Send SMS until it is successful

Question

I am trying to send an urgent SMS from my application. I have to make sure that the SMS is being sent successfully.

The SMS is being sent after the boot of the Android system and after a check is being made.

So I have a service class that handles the BOOT_COMPLETED intent-filter. This class makes a check and if something is true then it tries to send an SMS message via another class that "extends Service"

After it makes sure that the sms is successfully sent, both services (the one that handles the boot call and the one that sends the sms) must exit.

Question 1: How to make my sms sending function be called with a timeout without getting the application being unresponsive message? Currently I am using this (I don't know if it is the correct way to do it, though it works):

Timer mTimer = new Timer();
//wait a small timeout prior to sending the message.
mTimer.scheduleAtFixedRate(new TimerTask() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        this.cancel(); //I don't want to run the timer more than once
        sms_sender sms = new sms_sender();
        sms.sendSMS(phoneNumber, messageText);
    }
}, 30000, 30000); //run sendSMS() after 30 seconds

Question 2: How to implement the sendSMS function so as to retry every 30 seconds after realizing that the last attempt was a fail?

Question 3: How to stop both services after I realize that the SMS was successfully sent?

This is my code which does not work:

public class sms_sender extends Service {

    @Override
    public IBinder onBind(Intent arg0) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        return null;
    }

    final String SENT = "SMS_SENT";

    public void sendSMS(final String phoneNumber, final String message, final boolean check_result)
    {

        PendingIntent sentPI = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(this, 0, new Intent(SENT), 0);
        registerReceiver(new BroadcastReceiver(){
            @Override
            public void onReceive(Context arg0, Intent arg1) {
                if(!check_result)
                    return;
                switch (getResultCode())
                {
                    case Activity.RESULT_OK:
                        //exit
                        stopSelf();
                        return;
                    case SmsManager.RESULT_ERROR_GENERIC_FAILURE:
                    case SmsManager.RESULT_ERROR_NO_SERVICE:
                    case SmsManager.RESULT_ERROR_NULL_PDU:
                    case SmsManager.RESULT_ERROR_RADIO_OFF:
                        //try again in 1 minute
                        Timer mTimer = new Timer();
                        mTimer.scheduleAtFixedRate(new TimerTask() {
                            @Override
                            public void run() {
                                this.cancel(); //no need to run again, if it fails, this exact code will run again
                                sendSMS(phoneNumber, message, true);
                            }
                        }, 60000, 60000);
                        return;
                }
            }
        }, new IntentFilter(SENT));

        SmsManager smsManager = SmsManager.getDefault();
        smsManager.sendTextMessage(phoneNumber, null, message, sentPI, null);
    }
}

Currently the program crashes on the PendingIntent call. I tried to implement the BroadCastReceiver on the onCreate method using private member variables so as to call the sendSMS() function again through the onReceive method, but the onReceive never seemed to run.

-- EDIT --

So, this is my final working code. I guess that my case is special because it doesn't work on a UI thread. I have a Broadcast Receiver that runs on Boot. I am trying to send an SMS message until it is successfully sent.

This Boot Broadcast Receiver starts a service. This is some code from it:

public class service extends Service{

    static public service serv;
    //member variable. Initializing to null so as to know whether to unregister the service or not
    private BroadcastReceiver messageSent = null;

    ...
    ...
    @Override
    public void onStart(Intent intent, int startid)
    {
    serv=this; //will use this static variable in order to shutdown the service when the message is successfully sent
    ...
    ...
        if(somethingIsTrue()){
            //register receiver
            messageSent = new sent_message();
            registerReceiver(messageSent, new IntentFilter(sms_sender.INTENT_MESSAGE_SENT));
            startMessageServiceIntent(messageText, phoneNumber); //function code can be found on accepted answer
        }
    }
}

The sent_message class is the following:

public class sent_message extends BroadcastReceiver {

    private Context pubCon;

    private void startMessageServiceIntent(String message, String receiver) {
        Intent i = new Intent(pubCon, sms_sender.class);
        i.putExtra(sms_sender.EXTRA_MESSAGE, message);
        i.putExtra(sms_sender.EXTRA_RECEIVERS, new String[] { receiver });
        pubCon.startService(i);
    }

