Question

I have to send my current location details (lat & long) to server periodically (Ex: for every 5 minutes). Is there any best way? I know how to get the current location & how to send the details to server. But how do I repeat this in periodic intervals?

Answer 1

Register an alarm using AlarmManager to wake up after 5min when user open the application first time. create a service(fetch location and update to server) to run when alarm notifies your application. After the service finished the work , register for an alarm again to wake up after 5min. by this way you can achieve your task.

ref

Android: How to periodically send location to a server

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/AlarmManager.html

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/Service.html

1st Edit – Adding code sample

Step 1 – Create alarm manager and register alarm

AlarmManager alarmMgr = (AlarmManager) getSystemService(Context.ALARM_SERVICE);

Intent intent = new Intent(Main.this, YourWakefulReceiver.class);
bool flag = (PendingIntent.getBroadcast(Main.this, 0,
                intent, PendingIntent.FLAG_NO_CREATE)==null);
/*Register alarm if not registered already*/
if(flag){
PendingIntent alarmIntent = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(Main.this, 0,
                    intent, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);

// Create Calendar obj called calendar
        Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();

/* Setting alarm for every one hour from the current time.*/
int intervalTimeMillis = 1000 * 60 * 60; // 1 hour 
alarmMgr.setRepeating(AlarmManager.RTC_WAKEUP,
                        calendar.getTimeInMillis(), intervalTimeMillis,
                        alarmIntent);
}

Step 2 – Create Receiver class

public class YourWakefulReceiver extends WakefulBroadcastReceiver {

    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
            Intent service = new Intent(context, SimpleWakefulService.class);
            startWakefulService(context, service);
        }
    }
}

Setp 3 – Create Service class

public class SimpleWakefulService extends IntentService {

    private static String tagName = "YourService";

    public SimpleWakefulService() {
        super("YourService");
    }

    @Override
    protected void onHandleIntent(Intent intent) {
        // Start your location
        LocationUtil.startLocationListener();
        try {
        // Wait for 10 seconds
            Thread.sleep(1000*10);
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
        }
        //Stop location listener
        LocationUtil.stopLocationListener();
        // upload or save location
        uploadGps();

        SimpleWakefulReceiver.completeWakefulIntent(intent);
    }

}

Step 4 – Register service and receiver

<service android:name="com.envision.ghari.services.SimpleWakefulService"></service>
        <receiver android:name="com.envision.ghari.receivers.YourWakefulReceiver"></receiver>

Note : This code is to understand the implementation. It will not compile.