Android - Broadcast

Receivers
Dr. Fareed Ahmed Jokhio
Android - Broadcast Receivers
• Broadcast Receivers simply respond to broadcast messages from
other applications or from the system itself. These messages are
sometime called events or intents. For example, applications can also
initiate broadcasts to let other applications know that some data has
been downloaded to the device and is available for them to use, so
this is broadcast receiver who will intercept this communication and
will initiate appropriate action.
Android - Broadcast Receivers
• There are following two important steps to make
BroadcastReceiver works for the system broadcasted intents −
• Creating the Broadcast Receiver.
• Registering Broadcast Receiver
• There is one additional steps in case you are going to
implement your custom intents then you will have to create and
broadcast those intents.
Creating the Broadcast Receiver
• A broadcast receiver is implemented as a subclass
of BroadcastReceiver class and overriding the onReceive()
method where each message is received as a Intent object
parameter.
Creating the Broadcast Receiver
• public class MyReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
• @Override
• public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
• Toast.makeText(context, "Intent Detected.",
Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
• }
•}
Registering Broadcast Receiver
• An application listens for specific broadcast intents by
registering a broadcast receiver in AndroidManifest.xml file.
Consider we are going to register MyReceiver for system
generated event ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED which is fired
by the system once the Android system has completed the boot
process.
Registering Broadcast Receiver
Registering Broadcast Receiver
• <application
• android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
• android:label="@string/app_name"
• android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
• <receiver android:name="MyReceiver">
•
• <intent-filter>
• <action android:name="android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED">
• </action>
• </intent-filter>
•
• </receiver>
• </application>
Registering Broadcast Receiver
• Now whenever your Android device gets booted, it will be
intercepted by BroadcastReceiver MyReceiver and
implemented logic inside onReceive() will be executed.
• There are several system generated events defined as final
static fields in the Intent class. The following table lists a few
important system events.
Registering Broadcast Receiver
• 1 android.intent.action.BATTERY_CHANGED
• Sticky broadcast containing the charging state, level, and other
information about the battery.
• 2 android.intent.action.BATTERY_LOW
• Indicates low battery condition on the device.
• 3 android.intent.action.BATTERY_OKAY
• Indicates the battery is now okay after being low.
Registering Broadcast Receiver
• 4 android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED
• This is broadcast once, after the system has finished booting.
• 5 android.intent.action.BUG_REPORT
• Show activity for reporting a bug.
• 6 android.intent.action.CALL
• Perform a call to someone specified by the data.
Registering Broadcast Receiver
• 7 android.intent.action.CALL_BUTTON
• The user pressed the "call" button to go to the dialer or other
appropriate UI for placing a call.
• 8 android.intent.action.DATE_CHANGED
• The date has changed.
• 9 android.intent.action.REBOOT
• Have the device reboot.
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• If you want your application itself should generate and send
custom intents then you will have to create and send those
intents by using the sendBroadcast() method inside your activity
class. If you use the sendStickyBroadcast(Intent) method, the
Intent is sticky, meaning the Intent you are sending stays
around after the broadcast is complete.
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• public void broadcastIntent(View view) {
• Intent intent = new Intent();
• intent.setAction("com.tutorialspoint.CUSTOM_INTENT");
• sendBroadcast(intent);
•}
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• This intent com.tutorialspoint.CUSTOM_INTENT can also be
registered in similar way as we have regsitered system
generated intent.
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• <application
• android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
• android:label="@string/app_name"
• android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
• <receiver android:name="MyReceiver">
•
• <intent-filter>
• <action android:name="com.tutorialspoint.CUSTOM_INTENT">
• </action>
• </intent-filter>
•
• </receiver>
• </application>
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• Example
• This example will explain you how to
create BroadcastReceiver to intercept custom intent. Once you
are familiar with custom intent, then you can program your
application to intercept system generated intents. So let's follow
the following steps to modify the Android application we created
in Hello World Example chapter −
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• 1 You will use Android studio to create an Android application and
name it as My Application under a package
com.example.tutorialspoint7.myapplication as explained in the Hello
World Example chapter.
• 2 Modify main activity file MainActivity.java to add broadcastIntent()
method.
• 3 Create a new java file called MyReceiver.java under the package
com.example.tutorialspoint7.myapplication to define a
BroadcastReceiver.
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• 4 An application can handle one or more custom and system intents
without any restrictions. Every intent you want to intercept must be
registered in your AndroidManifest.xml file using <receiver.../> tag
• 5 Modify the default content of res/layout/activity_main.xml file to
include a button to broadcast intent.
• 6 No need to modify the string file, Android studio take care of
string.xml file.
• 7 Run the application to launch Android emulator and verify the
result of the changes done in the application.
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• Following is the content of the modified main activity
file MainActivity.java. This file can include each of the
fundamental life cycle methods. We have
added broadcastIntent() method to broadcast a custom intent.
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• package com.example.tutorialspoint7.myapplication;