    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        pubCon=context;
        switch (getResultCode()) {
            case Activity.RESULT_OK:
                    //all went OK, stop the service where this is called from
                service.serv.stopSelf();
                break;
            case SmsManager.RESULT_ERROR_GENERIC_FAILURE:
            case SmsManager.RESULT_ERROR_NO_SERVICE:
            case SmsManager.RESULT_ERROR_NULL_PDU:
            case SmsManager.RESULT_ERROR_RADIO_OFF:
                    //try sending the message again after 30s
                new Handler().postDelayed(new Runnable(){
                    @Override
                    public void run(){
                        startMessageServiceIntent(service.messageText, service.phoneNumber);
                    }
                }, 30000);

                break;
        }

    }
}

And a simplified (accepts only one receiver) version of the sms_sender class is the following:

public class sms_sender extends IntentService {

    public static final String INTENT_MESSAGE_SENT = "message.sent";
    public static final String INTENT_MESSAGE_DELIVERED = "message.delivered";

    public static final String EXTRA_MESSAGE = "extra.message";
    public static final String EXTRA_RECEIVERS = "extra.receivers";

    public sms_sender() {
        super("sms_sender");
    }

    private static class IDGenerator {

        private static final AtomicInteger counter = new AtomicInteger();

        public static int nextValue() {
            return counter.getAndIncrement();
        }
    }

    public void sendSMS(String message, String receiver) {
        SmsManager sm = SmsManager.getDefault();

        PendingIntent sentPI = null;

        Intent sentIntent = new Intent(INTENT_MESSAGE_SENT);

        int sentID = IDGenerator.nextValue();
        sentPI = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(sms_sender.this, sentID, sentIntent,
                PendingIntent.FLAG_CANCEL_CURRENT);

        try {
            sm.sendTextMessage(receiver, null, message, sentPI, null);
        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
            System.out.println("Illegal argument");
        }
    }

    protected void onHandleIntent(Intent intent) {
        String message = intent.getStringExtra(EXTRA_MESSAGE);
        String[] receivers = intent.getStringArrayExtra(EXTRA_RECEIVERS);
        sendSMS(message, receivers[0]);
    }
}

Answer 1

Here is what I have done:

public class SMSSender extends IntentService {

public static final String INTENT_MESSAGE_SENT = "message.sent";
public static final String INTENT_MESSAGE_DELIVERED = "message.delivered";

public static final String EXTRA_MESSAGE = "extra.message";
public static final String EXTRA_RECEIVERS = "extra.receivers";

public SMSSender() {
    super("SMSSender");
}

private final String TAG = "SendSMS";


private static class IDGenerator {

    private static final AtomicInteger counter = new AtomicInteger();

    public static int nextValue() {
        return counter.getAndIncrement();
    }
}

private void sendSMS(String message, String[] receivers) {

    SmsManager sm = SmsManager.getDefault();

    ArrayList<String> parts = sm.divideMessage(message);

    PendingIntent sentPI = null;
    PendingIntent deliveredPI = null;

    Intent sentIntent = new Intent(INTENT_MESSAGE_SENT);

    int sentID = IDGenerator.nextValue();
    sentPI = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(SMSSender.this, sentID, sentIntent,
            PendingIntent.FLAG_CANCEL_CURRENT);

    Intent deliveryIntent = new Intent(INTENT_MESSAGE_DELIVERED);

    int deliveredID = IDGenerator.nextValue();
    deliveredPI = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(SMSSender.this, deliveredID,
            deliveryIntent, PendingIntent.FLAG_CANCEL_CURRENT);

    Log.i(TAG, "sending SMS: parts: " + parts.size() + " message: "
            + message);

    if (parts.size() > 1) {
        ArrayList<PendingIntent> sentIntents = null;
        ArrayList<PendingIntent> deliveredIntents = null;

        sentIntents = new ArrayList<PendingIntent>();
        deliveredIntents = new ArrayList<PendingIntent>();

        for (int i = 0; i < parts.size(); i++) {
            sentIntents.add(sentPI);
            deliveredIntents.add(deliveredPI);
        }

        for (String receiver : receivers) {
            try {
                sm.sendMultipartTextMessage(receiver, null, parts,
                        sentIntents, deliveredIntents);
            } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
                Log.e(TAG, "illegal receiver: " + receiver);
            }

        }
    } else {
        for (String receiver : receivers) {
            try {
                sm.sendTextMessage(receiver, null, parts.get(0), sentPI,
                        deliveredPI);
            } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
                Log.e(TAG, "illegal receiver: " + receiver);
            }
        }
    }
}

@Override
protected void onHandleIntent(Intent intent) {
    String message = intent.getStringExtra(EXTRA_MESSAGE);
    String[] receivers = intent.getStringArrayExtra(EXTRA_RECEIVERS);

    sendSMS(message, receivers);

}

And to use it:

    private void startMessageServiceIntent(String message, String receiver) {
        Intent i = new Intent(context, SMSSender.class);
        i.putExtra(SMSSender.EXTRA_MESSAGE, message);
        i.putExtra(SMSSender.EXTRA_RECEIVERS, new String[] { receiver });
        startService(i)
    }

Notice it supports multiple receivers, which this method does not demonstrate/use.

