Should I use PendingIntent.getService() or getBroadcast with AlarmManager?

47
votes

My app needs to grab some data from the web at a specific time each day. So I use an AlarmManager to schedule the task and that works ok.

But when looking at various examples there seems to be two ways to deal with the AlarmManager when it comes to the pending intent.

One uses PendingIntent.getBroadcast() to call a broadcast receiver when the alarm goes off and inside that receiver the service to do the real work is started.

Another approach is to use PendingIntent.getService() and call the service directly when that alarm goes off.

Can someone explain to me the difference between the two approaches so I can decide on which one to rely?

EDIT: One more question is where to acquire the wake lock when using getService()?

For example, when using a BroadcastReceiver I have the following line in onReceive():

WakeReminderIntentService.acquireStaticLock(context);

How should I acquire the wake lock if I instead call the service directly like:

PendingIntent pi = PendingIntent.getService(this, 0, new Intent(this, OnAlarmReceiver.class), PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);

Should I simply acquire it from within the service instead?

2
androidservicealarmmanager
It really doesn't matter one way or the other. You can use IntentService or Service, or a local or global Broadcast. You should be able to do the same in all of them. – IgorGanapolsky

2 Answers

21
votes

One uses PendingIntent.getBroadcast() to call a broadcast receiver when the alarm goes off and inside that receiver the service to do the real work is started.

it has one more step in starting service than

Another approach is to use PendingIntent.getService() and call the service directly when that alarm goes off.

then you should use the second approach as it is reducing your one step in execution..

14
votes

Reading your edit I presume you found out yourself: If you want to make sure that your service is started when using AlarmManager, you better take the detour of first sending to a receiver and acquiring a wake lock there. Otherwise it is possible that the phone will sleep before the requested service is launched. That's what the javadoc of AlarmManager says and I also read it in post by Google engineer.

So now for your edit: When to acquire the lock? The whole point of using the receiver is to acquire the lock within the onReceive() method of the receiver, because Android will not fall asleep during the execution of this method.

For an example see this question.