how to create a service to interact with a content provider?

Question

    String strOrder = android.provider.CallLog.Calls.DATE + " DESC";

    Cursor mCallCursor = getContentResolver().query(
            CallLog.Calls.CONTENT_URI, null, CallLog.Calls.TYPE + "=?",
            new String[] { String.valueOf(CallLog.Calls.MISSED_TYPE) },
            strOrder);

    // get start of cursor
    if (mCallCursor.moveToFirst()) {

        // loop through cursor
        do {

            mCall = mCallCursor.getString(mCallCursor
                    .getColumnIndex(CallLog.Calls.NUMBER));

            Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), mCall + " ",
                    Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

        } while (mCallCursor.moveToNext());

    }

My app needs to run in the background using a service, but I don't know how to accomplish that. I created a class to access the call logs content provider, specifically the missed calls, so that when a certain number failed to reach the user for 3 consecutive tries, it will set the ringer on if the phone is silent.

Answer 1

Solved! I may have confused you with my question. what I did was I created a Started service class. override onStartCommand() in myService class after calling startService(intent) from the MainActivity class and create a new class that extends ContentObserver then overrride onChange() method in my ContentObserver class.

Answer 2

Check the documentation of AlarmManager, BroadcastReceiver and IntentService. You will need all of them because:

• You probably don't want your Service to be running all the time, but periodically (e.g. once every 2 minutes). For this you will need to register a broadcast with the AlarmManager, which your BroadcastReceiver will pick up periodically.
• You will be accessing a ContentProvider, and you always do that on a worker thread (and not the main thread) to avoid "Application Not Responding" errors. Starting an IntentService upon receiving a broadcast would ensure that you perform your queries (and resulting actions) in a worker thread (IntentService.onHandleIntent() is guaranteed to run off-main-thread) and because it is also a true Android Service your app is guaranteed to remain alive while you are processing.

I would go about it something like this:

• Create a BroadcastReceiver that listens for BOOT_COMPLETED and your own defined broadcast ACTION.
• Upon receiving BOOT_COMPLETED, register your broadcast ACTION with the AlarmManager. Let it fire periodically (AlarmManager.setRepeating()).
• Upon receiving the broadcast with your own custom ACTION in your BroadcastReceiver, start your IntentService (Context.startService()).
• In your IntentService, perform the required queries, set volume etc.