android - Background service needs to send GPS location on server

Question

I have problem with my Android application. I need an application that will send in background GPS location every 10 minutes to the server (here I have WCF service that work). Application needs to send data even if it is closed. So I created a service (for test purposes) that sends to me time on server. But when I insert my code for getting GPS location in my service everything fails (stopped unexpectedly).

I have reed that you need to put some receiver or something but nothing so far works. So I will be very pleased if someone can help me.

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.biromatik.GPS"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="4" />

    <application
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name" >
        <activity
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:name=".ETMGPSServiceActivity" >
            <intent-filter >
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>
    <application
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:name=".MyApplication" >
    <service
        android:enabled="true"
        android:name=".MonitorService" >
    </service>
    <receiver
        android:enabled="true"
        android:name=".LocationReceiver" >
        <intent-filter >
            <action android:name="com.biromatik.intent.action.LOCATION" />
        </intent-filter>
    </receiver>
</application>


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

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




</manifest>

Answer 1

I've done this in my app to do the same thing you asked.

In my service I added this:

@Override
public void onStart(Intent intent, int startId) {

    super.onStart(intent, startId);
    addLocationListener();
}

private void addLocationListener()
{
    triggerService = new Thread(new Runnable(){
        public void run(){
            try{
                Looper.prepare();//Initialise the current thread as a looper.
                lm = (LocationManager)getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE);

                Criteria c = new Criteria();
                c.setAccuracy(Criteria.ACCURACY_COARSE);

                final String PROVIDER = lm.getBestProvider(c, true);

                MyLocationListener myLocationListener = new MyLocationListener();
                lm.requestLocationUpdates(PROVIDER, 600000, 0, myLocationListener);
                Log.d("LOC_SERVICE", "Service RUNNING!");
                Looper.loop();
            }catch(Exception ex){
                ex.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
    }, "LocationThread");
    triggerService.start();
}

public static void updateLocation(Location location)
{
    Context appCtx = MyApplication.getAppContext();

    double latitude, longitude;

    latitude = location.getLatitude();
    longitude = location.getLongitude();

    Intent filterRes = new Intent();
    filterRes.setAction("xxx.yyy.intent.action.LOCATION");
    filterRes.putExtra("latitude", latitude);
    filterRes.putExtra("longitude", longitude);
    appCtx.sendBroadcast(filterRes);
}


class MyLocationListener implements LocationListener
{

    @Override
    public void onLocationChanged(Location location)
    {
        updateLocation(location);
    }
}

NOTE: See that I use MyApplication.getAppContext(); that's because I'm using my own Application class to add the context. And then I have a BroadcastReceiver with this:

public class LocationReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {

    double latitude, longitude;

    @Override
    public void onReceive(final Context context, final Intent calledIntent)
    {
        Log.d("LOC_RECEIVER", "Location RECEIVED!");

        latitude = calledIntent.getDoubleExtra("latitude", -1);
        longitude = calledIntent.getDoubleExtra("longitude", -1);

        updateRemote(latitude, longitude);

    }

    private void updateRemote(final double latitude, final double longitude )
    {
        //HERE YOU CAN PUT YOUR ASYNCTASK TO UPDATE THE LOCATION ON YOUR SERVER
    }
}

the Application class:

public class MyApplication extends Application {


    private static Context context;

    /* (non-Javadoc)
     * @see android.app.Application#onCreate()
     */
    @Override
    public void onCreate() {            
        MyApplication.context=getApplicationContext();
    }

    public static Context getAppContext() {
        return MyApplication.context;
    }
}

Also in your manifest you need to add both:

<application
    android:icon="@drawable/icon"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:name=".MyApplication" >

    //YOUR ACTIVITIES HERE...

    <service
        android:enabled="true"
        android:name=".LocationService" >
    </service>

    <receiver
        android:enabled="true"
        android:name=".LocationReceiver" >
        <intent-filter >
            <action android:name="xxx.yyy.intent.action.LOCATION" />
        </intent-filter>
    </receiver>
</application>

Method to detect if the service is running I do this on my first Activity:

/**
 * Check location service.
 */
private void checkLocationService()
{
    Log.d("CHECK_SERVICE", "Service running: " + (settings.getBoolean("locationService", false)?"YES":"NO"));

    if(settings.getBoolean("locationService", false))
        return;

    Intent mServiceIntent = new Intent(this, LocationService.class);
    startService(mServiceIntent);
}

Obviously you need to control the SharedPreferences (settings) to set the locationService variable to true/false if the service is running (onStart) or not (onDestroy).