Android count down timer in background

Question

I have an Android app with manage a countdowntimer (class CountDownTimer) that it is shown in app screen, to show how much time left to arrive 00:00.

My problem now

Answer 1

First off, You need to use a Handler to operate the timer, but check out this great post to see if it helps:

How to set a timer in android

Android Developer Resources touch on this topic as well:

http://developer.android.com/resources/articles/timed-ui-updates.html

Answer 2

You must create your CountDownTimer class and extend it from Service class. By doing so your activity becomes a service and it runs in the background even if you close the application or the screen it doesnt matter it just does the task that you assign to it in the background .

Answer 3

The easiest way is use the service with timer async. You can download the source from here (Android Countdown Timer Run In Background)

Service Class:

package com.countdowntimerservice;


import android.app.Service;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.content.SharedPreferences;
import android.os.Handler;
 import android.os.IBinder;
import android.preference.PreferenceManager;
import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
import android.util.Log;

import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Calendar;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Timer;
import java.util.TimerTask;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class Timer_Service extends Service {

public static String str_receiver = "com.countdowntimerservice.receiver";

private Handler mHandler = new Handler();
Calendar calendar;
SimpleDateFormat simpleDateFormat;
String strDate;
Date date_current, date_diff;
SharedPreferences mpref;
SharedPreferences.Editor mEditor;

private Timer mTimer = null;
public static final long NOTIFY_INTERVAL = 1000;
Intent intent;

@Nullable
@Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
    return null;
}

@Override
public void onCreate() {
    super.onCreate();

    mpref = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(getApplicationContext());
    mEditor = mpref.edit();
    calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
    simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("HH:mm:ss");

    mTimer = new Timer();
    mTimer.scheduleAtFixedRate(new TimeDisplayTimerTask(), 5, NOTIFY_INTERVAL);
    intent = new Intent(str_receiver);
}


class TimeDisplayTimerTask extends TimerTask {

    @Override
    public void run() {
        mHandler.post(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {

                calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
                simpleDateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("HH:mm:ss");
                strDate = simpleDateFormat.format(calendar.getTime());
                Log.e("strDate", strDate);
                twoDatesBetweenTime();

            }

        });
    }

}

public String twoDatesBetweenTime() {


    try {
        date_current = simpleDateFormat.parse(strDate);
    } catch (Exception e) {

    }

    try {
        date_diff = simpleDateFormat.parse(mpref.getString("data", ""));
    } catch (Exception e) {

    }

    try {


        long diff = date_current.getTime() - date_diff.getTime();
        int int_hours = Integer.valueOf(mpref.getString("hours", ""));

        long int_timer = TimeUnit.HOURS.toMillis(int_hours);
        long long_hours = int_timer - diff;
        long diffSeconds2 = long_hours / 1000 % 60;
        long diffMinutes2 = long_hours / (60 * 1000) % 60;
        long diffHours2 = long_hours / (60 * 60 * 1000) % 24;


        if (long_hours > 0) {
            String str_testing = diffHours2 + ":" + diffMinutes2 + ":" + diffSeconds2;

            Log.e("TIME", str_testing);

            fn_update(str_testing);
        } else {
            mEditor.putBoolean("finish", true).commit();
            mTimer.cancel();
        }
    }catch (Exception e){
        mTimer.cancel();
        mTimer.purge();


    }

    return "";

}

@Override
public void onDestroy() {
    super.onDestroy();
    Log.e("Service finish","Finish");
}

private void fn_update(String str_time){

    intent.putExtra("time",str_time);
    sendBroadcast(intent);
}
}