Run worker every time internet is available

Question

I am developing an Android app, and I used the Firebase JobDispatcher library to run a background job every time the user turns on Wi-Fi or mobile data, but unfortunately the library was deprecated and now the new WorkerManager is the way to go.

My question is how to run a job using the WorkerManager every time the internet is available only?

I have checked the WorkerManager library migration guide and documentation, but I couldn't achieve that using OneTimeWorkRequest or PeriodicWorkRequest.

Here is the code I used with the Firebase JobDispatcher library to achieve that.

FirebaseJobDispatcher dispatcher = new FirebaseJobDispatcher(new GooglePlayDriver(this));

Job networkJob = dispatcher.newJobBuilder()
        .setService(NetworkJobService.class)
        .setTag(Const.NETWORK_JOB_TAG)
        .setReplaceCurrent(true)
        .setLifetime(Lifetime.FOREVER)
        .setRetryStrategy(RetryStrategy.DEFAULT_LINEAR)
        .setRecurring(true)
        .setTrigger(Trigger.executionWindow(0, 0))
        .setConstraints(Constraint.ON_ANY_NETWORK)
        .build();

    dispatcher.schedule(networkJob);

Answer 1

The official WorkManager's documentation includes a migration guide for converting application from Firebase JobDispatcher to WorkManager.

The key point is that WorkManager allows, in a similar way to Firebase JobDispatcher, to set Constraints to your WorkRequest:

Constraints constraints = new Constraints.Builder()
    // The Worker needs Network connectivity
    .setRequiredNetworkType(NetworkType.CONNECTED)
    .build();

PeriodicWorkRequest request =
    // Executes MyWorker every 15 minutes
    new PeriodicWorkRequest.Builder(MyWorker.class, 15, TimeUnit.MINUTES)
        // Sets the input data for the ListenableWorker
        .setConstraints(constraints)
        .build();

This execute your worker every 15 minutes (the minimum interval) when there's a connection. The other limit you've to consider is that a Worker cannot be run for more than 10 minutes. After that interval the OS will stop your Worker.

Both limits came from the underlying JobScheduler API in the Android Framework.

Answer 2

Its better to initiate work manager once and set Constraint with Network Type which check is connection available in doWork() of Workmanager rather calling work manager again and again.

 setConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
                     .setRequiredNetworkType(NetworkType.CONNECTED)

Try this solution

import work manager

https://developer.android.com/jetpack/androidx/releases/work

Then initiate Worker class

PeriodicWorkRequest periodicWorkRequest = new PeriodicWorkRequest.Builder(WorkManagerDemo.class, 15, TimeUnit.MINUTES)
            .addTag("WorkManagerDemo").setConstraints(new Constraints.Builder()
            .setRequiredNetworkType(NetworkType.CONNECTED)
            .build();
    WorkManager.getInstance().enqueueUniquePeriodicWork("WorkManagerDemo", ExistingPeriodicWorkPolicy.KEEP, periodicWorkRequest);

where WorkManagerDemo class is

import android.content.Context;
import android.net.ConnectivityManager;
import android.net.NetworkInfo;
import android.support.annotation.NonNull;

import androidx.work.Worker;
import androidx.work.WorkerParameters;

public class WorkManagerDemo extends Worker {

    public WorkManagerDemo(@NonNull Context context, @NonNull WorkerParameters workerParams) {
        super(context, workerParams);
    }

    @NonNull
    @Override
    public Result doWork() {
        //do your work here
        return Result.success();
    }


}