java - Code will only return 0.0, 0.0 GPS coordinate while throwing NullPointerException

Question

This is my n-th try with the Android Location API, and I just can't seem to get it to work properly. This tutorial seems like the most promising, but I can only seem to get this code to return a GPS coordinate of 0.0, 0.0 which isn't very useful...

There seems to be a clue in that getLocation() returns a java.lang.NullPointerException error, but I'm not sure where I should even start looking for it.

Here's the error:

 W/System.err: java.lang.NullPointerException
 W/System.err:     at android.content.ContextWrapper.checkPermission(ContextWrapper.java:557)

I tried making a new permissions block, pasted at the bottom, but it just gave the same error.

Can anyone please point me in the right direction here?

The code is split over two class-files: MainActivity.java and GPSTracker.java.

GPSTracker.java

    package com.tutorial.android.location.api;

// http://www.androidhive.xyz/2016/07/android-gps-location-manager-tutorial.html
// with some modifications, especially for new permissions

import android.Manifest;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.app.AlertDialog;
import android.app.Service;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.DialogInterface;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.content.pm.PackageManager;
import android.location.Location;
import android.location.LocationListener;
import android.location.LocationManager;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.IBinder;
import android.provider.Settings;
import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
import android.support.v4.app.ActivityCompat;
import android.util.Log;

public class GPSTracker extends Service implements LocationListener {
    private String TAG = "¤¤";
    private final Context mContext;

    public GPSTracker(Context mContext) {
        this.mContext = mContext;
        this.getLocation();
    }

    boolean isGPSEnabled = false;
    boolean isNetworkEnabled = false;
    boolean canGetLocation = false;

    Location location;
    double latitude;
    double longitude;

    private static final long MIN_DISTANCE_CHANGE_FOR_UPDATE = 10; // 10 meters
    private static final long MIN_TIME_BW_UPDATES = 1000 * 60 * 1; // 30 sec

    protected LocationManager locationManager;

    public Location getLocation() {
        try {

            if(locationManager == null) {
                locationManager = (LocationManager) mContext.getSystemService(LOCATION_SERVICE);
            }
            if(isGPSEnabled != true) {
                isGPSEnabled = locationManager.isProviderEnabled(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER);
            }
            if(isNetworkEnabled != true) {
                isNetworkEnabled = locationManager.isProviderEnabled(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER);
            }

            if (!isGPSEnabled && !isNetworkEnabled) {
                // no provider enabled :p
                Log.e(TAG, "getLocation() no provider :(");
            } else {
                this.canGetLocation = true;
                // get network location
                if (isNetworkEnabled) {
                    // permission block:
                    if (ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(this, Manifest.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION) != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
                        // TODO: Consider calling
                        //    ActivityCompat#requestPermissions
                        // here to request the missing permissions, and then overriding
                        //   public void onRequestPermissionsResult(int requestCode, String[] permissions,
                        //                                          int[] grantResults)
                        // to handle the case where the user grants the permission. See the documentation
                        // for ActivityCompat#requestPermissions for more details.
                        // return TODO;
                    } else {
                        Log.e(TAG, "getLocation() permission DENIED");
                    }
                    locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER, MIN_TIME_BW_UPDATES, MIN_DISTANCE_CHANGE_FOR_UPDATE, this);
                    if(locationManager != null) {
                        location = locationManager.getLastKnownLocation(LocationManager.NETWORK_PROVIDER);
                        if(location != null) {
                            latitude = location.getLatitude();
                            longitude = location.getLongitude();
                        }
                    }
                }
                // get GPS location
                if(isGPSEnabled) {
                    if(location == null) {
                        locationManager.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER, MIN_TIME_BW_UPDATES, MIN_DISTANCE_CHANGE_FOR_UPDATE, this);
                        Log.d(TAG, "getLocation() GPS Enabled");
                        if(locationManager != null){
                            location = locationManager.getLastKnownLocation(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER);
                            if(location != null) {
                                latitude = location.getLatitude();
                                longitude = location.getLongitude();
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            Log.e(TAG, "getLocation() ERROR...: " + e);
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        return location;
    }

    public double getLatitude() {
        if(location != null) {
            latitude = location.getLatitude();
        }
        return latitude;
    }

    public double getLongitude() {
        if(location != null) {
            longitude = location.getLongitude();
        }
        return longitude;
    }

