Broadcast receiver Activity

If you want to catch a broadcasted intent on an Activity, you may get the following error:

1. 02-22 08:18:46.874: E/AndroidRuntime(276): java.lang.RuntimeException:Unable to instantiate receiver com.helloandroid.broadcasttest.BroadcastTestActivity$MyBroadcastReceiver:
2. ...
3. java.lang.InstantiationException:com.helloandroid.broadcasttest.BroadcastTestActivity$MyBroadcastReceiver
4.  
5.  
6. ...
7.  
8. 02-22 08:18:46.874: E/AndroidRuntime(276): Caused by:java.lang.InstantiationException:com.helloandroid.broadcasttest.BroadcastTestActivity$MyBroadcastReceiver

This is because you can't instantiate a receiver in an inner class.

Instead of inner receiver, you can manually instantiate a broadcast receiver yourself in the activity.

1.         private BroadcastReceiver       myBroadCastReceiver     =new BroadcastReceiver()
2.                 {
3.  
4.                                 @Override
5.                                 public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent )
6.                                 {
7.                                                 Log.d( "Broadcastreceiver: " + intent.getAction() + " package: "+intent.getPackage() + " @" + System.currentTimeMillis() );
8.                                 }
9.                 };

No need to set this receiver in the manifest xml file, register it in the activity's onresume method and unregister in the onpause:

1.     public void onResume() {
2.         super.onResume();
3.         ....
4.         registerReceiver(myBroadcastReceiver, newIntentFilter("your.custom.BROADCAST"));
5.     }
6.  
7.     public void onPause() {
8.         super.onPause();
9.         ...
10.         unregisterReceiver(myBroadcastReceiver);
11.     }
12.     ...
13. }

Thats all, the receiver will catch the broadcasts, if the activity is on the screen.

To broadcast custom intents, use the following method:

1.                 Intent broadCastIntent = new Intent();
2.  
3.                
4.  
5.                 broadCastIntent.setAction( "your.custom.BROADCAST" );
6.                 broadCastIntent.setPackage("com.helloandroid.broadcasttest" );
7.                
8.                 ApplicationObject.applicationContext.sendBroadcast(broadCastIntent );
9.  
10.                 Log.d( "Broadcast sent" );

The setPackage() method set an explicit application package name that limits the components the Intent will resolve to.