocationListener();
        locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER, 100, 0, this.locationListener);
    }

    private static class MyLocationListener implements LocationListener {

        @Override
        public void onLocationChanged(final Location location) {
        }

        @Override
        public void onProviderDisabled(final String provider) {
        }

        @Override
        public void onProviderEnabled(final String provider) {
        }

        @Override
        public void onStatusChanged(final String provider, final int status, final Bundle extras) {
        }

    }

}

Answer 1

This Will Help exaclty what your requirment is but don't forget to Add the permission i've added in comment and also don't forget to added service tag in manifest File Code Snipet is Following

public class LocationService extends Service {
public static final String BROADCAST_ACTION = "Hello World";
private static final int TWO_MINUTES = 1000 * 60 * 2;
public LocationManager locationManager;
public MyLocationListener listener;
public Location previousBestLocation = null;

Intent intent;
int counter = 0;

@Override
public void onCreate() {
    super.onCreate();
    intent = new Intent(BROADCAST_ACTION);      
}

@Override
public void onStart(Intent intent, int startId) {      
    locationManager = (LocationManager) getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE);
    listener = new MyLocationListener();        
    locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER, 0, 0, listener);
    locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER, 0, 0, listener);
}

@Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
    return null;
}

protected boolean isBetterLocation(Location location, Location currentBestLocation) {
    if (currentBestLocation == null) {
        // A new location is always better than no location
        return true;
    }

    // Check whether the new location fix is newer or older
    long timeDelta = location.getTime() - currentBestLocation.getTime();
    boolean isSignificantlyNewer = timeDelta > TWO_MINUTES;
    boolean isSignificantlyOlder = timeDelta < -TWO_MINUTES;
    boolean isNewer = timeDelta > 0;

    // If it's been more than two minutes since the current location, use the new location
    // because the user has likely moved
    if (isSignificantlyNewer) {
        return true;
    // If the new location is more than two minutes older, it must be worse
    } else if (isSignificantlyOlder) {
        return false;
    }

    // Check whether the new location fix is more or less accurate
    int accuracyDelta = (int) (location.getAccuracy() - currentBestLocation.getAccuracy());
    boolean isLessAccurate = accuracyDelta > 0;
    boolean isMoreAccurate = accuracyDelta < 0;
    boolean isSignificantlyLessAccurate = accuracyDelta > 200;

    // Check if the old and new location are from the same provider
    boolean isFromSameProvider = isSameProvider(location.getProvider(),
            currentBestLocation.getProvider());

    // Determine location quality using a combination of timeliness and accuracy
    if (isMoreAccurate) {
        return true;
    } else if (isNewer && !isLessAccurate) {
        return true;
    } else if (isNewer && !isSignificantlyLessAccurate && isFromSameProvider) {
        return true;
    }
    return false;
}

/** Checks whether two providers are the same */
private boolean isSameProvider(String provider1, String provider2) {
    if (provider1 == null) {
      return provider2 == null;
    }
    return provider1.equals(provider2);
}

@Override
public void onDestroy() {       
   // handler.removeCallbacks(sendUpdatesToUI);     
    super.onDestroy();
    Log.v("STOP_SERVICE", "DONE");
    locationManager.removeUpdates(listener);        
}   

public static Thread performOnBackgroundThread(final Runnable runnable) {
    final Thread t = new Thread() {
        @Override
        public void run() {
            try {
                runnable.run();
            } finally {

            }
        }
    };
    t.start();
    return t;
}


public class MyLocationListener implements LocationListener
{

    public void onLocationChanged(final Location loc)
    {
        Log.i("**************************************", "Location changed");
        if(isBetterLocation(loc, previousBestLocation)) {
            loc.getLatitude();
            loc.getLongitude();             
            intent.putExtra("Latitude", loc.getLatitude());
            intent.putExtra("Longitude", loc.getLongitude());     
            intent.putExtra("Provider", loc.getProvider());                 
            sendBroadcast(intent);          
            /*final Geocoder geocoder = new Geocoder(getApplicationContext(), Locale.getDefault());         
            String Text = "";
            try {
                List<Address> addresses = geocoder.getFromLocation(loc.getLatitude(), loc.getLongitude(), 1);                
                Text = "My current location is: "+addresses.get(0).getAddressLine(0); 

            } catch (Exception e) {
                // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                e.printStackTrace();
                Text = "My current location is: " +"Latitude = " + loc.getLatitude() + ", Longitude = " + loc.getLongitude();  
            }
            */
            //Toast.makeText( getApplicationContext(), "Location polled to server", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }                               
    }

    public void onProviderDisabled(String provider)
    {
        Toast.makeText( getApplicationContext(), "Gps Disabled", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT ).show();
    }


    public void onProviderEnabled(String provider)
    {
        Toast.makeText( getApplicationContext(), "Gps Enabled", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    }


    public void onStatusChanged(String provider, int status, Bundle extras)
    {

    }

}