android-Transferring Data Using Sync Adapters

>Although you can design your own system for doing data transfers in your app, you should consider using Android's sync adapter framework. 

Note: Sync adapters run asynchronously, so you should use them with the expectation that they transfer data regularly and efficiently, but not instantaneously. If you need to do real-time data transfer, you should do it in an AsyncTask or an IntentService.

>Even if your app doesn't use accounts, you still need to provide an authenticator component. If you don't use accounts or server login, the information handled by the authenticator is ignored, so you can provide an authenticator component that contains stub method implementations. You also need to provide a boundService that allows the sync adapter framework to call the authenticator's methods.

The following snippet shows an example of a stub authenticator class:

/*
 * Implement AbstractAccountAuthenticator and stub out all
 * of its methods
 */
public class Authenticator extends AbstractAccountAuthenticator {
    // Simple constructor
    public Authenticator(Context context) {
        super(context);
    }
    // Editing properties is not supported
    @Override
    public Bundle editProperties(
            AccountAuthenticatorResponse r, String s) {
        throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
    }
    // Don't add additional accounts
    @Override
    public Bundle addAccount(
            AccountAuthenticatorResponse r,
            String s,
            String s2,
            String[] strings,
            Bundle bundle) throws NetworkErrorException {
        return null;
    }
    // Ignore attempts to confirm credentials
    @Override
    public Bundle confirmCredentials(
            AccountAuthenticatorResponse r,
            Account account,
            Bundle bundle) throws NetworkErrorException {
        return null;
    }
    // Getting an authentication token is not supported
    @Override
    public Bundle getAuthToken(
            AccountAuthenticatorResponse r,
            Account account,
            String s,
            Bundle bundle) throws NetworkErrorException {
        throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
    }
    // Getting a label for the auth token is not supported
    @Override
    public String getAuthTokenLabel(String s) {
        throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
    }
    // Updating user credentials is not supported
    @Override
    public Bundle updateCredentials(
            AccountAuthenticatorResponse r,
            Account account,
            String s, Bundle bundle) throws NetworkErrorException {
        throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
    }
    // Checking features for the account is not supported
    @Override
    public Bundle hasFeatures(
        AccountAuthenticatorResponse r,
        Account account, String[] strings) throws NetworkErrorException {
        throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
    }
}

>  The following snippet shows you how to define the bound  Service :

/**
 * A bound Service that instantiates the authenticator
 * when started.
 */
public class AuthenticatorService extends Service {
    ...
    // Instance field that stores the authenticator object
    private Authenticator mAuthenticator;
    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        // Create a new authenticator object
        mAuthenticator = new Authenticator(this);
    }
    /*
     * When the system binds to this Service to make the RPC call
     * return the authenticator's IBinder.
     */
    @Override
    public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
        return mAuthenticator.getIBinder();
    }
}

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<account-authenticator
        xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:accountType="example.com"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:smallIcon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"/>

 <service
            android:name="com.example.android.syncadapter.AuthenticatorService">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.accounts.AccountAuthenticator"/>
        </intent-filter>
        <meta-data
            android:name="android.accounts.AccountAuthenticator"
            android:resource="@xml/authenticator" />
    </service>

> The following snippet shows you how to create the stub provider:

/*
 * Define an implementation of ContentProvider that stubs out
 * all methods
 */
public class StubProvider extends ContentProvider {
    /*
     * Always return true, indicating that the
     * provider loaded correctly.
     */
    @Override
    public boolean onCreate() {
        return true;
    }
    /*
     * Return no type for MIME type
     */
    @Override
    public String getType(Uri uri) {
        return null;
    }
    /*
     * query() always returns no results
     *
     */
    @Override
    public Cursor query(
            Uri uri,
            String[] projection,
            String selection,
            String[] selectionArgs,
            String sortOrder) {
        return null;
    }
    /*
     * insert() always returns null (no URI)
     */
    @Override
    public Uri insert(Uri uri, ContentValues values) {
        return null;
    }
    /*
     * delete() always returns "no rows affected" (0)
     */
    @Override
    public int delete(Uri uri, String selection, String[] selectionArgs) {
        return 0;
    }
    /*
     * update() always returns "no rows affected" (0)
     */
    public int update(
            Uri uri,
            ContentValues values,
            String selection,
            String[] selectionArgs) {
        return 0;
    }
}

<provider
        android:name="com.example.android.datasync.provider.StubProvider"
        android:authorities="com.example.android.datasync.provider"
        android:exported="false"
        android:syncable="true"/>

>  Since a second form of the constructor was added in Android platform version 3.0 to support the  parallelSyncs  argument, you need to create two forms of the constructor to maintain compatibility.

