Start my Phonegap App at a specific Time (Alarm Clock)

Question

Ok, so I'm trying to make my Phonegap App start at a specific time, same functionality as an alarm clock. To this end i've tried to write my own plugin:

package de.ma;
import org.apache.cordova.api.PluginResult; 
import org.json.JSONArray;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.SharedPreferences;
import android.content.SharedPreferences.Editor;
import android.util.Log;
import android.app.AlarmManager;
import android.app.PendingIntent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import java.util.Calendar;
import android.os.SystemClock;
import com.phonegap.api.Plugin;

public class alarm extends Plugin {
@Override
public PluginResult execute(String arg0, JSONArray arg1, String arg2) {
    Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
    // add 5 minutes to the calendar object
    cal.add(Calendar.SECOND, 5);
    Intent intent = new Intent(ctx, AlarmReciever.class);
    intent.putExtra("alarm_message", "O'Doyle Rules!");
    // In reality, you would want to have a static variable for the request code instead of 192837
    PendingIntent sender = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(this, 192837, intent, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);

    // Get the AlarmManager service
    AlarmManager am = (AlarmManager) getSystemService(ALARM_SERVICE);
    am.set(AlarmManager.RTC_WAKEUP, cal.getTimeInMillis(), sender);

     return null;
}

}

But when compiling I get 3 errors:

1. AlarmManager am = (AlarmManager) getSystemService(ALARM_SERVICE); causes:

   ALARM_SERVICE cannot be resolved to a variable alarm.java

2. Intent intent = new Intent(ctx, AlarmReciever.class); causes:

   The constructor Intent(CordovaInterface, Class) is undefined alarm.java

3. PendingIntent sender = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(this, 192837, intent, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT); causes:

   The method getBroadcast(Context, int, Intent, int) in the type PendingIntent is not applicable for the arguments (alarm, int, Intent, int) alarm.java`

My receiver Java-File is called AlarmReciever.java.

If anyone sees what I'm doing wrong then I'd appreciate the help.

Answer 1

Like @shaish said, first to create a Context reference so that you can do Android operation:.

Context context = cordova.getActivity().getApplicationContext();

Use the context to create Intent, create PendingIntent and acquire system service.

Intent intent = new Intent(context, AlarmReciever.class);
...
PendingIntent sender = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(context, 192837, intent, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);
...
AlarmManager am = (AlarmManager) context.getSystemService(Context.ALARM_SERVICE);

Another issue is the AlarmReceiver class. It should be extending BroadcastReceiver:

public class AlarmReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {

    private static final String LOG_TAG = AlarmReceiver.class.getSimpleName();

    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        Log.d(LOG_TAG, "onReceive()");
    }
}

And you need to put it into AndroidManifest.xml:

    <application>
        ...
        <receiver android:name="de.ma.AlarmReceiver"/>
    </application>

Alternative to a BroadcastReceiver, if AlarmReceiver is an Activity, you can just use:

PendingIntent sender = PendingIntent.getActivity(context, 192837, intent, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);

which launches your Activity directly.