Why BroadcastReceiver works even when app is in background ?

Question

I am checking Internet connectivity in my app using BroadcastReceiver and I show an alert dialog if the connection is lost. It works fine. But my problem is that BroadcastReceiver works even if my app is in backgroung. So dialog pops up when internet connection is lost even if user is in some other app. This is totally ruining my app.

Has anyone got any idea how to restrict Broadcast receiver in the app only?

Here is my BroadcastReceiver :

 public class ConnectivityChangedReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver{

    @Override
    public void onReceive( Context context, Intent intent )
     {
        ConnectivityManager connectivityManager = (ConnectivityManager) context.getSystemService( Context.CONNECTIVITY_SERVICE );
    NetworkInfo networkInfo = connectivityManager.getActiveNetworkInfo();
    if (networkInfo != null && networkInfo.isConnected()) {
    } else {
        try{
            Intent i=new Intent(context, InternetDialogActivity.class);
            i.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
            context.startActivity(i);
        } catch(Exception e){
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
  }
}

And the activity is:

 public class InternetDialogActivity extends Activity implements OnClickListener{
   @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
      super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
      setContentView(R.layout.internet_dialog_box);
      getWindow().setLayout(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
      Button retryButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.retryInternetButton);
      retryButton.setOnClickListener(this);
    }

   public boolean checkConnectivity(){
       ConnectivityManager connectivityManager   = (ConnectivityManager) getSystemService(Context.CONNECTIVITY_SERVICE);
           NetworkInfo networkInfo = connectivityManager.getActiveNetworkInfo();

       if (networkInfo!=null && networkInfo.isConnected()) {
           finish();
           return true;
       } else {
           Intent intent = getIntent();
           finish();
           startActivity(intent);
           return false; 
      }
   }

   @Override
   public void onClick(View view) {
      switch(view.getId()){
         case R.id.retryInternetButton:
             try{
                 checkConnectivity();
             } catch(Exception e){
                 e.printStackTrace();
             }
             break;
       }
   }
   }

Here is how I declared receiver and activity in manifest:

  <receiver android:name="com.lisnx.service.ConnectivityChangedReceiver"
        android:label="NetworkConnection">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.net.conn.CONNECTIVITY_CHANGE"/>
        </intent-filter>
  </receiver>

  <activity android:name="com.lisnx.activity.InternetDialogActivity"
        android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden"
        android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Dialog" />

I have read that we can restrict BroadcastReceiver to work within the app by not declaring it in the manifest. But I don't know how will receiver work then? Please help me. I am stuck on it badly. Thanx in advance.

Answer 1

A BroadcastReceiver works when the app is in the background because the event that the receiver picks up are sent globally, and each app is registered to listen in on these, regardless of whether or not it is running.

To deal with this, in your BroadcastReceiver's onReceive code, check if your app is in the foreground.

There is one--and only one that I know of--consistently effective method to do this. You need to keep track of your pause/resume actions for your application. Ensure that you check this in every activity.

There is some sample code in this answer (solution #1). In your case, you would want to check MyApplication.isActivityVisible() == true as a validation before doing anything from your BroadcastReceiver.