Call (and get the response for) a USSD Code, in the background?

Question

I'm wanting to write a widget displays the users' prepay balance, remaining data etc.

I'm thinking of automatically calling the USSD code which returns this data (will have to have a regex for each network), at intervals (not often, to save battery). This would have to be done in the background. I have an app at the moment which runs the ussd code and returns the result, so I think this should be possible - but I'm not sure how it would be done in the background.

I've seen the intents for Calling a number, but I'm not sure how to get the result, and I'm also thinking that that intent would cause the call screen to come up into the foreground?

The other option is to get the data by screen-scraping the result from the carrier's website/maybe wap site but that would result in data charges for the user, so I would prefer a solution using the USSD code.

Thanks in advance for any help - only started working on understanding android today so got quite a lot to learn :)

Answer 1

USSD is not yet supported on Android. There is a feature request for it: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=1285

Answer 2

You can send a USSD code by below code and also you need to add permission (This should be a run time permission after Marshmallow update)

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

    String code = "*" + Uri.encode("#") + 456 + Uri.encode("#");
    startActivity(new Intent("android.intent.action.CALL", Uri.parse("tel:" + code)));

And you can read USSD codes by AccessibilityService

Here is the example:

Service:

public class USSDService extends AccessibilityService {
    private static final String TAG = "USSDService";

    @Override
    public void onAccessibilityEvent(AccessibilityEvent event) {
        Log.d(TAG, "onAccessibilityEvent");
        String text = event.getText().toString();
        Log.d(TAG, text);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onInterrupt() {

    }

    @Override
    protected void onServiceConnected() {
        super.onServiceConnected();
        Log.d(TAG, "onServiceConnected");
        AccessibilityServiceInfo info = new AccessibilityServiceInfo();
        info.flags = AccessibilityServiceInfo.DEFAULT;
        info.packageNames = new String[]{"com.android.phone"};
        info.eventTypes = AccessibilityEvent.TYPE_WINDOW_STATE_CHANGED;
        info.feedbackType = AccessibilityServiceInfo.FEEDBACK_GENERIC;
        setServiceInfo(info);
    }
}

AndroidManifest.xml :

<service android:name=".services.USSDService"
                android:permission="android.permission.BIND_ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.accessibilityservice.AccessibilityService" />
    </intent-filter>
    <meta-data android:name="android.accessibilityservice"
                    android:resource="@xml/config_service" /> // created below
</service>

res/xml/config_service.xml :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<accessibility-service xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:accessibilityEventTypes="typeAllMask"
    android:accessibilityFeedbackType="feedbackSpoken"
    android:accessibilityFlags="flagDefault"
    android:canRetrieveWindowContent="true"
    android:description="@string/accessibility_description"
    android:notificationTimeout="100"
    android:packageNames="com.cootf.sims"
    android:settingsActivity="com.example.android.accessibility.ServiceSettingsActivity" />

Run the code --> Enable the accessibility through Settings --> Accessibility --> [Your app name] --> Enable. Job Done!

Answer 3

You can use the following code to call the ussd codes on android phone to check the balance and etc......

   String s=calledittext.getText.toString();//calledittext is editText on the 
  //screen   from  which  can get the number
          if((s.startsWith("*"))&&(s.endsWith("#"))){
            //if true then it is a USSD call----
            callstring=s.substring(0, s.length()-1);
            callstring=callstring+Uri.encode("#");

    Log.d("CALL TYPE---------->", "USSD CALL"); 
        }else{
            callstring=s;   
    Log.d("CALL TYPE---------->", "Not a USSD CALL");   
    //Intent i=new Intent(android.content.Intent.ACTION_CALL,Uri.parse("tel:"+output.getText().toString()));
    //startActivity(i);
        }
    Intent i=new Intent(android.content.Intent.ACTION_CALL,Uri.parse("tel:"+callstring));
    startActivity(i);