Android Widget With Buttons, Remove Update

Question

I am creating a simple Android Widget that will have buttons that open different activities in the application.

public class ExampleAppWidgetProvider extends AppWidgetProvider {

  public void onUpdate(Context context, AppWidgetManager appWidgetManager, int[] appWidgetIds) {
    final int N = appWidgetIds.length;

    Log.i("ExampleWidget",  "Updating widgets " + Arrays.asList(appWidgetIds));

    // Perform this loop procedure for each App Widget that belongs to this
    // provider
    for (int i = 0; i < N; i++) {
      int appWidgetId = appWidgetIds[i];

      // Create an Intent to launch ExampleActivity
      Intent intentForHome = new Intent(context, WidgetExampleActivity.class);
      PendingIntent pendingIntentForHome = PendingIntent.getActivity(context, 0, intentForHome, 0);
      // Get the layout for the App Widget and attach an on-click listener
      // to the button
      RemoteViews views = new RemoteViews(context.getPackageName(), R.layout.widget1);
      views.setOnClickPendingIntent(R.id.button, pendingIntentForHome);

      // Create an Intent to launch Second Activity
      Intent intentForSecond = new Intent(context, SecondActivity.class);
      PendingIntent pendingIntentForSecond = PendingIntent.getActivity(context, 0, intentForSecond, 0);
      // Get the layout for the App Widget and attach an on-click listener
      // to the button
      views.setOnClickPendingIntent(R.id.button2, pendingIntentForSecond);


      // Tell the AppWidgetManager to perform an update on the current app
      // widget
      appWidgetManager.updateAppWidget(appWidgetId, views);
    }
  }
}

This works and opens the correct activity via each button. But I am just wondering, what the updatePeriodMillis is for. I don't need anything in the Widget to update and just want the buttons to open the application. Can I get rid of the update parts. I don't want my application to keep updating the widget.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<appwidget-provider xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:minWidth="294dp"
    android:minHeight="72dp"
    android:updatePeriodMillis="10000"
    android:initialLayout="@layout/widget1">
</appwidget-provider>

Also is this the correct way of performing button clicks from a Widget. I see in some tutorials that it is done differently? Thank you.

Dublicate: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5641134/how-to-disable-widget-updateperiodmillis — mik_os, Jan 09 '14 at 14:42

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 09 '14 at 14:45

0

updatePeriod is for refreshing the widget in some time interval. If you don't need this, set your updatePeriodMillis to 0.

edited Jan 09 '14 at 14:45

answered Jan 09 '14 at 14:42

Manu Zi

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Thank you. Can I also remove this line of code appWidgetManager.updateAppWidget(appWidgetId, views); Also is this the correct way of performing button clicks from a Widget. I see in some tutorials that it is done differently? – user3013243 Jan 09 '14 at 14:47

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 09 '14 at 15:50

This page describes how to create widgets with buttons. If you don't need to refresh your widget fix updatePeriodMillis to 0. Note that you cannot use updatePeriodMillis with a frequency lesser than 15 min and there is no guaranties about the refresh frequency (may have some delay). If you want to refresh with a fix frequency use Alarm or register to Intent.ACTION_TIME_TICK and manage it by yourself

For handling button event it's the right way to do that since it's the one mentioned by Android page (above).

Android Widget With Buttons, Remove Update

2 Answers2