How to use AccessibilityService?
I am studying AccessibilityService. I studied what is Accesibility Service and why we use it, what are advantages of Accessibility Service. So I tried to make a demo of Accessibility service to see how it works, that when a Email or any whatsapp, wechat message comes than in which method it goes But I didn't get success. As I started this project I get Exception on line StartService(i); So kindly look over this code and tell what mistake I am making, Your comment and suggestion will be so helpful for me and for AccessibilityService beginners.
The code I used
In the MainActivity...
public class MainActivity extends Activity {
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
Intent i = new Intent(MainActivity.this, MyService.class);
startService(i);
}
}
In the AccessibilityService class...
public class MyService extends AccessibilityService{
@Override
public void onAccessibilityEvent(AccessibilityEvent event) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
Log.i("Accessibility", "onAccessibilityEvent");
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "onAccessibilityEvent", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
@Override
public void onInterrupt() {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
Log.i("Interrupt", "Interrupt");
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "onInterrupt", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
@Override
protected void onServiceConnected() {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
super.onServiceConnected();
Log.i("Service", "Connected");
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "onServiceConnected", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
}
In the Manifest File...
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BIND_ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE" />
<application
android:allowBackup="true"
android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
android:label="@string/app_name"
android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
<activity
android:name="com.example.notifications.MainActivity"
android:label="@string/app_name" >
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
</intent-filter>
</activity>
<service
android:name="MyService"
android:permission="android.permission.BIND_ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE" >
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.accessibilityservice.AccessibilityService" />
</intent-filter>
<meta-data
android:name="android.accessibilityservice"
android:resource="@xml/accessibilityservice" />
</service>
</application>
In the res/xml folder i.e accessibilityservice.xml file...
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<accessibility-service xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:accessibilityEventTypes="typeNotificationStateChanged"
android:accessibilityFeedbackType="feedbackAllMask"
android:notificationTimeout="100" />
The logcat I got...
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.example.notifications/com.example.notifications.MainActivity}: java.lang.SecurityException: Not allowed to start service Intent { cmp=com.example.notifications/.MyService } without permission android.permission.BIND_ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1659)
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1675)
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1500(ActivityThread.java:121)
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:943)
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:130)
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:3701)
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507)
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:866)
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:624)
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): Caused by: java.lang.SecurityException: Not allowed to start service Intent { cmp=com.example.notifications/.MyService } without permission android.permission.BIND_ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): at android.app.ContextImpl.startService(ContextImpl.java:867)
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): at android.content.ContextWrapper.startService(ContextWrapper.java:336)
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): at com.example.notifications.MainActivity.onCreate(MainActivity.java:15)
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1047)
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1623)
06-29 01:58:40.798: E/AndroidRuntime(21707): ... 11 more
Answer
You can't "start" the AccessibilityService as they are not like other services where you can control their start/stop. Rather here the Android system controls starting and stopping them based on the settings the user has selected.
The best you can do is launch the Accessibility settings page and get the user to enable it for you:
Intent openSettings = new Intent(Settings.ACTION_ACCESSIBILITY_SETTINGS);
openSettings.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NO_HISTORY);
startActivity(openSettings);
Hope it helps!