Internal broadcasts in android

Question

Is possible to launch broadcast with application scope? That is: broadcasts undetectable out of the application?

I was using broadcast for communicate some events to the UI. But recently I recycled some of my code for another app and I found that the broadcasts were awakening both applications (as it was expected). So I wonder if there is any way around this besides changing the value of "action" of Intent

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:51

5

You should use LocalBroadcastManager, its best alternative to normal broadcast, if you want intra application message passing. Read this post for implementation: how to use LocalBroadcastManager?.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:51

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answered Apr 26 '12 at 06:06

SohailAziz

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score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 28 '11 at 09:02

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Why do not you use observer-observable pattern to communicate among java classes in your application ?

answered Oct 28 '11 at 09:02

Saurabh

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This is not a good solution in Android as it is very prone to memory leaks. If a UI element, e.g. an Activity, is the observer, there are many situations where you may not properly remove it before the Activity is recycled. For example, if the Activity is killed by the sytem or crashes, you may still hold a reference to it in your observable. – Janus Varmarken Oct 29 '14 at 18:41

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 22 '12 at 20:55

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Use LocalBroadcastManager. You will need to include the support library, but this is a great solution for solving this issue as it is more efficient than sending a global broadcast through the system.

answered Apr 22 '12 at 20:55

Steve

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 28 '11 at 09:01

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Yes, you can use the component name via Intent.setComponent().

But if your broadcast is always going to be in-process, there's no need to use it, is there? You can just use a plain old function call...

answered Oct 28 '11 at 09:01

Reuben Scratton

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Lukap · Answer 5 · 2011-10-28T09:08:21.970

I think you will have to change your action, If you use setComponent that's explicit intent, then if that is fine for you it will work, but for implicit intent you can not restrict by application

There is cyanogenmod where you can sign your application and you can prevent instaling apps in you phone with different signature, which means ones you install something on phone no one will be able to install new app(except you) and this can restasure that no one will register receiver with the same action name as you

Note: using broadcast for inter communication in the app is wrong and slower than normal call to procedure (which is possible in your case). I do not see a reason why you shouldn't make a normal call.

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 28 '11 at 09:36

@Lukap: Signed applications is an essential feature in all Android versions to allow only authorized parties to provide updates/changes for an installed app.

Dev Guide:

All applications must be signed. The system will not install an application on an emulator or a device if it is not signed.

Plus:

Note: using broadcast for inter communication in the app is wrong

This is wrong. There are a number of reasons to use broadcast inside an application, and some situations where you really cannot live without it.

Internal broadcasts in android

6 Answers6