Programmatically Register For BOOT_COMPLETED Broadcast

Question

I am trying to register my service to startup when the phone boots.

I have setup a BOOT_COMPLETED BroadcastReciever in my service class:

public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId)
{
    startService(intent);

    _bootCompletedReciever = new BroadcastReceiver()
    {
        @Override
        public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent)
        {
            Log.d(TAG, "Got boot completed");
        }
    };


    IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter("android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED");
    registerReceiver(_bootCompletedReciever, filter);

    return START_NOT_STICKY;
}

However it is not getting called. I have the permission set in my manifest:

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

Do you know what I am missing in getting this broadcast to fire in my service when the phone boots (without registering for the broadcast in the manifest)?

Answer

I had to use XML in this case to register a class that calls my service on boot:

public class BootBroadcastReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver
{
    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent)
    {
        Intent service = new Intent(context, S_GPS.class);
        context.startService(service);
    }
}

And in the manifest:

<receiver android:name=".BroadcastReceivers.BootBroadcastReceiver" android:enabled="true" android:exported="false">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED"/>
    </intent-filter>
</receiver>

Answer 1

The receiver you are registering there can't survive a reboot, it's impossible, because it is dynamically registered and the registration is lost at reboot.

What you CAN do, is to register a receiver in the manifest, but set that receiver to DISABLED, use this flag:

android:enabled=["true" | "false"]

Then you can programatically set it to enabled using the package manager

context.getPackageManager()
    .setComponentEnabledSetting(ComponentName componentName, int newState, int flags);

From the docs:

componentName   The component to enable
newState        The new enabled state for the component. The legal values for this state are: 
        COMPONENT_ENABLED_STATE_ENABLED, COMPONENT_ENABLED_STATE_DISABLED and COMPONENT_ENABLED_STATE_DEFAULT 
        The last one removes the setting, thereby restoring the component's state to whatever was set in it's manifest (or enabled, by default).
flags           Optional behavior flags: DONT_KILL_APP or 0.

See the package manager documentation for more info.

Answer 2

Who will start your service on boot up so that onstartcommand() would get called.?
That will not work. You have to register a receiver statically in manifest and do what you want in onReceive () of receiver.

Please take a look at this post.