    @Nullable
    @Override
    public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
        return null;
    }

    @Override
    public void onLocationChanged(Location location) {

    }

    @Override
    public void onStatusChanged(String provider, int status, Bundle extras) {

    }

    @Override
    public void onProviderEnabled(String provider) {
        // GPS is ON
        Log.d(TAG, "GPS is ON");
    }

    @Override
    public void onProviderDisabled(String provider) {
        // GPS is OFF
        Log.d(TAG, "GPS is OFF");
    }

    // GPS dialog
    public boolean canGetLocation() {
        return this.canGetLocation;
    }
    // don't really need this when testing
    public void showSettingsAlert() {
        AlertDialog.Builder alertDialog = new AlertDialog.Builder(mContext);

        alertDialog.setTitle(R.string.gps_settings_title);

        alertDialog.setMessage(R.string.gps_settings_msg);
        alertDialog.setPositiveButton(R.string.gps_settings_word, new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
            public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) {
                Intent intent = new Intent(Settings.ACTION_LOCATION_SOURCE_SETTINGS);
                mContext.startActivities(new Intent[]{intent}); // hm...
            }
        });
        alertDialog.show();
    }

    public void stopUsingGPS() {
        if(locationManager != null) {
            locationManager.removeUpdates(GPSTracker.this);
        }
    }
}

Rewritten but still not working permissions block in GPSTracker.java:

int permissionCheck = ActivityCompat.checkSelfPermission(this, Manifest.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION);
if(!(permissionCheck == PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED)) {
    if(ActivityCompat.shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale((Activity) mContext, Manifest.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION)) {
        // explanation :p
        Log.i(TAG, "NOpe...");
    } else {
        // request permission
        Log.d(TAG, "Requestion new permission");
        ActivityCompat.requestPermissions((Activity) mContext, new String[] {Manifest.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION}, 1);
    }
}

MainActivity.java

package com.tutorial.android.location.api;

import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.Log;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    String TAG = "¤";

    GPSTracker gps;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        gps = new GPSTracker(this);

        if(gps.canGetLocation()) {
            Log.i(TAG, "onCreate() GPS is ON");
            Log.i(TAG, "onCreate() " + gps.getLatitude()+ ", " + gps.getLongitude());
        } else {
            Log.d(TAG, "onCreate() GPS is OFF");
        }

    }
}

Answer 1

This tutorial seems like the most promising

It is truly awful code.

I can only seem to get this code to return a GPS coordinate of 0.0, 0.0 which isn't very useful

That is because it will only ever have a location if getLastKnownLocation() happens to return one. It is unlikely to do so.

Rewritten but still not working permissions block in GPSTracker.java:

There are two problems here:

1. You cannot request permissions from a service.

2. This is not a real service. The author of this code elected to create a class that extends Service without actually implementing or using the service properly. This is what is causing your NullPointerException, as this is not a properly initialized Context.

Can anyone please point me in the right direction here?

Throw all of this out.

FWIW, here is my sample app for using the LocationManager API.

The recipe is fairly simple:

Step #1: Get a LocationManager by calling getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE) on some Context. I happen to do that in a fragment:

  @Override
  public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setRetainInstance(true);

    template=getActivity().getString(R.string.url);
    mgr=(LocationManager)getActivity()
      .getSystemService(Context.LOCATION_SERVICE);
  }

Step #2: Call requestUpdates(), passing in something that implements LocationListener. In my case, that happens to be the fragment itself:

  @Override
  @SuppressWarnings({"MissingPermission"})
  public void onStart() {
    super.onStart();

    mgr.requestLocationUpdates(LocationManager.GPS_PROVIDER, 3600000,
      1000, this);
  }

Step #3: In onLocationChanged() of your LocationListener, do something with the Location that you get, which in my case is to execute an AsyncTask to get a weather forecast:

  @Override
  public void onLocationChanged(Location location) {
    new FetchForecastTask().execute(location);
  }

Step #4: Call removeUpdates() when you are done:

  @Override
  @SuppressWarnings({"MissingPermission"})
  public void onStop() {
    mgr.removeUpdates(this);

    super.onStop();
  }

And that's it (other than runtime permission stuff, which I abstract out into an AbstractPermissionsActivity).

If you want, use getLastKnownLocation() as an optimization, but do not rely upon it.