Using AlarmManager to start a Scheduled Activity

In this exercise, we are going to implement alarmManager to start a Scheduled Activity.

The main activity(AndroidScheduledActivity.java) start a AlarmManager to trigger BroadcastReceiver(MyScheduledReceiver.java) repeatly. In the onReceive() method of MyScheduledReceiver, it start another activity(MyScheduledActivity.java) indirectly. Such that the activity(MyScheduledActivity.java) will be start in scheduled interval.

main.xml, layout of the main activity

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  android:orientation="vertical"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="fill_parent"
  >
<TextView
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  android:text="@string/hello"
  />
<Button
  android:id="@+id/start"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  android:text="Start Scheduled Activity"
  />
</LinearLayout>

main activity, AndroidScheduledActivity.java

package com.exercise.AndroidScheduledActivity;

import java.util.Calendar;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.app.AlarmManager;
import android.app.PendingIntent;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;

public class AndroidScheduledActivity extends Activity {

  /** Called when the activity is first created. */
  @Override
  public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
      super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
      setContentView(R.layout.main);
      Button buttonStart = (Button)findViewById(R.id.start);
      buttonStart.setOnClickListener(new Button.OnClickListener(){

  @Override
  public void onClick(View arg0) {
   // TODO Auto-generated method stub
    Intent myIntent = new Intent(getBaseContext(),
      MyScheduledReceiver.class);

    PendingIntent pendingIntent
     = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(getBaseContext(),
       0, myIntent, 0);
  
    AlarmManager alarmManager
      = (AlarmManager)getSystemService(ALARM_SERVICE);
    Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
    calendar.setTimeInMillis(System.currentTimeMillis());
    calendar.add(Calendar.SECOND, 10);
    long interval = 60 * 1000; //
    alarmManager.setRepeating(AlarmManager.RTC_WAKEUP,
      calendar.getTimeInMillis(), interval, pendingIntent);
    finish();
  }});
  }

}

BroadcastReceiver, MyScheduledReceiver.java

package com.exercise.AndroidScheduledActivity;

import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;

public class MyScheduledReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {

@Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
 // TODO Auto-generated method stub

 Intent scheduledIntent = new Intent(context, MyScheduledActivity.class);
 scheduledIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
 context.startActivity(scheduledIntent);

}

}

Layout of the scheduled activity, layout_scheduledactivity.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  android:orientation="vertical"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="fill_parent"
  >
<TextView
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content"
  android:text="--- Scheduled Activity ---"
  />
<Button
  android:id="@+id/dismiss"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="fill_parent"
  android:text="Dismiss"
  />
</LinearLayout>

Scheduled activity, MyScheduledActivity.java

package com.exercise.AndroidScheduledActivity;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;

public class MyScheduledActivity extends Activity {

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
 // TODO Auto-generated method stub
 super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
 setContentView(R.layout.layout_scheduledactivity);

 Button buttonDismiss = (Button)findViewById(R.id.dismiss);

 buttonDismiss.setOnClickListener(new Button.OnClickListener(){

  @Override
  public void onClick(View arg0) {
   // TODO Auto-generated method stub
   finish();
  }});
}

}

Finally, update AndroidManifest.xml with new activity of MyScheduledActivity, and new receiver of MyScheduledReceiver.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.exercise.AndroidScheduledActivity"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0">
  <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="4" />

  <application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name">
      <activity android:name=".AndroidScheduledActivity"
                android:label="@string/app_name">
          <intent-filter>
              <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
              <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
          </intent-filter>
      </activity>
      <activity android:name=".MyScheduledActivity" />
      <receiver android:process=":remote"
                android:name="MyScheduledReceiver" />
  </application>
</manifest>

Download the files.

Next:
- Cancel Alarm using alarmManager.cancel(pendingIntent)

Related Article:
- A simple example of Alarm Service, using AlarmManager