i want to call a thread after an interval in android

Question

I want to call a thread in android activity after a time interval like 5 or 10 mins. after that i want to send an automatic SMS in android, to any number. Please help me. I have idea about thread that we can do with this but the problem with that function is, it is calling over and over again. Thanks in advance

Its just that code. But it once calls, then sends sms repeatedly until we stop application. Please help me.

Thread timer = new Thread() 
        {
            @Override
            public void run() 
            {
                try 
                {

                    sleep(1000*60*2);

                } 
                catch (InterruptedException ex) 
                {
                    ex.printStackTrace();
                } 
                finally 
                {
                    String phone_number = "123456789"; // some phone number here
                    String text = 
                            "Hello this is an automatic SMS service informing you about the current status: \n" +
                            " City :" +cityName +"\n"
                            +"State :"     +stateName+"\n"
                            +"Country :"   +countryName +"\n";

                    SmsManager smsMgr = SmsManager.getDefault();
                    smsMgr.sendTextMessage(phone_number, "Hussnain Muavia", text, null, null);
                    txtLat.setText("SMS Sent");

                }
            }
        };
        timer.start();  

Answer 1

I would use a Timer with a TimerTask:

TimerTask myTimerTask = new TimerTask() {

    public void run() {
    //do your code here
    }
};

Timer myTimer = new Timer();

myTimer.schedule(myTimerTask, when you want to start?[im milliseconds for example], 300000[5mins]);

And if you don't want to execute the TimerTask again simply call. myTimer.cancel();

Notice Don't Forget to call myTimer.cancel(); in your onPause because otherwise the timer will continue executing and this Drains battery!

Update regarding your comment myTimer.schedule can take various Parameters. Interesting for you are this one:

myTimer.schedule(Runnable r, When to first execute, In which Interval);

Runnable r is your TimerTask which will be executed after When to first execute expired. If you want to start immediatly, simply pass 0. In which Interval if you put in there 50, then your TimerTask will be execute every 50ms, after When to first execute expired.

This should do the trick.

Hope it helps! ;)

Answer 2

Do it in Android way. Use AlarmManager to set repeated actions, then create custom BroadcastReceiver to perform specific action. This is example how to implement. It is more complex but it is more reliable and android nature way.

Answer 3

You want to use AlarmManager, that's the Android way. Everything else you will run into trouble. Do not use Handler.postDelayed because the callback will be dropped if the Looper exits before the timer is up:

Returns true if the Runnable was successfully placed in to the message queue. Returns false on failure, usually because the looper processing the message queue is exiting. Note that a result of true does not mean the Runnable will be processed -- if the looper is quit before the delivery time of the message occurs then the message will be dropped

Creating an alarm is easy.

AlarmManager am = (AlarmManager)context.getSystemService(Context.ALARM_SERVICE);
Intent i = new Intent(context, Alarm.class);
PendingIntent pi = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(context, 0, i, 0);
long FIVE_MINS_IN_MILLIS = 1000 * 60 * 5;
am.setRepeating(AlarmManager.RTC_WAKEUP, System.currentTimeMillis(), FIVE_MINS_IN_MILLIS , pi);