Remember in your manifest:

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

<service android:name="your.package.SMSSender" android:enabled="true" />

Optionally you can listen for when messages are sent and/or delivered:

@Override
protected void onCreate() {

    ...

    // ---when the SMS has been sent---
    private BroadcastReceiver messageSent; // <- stored as a field
    messageSent = new SentMessage(); 
    registerReceiver(messageSent, new IntentFilter(SMSSender.INTENT_MESSAGE_SENT));

    // ---when the SMS has been delivered---
    private BroadcastReceiver messageDelivered; // <- stored as a field
    messageDelivered = new MessageDelivered();
    registerReceiver(messageDelivered, new IntentFilter(
            SMSSender.INTENT_MESSAGE_DELIVERED));
}

@Override
protected void onDestroy() { // remember to unregister
    unregisterReceiver(messageSent);
    unregisterReceiver(messageDelivered );
}

I know this does not demonstrate answers to all your questions but I hope that it is sufficient.

Edit: Added my implementations of messageSent and messageDelivered

These are specific to my implementation, so includes some code that you cannot use, it is simply for demonstration.

Message sent:

public class SentMessage extends BroadcastReceiver {

private final String TAG = "SentMessage";

@Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
    long _id = intent.getLongExtra(EXTRA_ID, -1);
    long protocol_id = intent.getLongExtra(EXTRA_PROTOCOL, -1);
    Log.d(TAG, "SentMessage");
    switch (getResultCode()) {
    case Activity.RESULT_OK:
        Log.d(TAG, "RESULT_OK");
        if (MessageData.sentMessage(_id, protocol_id)) {
            try {
                Database.messageSent(_id);
            } catch (DatabaseRowNotFoundException e) {
                Log.e(TAG, e.toString(), e);
            }
        }
        break;
    case SmsManager.RESULT_ERROR_GENERIC_FAILURE:
        Log.d(TAG, "RESULT_ERROR_GENERIC_FAILURE");
        MessageData.postponeMessage(_id);
        ApplicationData.hasSignal(false);
        break;
    case SmsManager.RESULT_ERROR_NO_SERVICE:
        Log.d(TAG, "RESULT_ERROR_NO_SERVICE");
        MessageData.postponeMessage(_id);
        ApplicationData.hasSignal(false);
        break;
    case SmsManager.RESULT_ERROR_NULL_PDU:
        Log.d(TAG, "RESULT_ERROR_NULL_PDU");
        break;
    case SmsManager.RESULT_ERROR_RADIO_OFF:
        Log.d(TAG, "RESULT_ERROR_RADIO_OFF");
        MessageData.postponeMessage(_id);
        ApplicationData.hasSignal(false);
        break;
    }

}

Message delivered:

public class DeliveredMessage extends BroadcastReceiver {

private final String TAG = "DeliveredMessage ";


@Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {

    long _id = intent.getLongExtra(EXTRA_ID, -1);
    long protocol_id = intent.getLongExtra(EXTRA_PROTOCOL, -1);
    switch (getResultCode()) {
    case Activity.RESULT_OK:
        if (_id != -1 && MessageData.deliveredMessage(_id, protocol_id)) {
            try {
                Database.messageDelivered(_id);
                Cursor messageCursor = Database.getCursorByID(MessageOutboxContentProvider.CONTENT_URI, MessageOutboxContentProvider._ID, _id);
                messageCursor.close();
            } catch (DatabaseRowNotFoundException e) {
                Log.e(TAG, e.toString(), e);
            }
        }
        break;
    case Activity.RESULT_CANCELED:
        break;
    }
}

}

I was in the need for reliable sending too, so kept references to all pending messages in a database, which I would frequently scan for postponed messages. A message would get postponed if there is no radio, or the sending simply fails for whatever reason.

I also used GCM together with SMS to get the message delivered as fast as possible, sending messages using both channels at the same time.

Edit2: Oh well, might as well address the questions, we are almost there anyway:

Question 1: Since using IntentService the sending is done in the background.

You only want the sending to happen once after a delay so you should do this instead:

    new Handler().postDelayed(new Runnable() {

        @Override
        public void run() {
            // send sms
        }
    }, delay);

Question 2: Easy, when your sent message broadcast detects an error do the above method. You could add an extra information, besides receiver and message, counting the number of retries up until now so you have a chance of stopping the send/retry loop.

Question 3: The sending stops by itself, as it is an Intent Service. As for the other service the most simple approach, I think, would be to send a common broadcast, which is picked up by your main activity. This way you can get a hold of the service the right place and stop it.