• import android.app.Activity;
• import android.content.Intent;
• import android.os.Bundle;
• import android.view.View;
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• public class MainActivity extends Activity {

• /** Called when the activity is first created. */

• @Override
•
• public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
• super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
• setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
• }
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• // broadcast a custom intent.
•
• public void broadcastIntent(View view){
• Intent intent = new Intent();
• intent.setAction("com.tutorialspoint.CUSTOM_INTENT");
sendBroadcast(intent);
• }
•}
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• Following is the content of MyReceiver.java:
• package com.example.tutorialspoint7.myapplication;

• import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
• import android.content.Context;
• import android.content.Intent;
• import android.widget.Toast;
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• /**
• * Created by TutorialsPoint7 on 8/23/2016.
• */
• public class MyReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver{
• @Override
• public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
• Toast.makeText(context, "Intent Detected.", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
• }
•}
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• Following will the modified content of AndroidManifest.xml file.
Here we have added <receiver.../> tag to include our service:
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• <receiver.../> tag to include our service:

• <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

• <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
• package="com.example.tutorialspoint7.myapplication">

• <application
• android:allowBackup="true"
• android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
• android:label="@string/app_name"
• android:supportsRtl="true"
• android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
Broadcasting Custom Intents
•
• <activity android:name=".MainActivity">
• <intent-filter>
• <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

• <category
android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
• </intent-filter>
• </activity>
Broadcasting Custom Intents
•
• <receiver android:name="MyReceiver">
• <intent-filter>
• <action android:name="com.tutorialspoint.CUSTOM_INTENT">
• </action>
• </intent-filter>

• </receiver>
• </application>

• </manifest>
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• Following will be the content
of res/layout/activity_main.xml file to include a button to
broadcast our custom intent −
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• <RelativeLayout
• xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
• xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
• android:layout_width="match_parent"
• android:layout_height="match_parent"
• android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
• android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
• android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
• android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
• tools:context=".MainActivity">
Broadcasting Custom Intents
•
• <TextView
• android:id="@+id/textView1"
• android:layout_width="wrap_content"
• android:layout_height="wrap_content"
• android:text="Example of Broadcast"
• android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
• android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
• android:textSize="30dp" />
Broadcasting Custom Intents
•
• <TextView
• android:id="@+id/textView2"
• android:layout_width="wrap_content"
• android:layout_height="wrap_content"
• android:text="Tutorials point "
• android:textColor="#ff87ff09"
• android:textSize="30dp"
• android:layout_above="@+id/imageButton"
• android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
• android:layout_marginBottom="40dp" />
Broadcasting Custom Intents
•
• <ImageButton
• android:layout_width="wrap_content"
• android:layout_height="wrap_content"
• android:id="@+id/imageButton"
• android:src="@drawable/abc"
• android:layout_centerVertical="true"
• android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" />
•
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• <Button
• android:layout_width="wrap_content"
• android:layout_height="wrap_content"
• android:id="@+id/button2"
• android:text="Broadcast Intent"
• android:onClick="broadcastIntent"
• android:layout_below="@+id/imageButton"
• android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" />

• </RelativeLayout>
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• Let's try to run our modified Hello World! application we just
modified. I assume you had created your AVD while doing
environment set-up. To run the app from Android studio, open one of
your project's activity files and click Run icon from the tool bar.
Android Studio installs the app on your AVD and starts it and if
everything is fine with your set-up and application, it will display
following Emulator window −
Broadcasting Custom Intents
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• Now to broadcast our custom intent, let's click on Broadcast
Intent button, this will broadcast our custom
intent "com.tutorialspoint.CUSTOM_INTENT" which will be
intercepted by our registered BroadcastReceiver i.e.
MyReceiver and as per our implemented logic a toast will
appear on the bottom of the the simulator as follows −
Broadcasting Custom Intents
Broadcasting Custom Intents
• You can try implementing other BroadcastReceiver to intercept
system generated intents like system boot up, date changed,
low battery etc.