AlarmManager never calling onReceive in AlarmRecei

Question

I still cannot get my AlarmReceiver class' onReceive method to fire. Does anything stick out as wrong with this implementation?

All this is supposed to do is wait a certain period of time (preferably 6 days) and then pop up a notification. (Can you believe there isn't a built in system for this? crontab anyone!?)

MyActivity and BootReceiver both set up an alarm under the necessary conditions. AlarmService kicks out a notification. And AlarmReceiver is supposed to catch the alarm and kick off AlarmService, but it has never caught that broadcast, and won't no matter what I do.

Oh, and I've been testing on my Droid X, 2.3.4. Project being built against API 8.

P.S. Most of this has been adapted from http://android-in-practice.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ch02/DealDroidWithService/

------------ MyActivity.java ------------

public class MyActivity extends Activity implements SensorEventListener {

    private void setupAlarm() {
        Log.i(TAG, "Setting up alarm...");
        AlarmManager alarmMgr = (AlarmManager) context.getSystemService(Context.ALARM_SERVICE);
        PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(context, 1, new Intent(context, AlarmReceiver.class), 0);

        // Get alarm trigger time from prefs
        Log.i(TAG, "Getting alarm trigger time from prefs...");
        SharedPreferences mPrefs2 = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(context);
        long trigger = SocUtil.getLongFromPrefs(mPrefs2, AlarmConst.PREFS_TRIGGER);
        Log.i(TAG, "Trigger from prefs: " + trigger + " (" + new Date(trigger).toString() + ").");

        // If alarm trigger is not set
        if(trigger == new Long(-1).longValue()) {
            // Set it
            trigger = new Date().getTime() + NOTIFY_DELAY_MILLIS;
            SocUtil.saveLongToPrefs(mPrefs2, AlarmConst.PREFS_TRIGGER, trigger);
            Log.i(TAG, "Trigger changed to: " + trigger + " (" + new Date(trigger).toString() + ").");

            // And schedule the alarm
            alarmMgr.set(AlarmManager.RTC, trigger, pendingIntent);
            Log.i(TAG, "Alarm scheduled.");
        }
        // If it is already set
        else {
            // Nothing to schedule. BootReceiver takes care of rescheduling it after a reboot
        }
    }

}

------------ AlarmService.java ------------

public class AlarmService extends IntentService {

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

   @Override
   public void onHandleIntent(Intent intent) {
      Log.i(AlarmConst.TAG, "AlarmService invoked.");
      this.sendNotification(this);
   }

   private void sendNotification(Context context) {
      Log.i(AlarmConst.TAG, "Sending notification...");
      Intent notificationIntent = new Intent(context, Splash.class);
      PendingIntent contentIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(context, 0, notificationIntent, 0);

      NotificationManager notificationMgr = (NotificationManager) context.getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);
      Notification notification = new Notification(R.drawable.icon, "Test1", System.currentTimeMillis());
      notification.setLatestEventInfo(context, "Test2", "Test3", contentIntent);
      notificationMgr.notify(0, notification);
   }
}

------------ AlarmReceiver.java ------------

public class AlarmReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {

   // onReceive must be very quick and not block, so it just fires up a Service
   @Override
   public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
      Log.i(AlarmConst.TAG, "AlarmReceiver invoked, starting AlarmService in background.");
      context.startService(new Intent(context, AlarmService.class));
   }
}

------------ BootReceiver.java ------------ (to restore wiped alarms, because stuff I schedule with the OS isn't important enough to stick around through a reboot -_-)

public class BootReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {

   @Override
   public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
      Log.i(AlarmConst.TAG, "BootReceiver invoked, configuring AlarmManager...");


      Log.i(AlarmConst.TAG, "Setting up alarm...");
      AlarmManager alarmMgr = (AlarmManager) context.getSystemService(Context.ALARM_SERVICE);
      PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(context, 1, new Intent(context, AlarmReceiver.class), 0);

      // Get alarm trigger time from prefs
      Log.i(AlarmConst.TAG, "Getting alarm trigger time from prefs...");
      SharedPreferences mPrefs2 = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(context);
      long trigger = SocUtil.getLongFromPrefs(mPrefs2, AlarmConst.PREFS_TRIGGER);
      Log.i(AlarmConst.TAG, "Trigger from prefs: " + trigger + " (" + new Date(trigger).toString() + ").");

      // If trigger exists in prefs
      if(trigger != new Long(-1).longValue()) {
          alarmMgr.set(AlarmManager.RTC, trigger, pendingIntent);
          Log.i(AlarmConst.TAG, "Alarm scheduled.");
      }
   }
}

------------ Manifest ------------

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

    <activity
        android:name=".MyActivity"
        android:label="@string/app_name" >
    </activity>

<receiver android:name="com.domain.app.BootReceiver">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED" />
    </intent-filter>
</receiver>

<receiver android:name="com.domain.app.AlarmReceiver"></receiver>

    <service android:name="com.domain.app.AlarmService"></service>

Answer 1

I solved this by not even using a BroadcastReceiver. Every single one of the tutorials and posts I read about how to do notification alarms (and that was A LOT) said to use a BroadcastReceiver, but apparently I don't understand something, or that's a load of crap.

Now I just have the AlarmManager set an alarm with an Intent that goes directly to a new Activity I created. I still use the BootReceiver to reset that alarm after a reboot.

This lets the notification work in-app, out-of-app, with the app process killed, and after a reboot.

Thanks to the other commenters for your time.

Answer 2

You must register your AlarmReceiver with an intent Action. like below. and the action string must be same to what action you are broadcasting by sendBroadcast() method..

like sendBroadcast(new Intent(""com.intent.action.SOMEACTION.XYZ""));

    <receiver android:name="com.domain.app.AlarmReceiver">

<intent-filter>
                <action android:name="com.intent.action.SOMEACTION.XYZ" />
            </intent-filter>
</receiver>

Answer 3

Here is some code I recently used to make a notification every hour (This is in my MainActivity):

AlarmManager am = (AlarmManager) getSystemService(ALARM_SERVICE);
Intent Notifyintent = new Intent(context, Notify.class);
PendingIntent Notifysender = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(this, 0, Notifyintent, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);
am.setInexactRepeating(AlarmManager.RTC_WAKEUP, cal.getTimeInMillis(), 3600000, Notifysender);

Then in Notify.java

import android.app.Notification;
import android.app.NotificationManager;
import android.app.PendingIntent;
import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
public class Notify extends BroadcastReceiver{

    @SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
          NotificationManager myNotificationManager = (NotificationManager) context.getSystemService(context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);
          Notification notification = new Notification(R.drawable.ic_launcher, "Update Device", 0);
          Intent notificationIntent = new Intent(context, MainActivity.class);
          PendingIntent contentIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(context, 0, notificationIntent, 0);
          notification.setLatestEventInfo(context, "Device CheckIn", "Please run Device CheckIn", contentIntent);
          notification.flags |= Notification.FLAG_HIGH_PRIORITY;
          myNotificationManager.notify(0, notification);
    }
}

Then lastly in the AndroidManifest.xml I have this in between the tags:

<receiver android:name=".Notify" android:exported="true">
         <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.NOTIFY" />
            </intent-filter>
</receiver>

I have the main code that I know works at the office, feel free to email me for more help as I faced the same issues.

email: sbrichards at mit.edu