android register a permanent Broadcast Receiver

Question

I need to create a BroadcastReceiver which performs certain task immediately each time the device boots up. Also, when a certain button is clicked, the receiver should stop starting on boot. Can someone help me to manage that?

Answer 1

All you need to solve the first part of your question is to make a BroadcastReceiver for it and declare it in your Manifest as:

<receiver android:name=".MyBootReceiver"
        android:enabled="true"
>
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED" />
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.QUICKBOOT_POWERON" />
    </intent-filter>
</receiver>

The QUICKBOOT_POWERON is necessary for some devices that don't send the BOOT_COMPLETED broadcast. HTC devices like to use the quickboot one instead.

For the second part of your question, there are a few different ways you could accomplish this. You could simply set a value in SharedPreferences that your receiver checks every time it fires, and exit immediately if the value dictates such.

You could also disable the receiver in code:

getPackageManager().setComponentEnabledSetting( 
    new ComponentName( this, MyBootReceiver.class ),
        PackageManager.COMPONENT_ENABLED_STATE_DISABLED,
        PackageManager.DONT_KILL_APP );

You can enable it using the same method:

getPackageManager().setComponentEnabledSetting( 
    new ComponentName( this, MyBootReceiver.class ),
        PackageManager.COMPONENT_ENABLED_STATE_ENABLED,
        PackageManager.DONT_KILL_APP );

I am unsure of the persistence of this method. I use it in one of my apps, but it's not for a boot receiver, and it doesn't have to persist across boots. You'll have to experiment with it if you want to go that route.