Android tutorial on work manager || Background Services || OneTimeWorkRequest

OneTimeWorkRequest :

Android Work Manager OneTimeWorkRequest is used to handle the background task which are deferable and asynchronously done.

Deferable means task can be done later not immediately and should be guaranteed that the work is to be done under any circumstance.

When the new versions of android operating system’s released to market they mainly concentrate on improving the battery life of the device and this led to effect the background services functioning.

All the services are being self stop so that they don’t consume much battery so here comes into the picture our work manager as a part of the jetpack component.

I have provided code in both the preferred programming languages for android i.e., java and kotlin.

Project Structure :

OnetimeWorkRequest project structure is depicted in this image.

 

Dependency :

Add dependency’s required for the project.

def work_version = "2.3.4"

// Kotlin + coroutines
implementation "androidx.work:work-runtime-ktx:$work_version"

// optional - RxJava2 support
implementation "androidx.work:work-rxjava2:$work_version"

// optional - GCMNetworkManager support
implementation "androidx.work:work-gcm:$work_version"

// optional - Test helpers
androidTestImplementation "androidx.work:work-testing:$work_version"

 

OneTimeWorkRequest :

Create a background worker class and add the task to be performed in the background by the work manager.

Here we can also specify the constraints required for the task to be performed like battery constraints, internet whether it is unlimited or limited network.

And also whether the device is busy in other task like calling, browsing etc., then it will wait till device is idle mode and then perform task like uploading /downloading images, videos and databases.

BackgroundTask.class :

Create a class extended by worker class

Add a sample task to log a data i.e.., uploading images in the do work method

d("oneTimeWorkRequest","Uploading photos in background")

 

Kotlin :

import android.app.NotificationChannel
import android.app.NotificationManager
import android.content.Context
import android.os.Build
import android.util.Log.d
import androidx.core.app.NotificationCompat
import androidx.work.Worker
import androidx.work.WorkerParameters

class BackgroundTask (context : Context, params : WorkerParameters)
    : Worker(context, params){
    override fun doWork(): Result {

        d("oneTimeWorkRequest","Uploading photos in background")

         return Result.success()
    }

}

 

Java :

import android.content.Context;
import android.util.Log;

import androidx.annotation.NonNull;
import androidx.work.Worker;
import androidx.work.WorkerParameters;

public class BackgroundTask extends Worker {
    public BackgroundTask(@NonNull Context context, @NonNull WorkerParameters workerParams) {
        super(context, workerParams);
    }

    @NonNull
    @Override
    public Result doWork() {

        Log.d("oneTimeWorkRequest","Uploading photos in background");

        return Result.success();
    }
}

 

activity_main.xml

Add a simple textview to layout because we don’t use the UI components in this project we only use toast to display.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Hello World!"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

 

MainActivity.class :

Add the constraints for the WorkManager,Constraints are like few conditions which are to be satisfied to do a work in background like having a UNMETERED internet

Having sufficient charge in device i.e., battery, whether device is in idle state or not and many more depending upon your requirement.

 

val constraints = Constraints.Builder().setRequiresCharging(true).setRequiredNetworkType(NetworkType.UNMETERED).build()

 

Request oneTimeWorkRequest using a Builder and provide our BackgroundTask class

val oneTimeWorkRequest = OneTimeWorkRequest.Builder(BackgroundTask::class.java).build()

 

Get work manager instance

val workManager = WorkManager.getInstance(this)

 

enqueue the oneTimeRequest to work manager

workManager.enqueue(oneTimeWorkRequest)

 

we can also observe the final response is it success or not

workManager.getWorkInfoByIdLiveData(oneTimeWorkRequest.id).observeForever {
    if(it != null){

        Log.d("oneTimeWorkRequest", "Status changed to ${it.state.isFinished}")

    }
}

 

Kotlin:

Providing the full kotlin code for OneTimeWorkRequest

import android.os.Bundle
import android.util.Log
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import androidx.work.*

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        val constraints = Constraints.Builder().setRequiresCharging(true).setRequiredNetworkType(NetworkType.UNMETERED).build()

        val oneTimeWorkRequest = OneTimeWorkRequest.Builder(BackgroundTask::class.java).build()
        val workManager = WorkManager.getInstance(this)
        workManager.enqueue(oneTimeWorkRequest)

        workManager.getWorkInfoByIdLiveData(oneTimeWorkRequest.id).observeForever {
            if(it != null){

                Log.d("oneTimeWorkRequest", "Status changed to ${it.state.isFinished}")

            }
        }

    }
}

 

Java :

Providing the full java code for OneTimeWorkRequest implementation.

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.Log;

import androidx.annotation.Nullable;
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import androidx.lifecycle.Observer;
import androidx.work.Constraints;
import androidx.work.NetworkType;
import androidx.work.OneTimeWorkRequest;
import androidx.work.WorkInfo;
import androidx.work.WorkManager;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(@Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        Constraints constraints = new Constraints.Builder().setRequiresCharging(true).setRequiredNetworkType(NetworkType.UNMETERED).build();

        final OneTimeWorkRequest oneTimeWorkRequest = new OneTimeWorkRequest.Builder(BackgroundTask.class)
                .build();

        WorkManager workManager =  WorkManager.getInstance(this);

        workManager.enqueue(oneTimeWorkRequest);

        workManager.getWorkInfoByIdLiveData(oneTimeWorkRequest.getId())
                .observe(this, new Observer<WorkInfo>() {
                    @Override
                    public void onChanged(@Nullable WorkInfo workInfo) {
                        if (workInfo != null) {
                            Log.d("oneTimeWorkRequest", "Status changed to : " + workInfo.getState());

                        }
                    }
                });
    }
}

 

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