android - show an alert dialog in broadcast receiver after a system reboot

Question

Good day, I am trying to show an alert dialog after a system reboot in a broadcast receiver. I have added the receiver in my manifest and called the required permission, but am getting an error in showing the dialog. Please How can i implement this correctly?.. Thank you

my code:

public void onReceive(final Context context, Intent intent) {
    Log.d(TAG, "received boot completed broadcast receiver... starting settings");


    String settings = context.getResources().getString(R.string.restart_setting);
        String yes = context.getResources().getString(R.string.Settings);
        String no = context.getResources().getString(R.string.Cancel);

              final AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(context);
                builder.setMessage(settings)
                       .setCancelable(false)
                       .setPositiveButton(yes, new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
    public void onClick(@SuppressWarnings("unused") final DialogInterface dialog, @SuppressWarnings("unused") final int id) 
   Intent config = new Intent(context, WeatherConfigure.class)
     context.startActivity(config);

    }
 })
    .setNegativeButton(no, new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
        public void onClick(final DialogInterface dialog, @SuppressWarnings("unused") final int id) {
             dialog.cancel();
        }
    });
  final AlertDialog alert = builder.create();
  alert.show();

    }

am getting this log error:

01-07 01:42:01.559: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(2004): Caused by: android.view.WindowManager$BadTokenException: Unable to add window -- token null is not for an application

01-07 01:42:01.559: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(2004): at android.view.ViewRoot.setView(ViewRoot.java:548)

01-07 01:42:01.559: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(2004):at android.view.WindowManagerImpl.addView(WindowManagerImpl.java:177)

01-07 01:42:01.559: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(2004): at android.view.WindowManagerImpl.addView(WindowManagerImpl.java:91)

01-07 01:42:01.559: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(2004):at android.app.Dialog.show(Dialog.java:288)

01-07 01:42:01.559: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(2004):at com.MuaaApps.MyWeatherUpdate.myWeatherBroadcastReceiver.onReceive(MyWeatherBroadcastReceiver.java:59)

01-07 01:42:01.559: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(2004): at android.app.ActivityThread.handleReceiver(ActivityThread.java:1994)

Answer 1

The problem is you are trying to show an AlertDialog from a BroadcastReceiver, which isn't allowed. You can't show an AlertDialog from a BroadcastReceiver. Only activities can display dialogs.

You should do something else, have the BroadcastReceiver start on boot as you do and start an activity to show the dialog.

Here is a blog post more on this.

EDIT:

Here is how I would recommend doing it. From your BroadcastReceiver start an Activity with an AlertDialog as such..

public class NotifySMSReceived extends Activity 
{
    private static final String LOG_TAG = "SMSReceiver";
    public static final int NOTIFICATION_ID_RECEIVED = 0x1221;
    static final String ACTION = "android.provider.Telephony.SMS_RECEIVED";

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter(ACTION);
        this.registerReceiver(mReceivedSMSReceiver, filter);
    }

    private void displayAlert()
    {
        AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(this);
        builder.setMessage("Are you sure you want to exit?").setCancelable(
            false).setPositiveButton("Yes",
            new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int id) {
                    dialog.cancel();
                }
            }).setNegativeButton("No",
            new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int id) {
                    dialog.cancel();
                }
            });
        AlertDialog alert = builder.create();
        alert.show();
    }

    private final BroadcastReceiver mReceivedSMSReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {

        @Override
        public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
            String action = intent.getAction();

            if (ACTION.equals(action)) 
            {
                //your SMS processing code
                displayAlert();
            }
        }
    }
}

As you see here I NEVER called setContentView(). This is because the activity will have a transparent view and only the alert dialog will show.