Note: The sync adapter framework is designed to work with sync adapter components that are singleton instances. Instantiating the sync adapter component is covered in more detail in the section Bind the Sync Adapter to the Framework.

The following example shows you how to implement AbstractThreadedSyncAdapterand its constructors:

/**
 * Handle the transfer of data between a server and an
 * app, using the Android sync adapter framework.
 */
public class SyncAdapter extends AbstractThreadedSyncAdapter {
    ...
    // Global variables
    // Define a variable to contain a content resolver instance
    ContentResolver mContentResolver;
    /**
     * Set up the sync adapter
     */
    public SyncAdapter(Context context, boolean autoInitialize) {
        super(context, autoInitialize);
        /*
         * If your app uses a content resolver, get an instance of it
         * from the incoming Context
         */
        mContentResolver = context.getContentResolver();
    }
    ...
    /**
     * Set up the sync adapter. This form of the
     * constructor maintains compatibility with Android 3.0
     * and later platform versions
     */
    public SyncAdapter(
            Context context,
            boolean autoInitialize,
            boolean allowParallelSyncs) {
        super(context, autoInitialize, allowParallelSyncs);
        /*
         * If your app uses a content resolver, get an instance of it
         * from the incoming Context
         */
        mContentResolver = context.getContentResolver();
        ...
    }

Note:  The sync adapter framework runs  onPerformSync()  on a background thread, so you don't have to set up your own background processing.

>For example, the following snippet shows you how to create a class that implements the bound Service, instantiates your sync adapter component, and gets the Android binder object:

package com.example.android.syncadapter;
/**
 * Define a Service that returns an IBinder for the
 * sync adapter class, allowing the sync adapter framework to call
 * onPerformSync().
 */
public class SyncService extends Service {
    // Storage for an instance of the sync adapter
    private static SyncAdapter sSyncAdapter = null;
    // Object to use as a thread-safe lock
    private static final Object sSyncAdapterLock = new Object();
    /*
     * Instantiate the sync adapter object.
     */
    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        /*
         * Create the sync adapter as a singleton.
         * Set the sync adapter as syncable
         * Disallow parallel syncs
         */
        synchronized (sSyncAdapterLock) {
            if (sSyncAdapter == null) {
                sSyncAdapter = new SyncAdapter(getApplicationContext(), true);
            }
        }
    }
    /**
     * Return an object that allows the system to invoke
     * the sync adapter.
     *
     */
    @Override
    public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
        /*
         * Get the object that allows external processes
         * to call onPerformSync(). The object is created
         * in the base class code when the SyncAdapter
         * constructors call super()
         */
        return sSyncAdapter.getSyncAdapterBinder();
    }
}

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<sync-adapter
        xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:contentAuthority="com.example.android.datasync.provider"
        android:accountType="com.android.example.datasync"
        android:userVisible="false"
        android:supportsUploading="false"
        android:allowParallelSyncs="false"
        android:isAlwaysSyncable="true"/>

 <uses-permission
            android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
    <uses-permission
            android:name="android.permission.READ_SYNC_SETTINGS"/>
    <uses-permission
            android:name="android.permission.WRITE_SYNC_SETTINGS"/>
    <uses-permission
            android:name="android.permission.AUTHENTICATE_ACCOUNTS"/>

<service
                android:name="com.example.android.datasync.SyncService"
                android:exported="true"
                android:process=":sync">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.content.SyncAdapter"/>
            </intent-filter>
            <meta-data android:name="android.content.SyncAdapter"
                    android:resource="@xml/syncadapter" />
        </service>

> The following code snippet shows you how to run  requestSync()  in response to an incoming GCM message:

public class GcmBroadcastReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
    ...
    // Constants
    // Content provider authority
    public static final String AUTHORITY = "com.example.android.datasync.provider"
    // Account type
    public static final String ACCOUNT_TYPE = "com.example.android.datasync";
    // Account
    public static final String ACCOUNT = "default_account";
    // Incoming Intent key for extended data
    public static final String KEY_SYNC_REQUEST =
            "com.example.android.datasync.KEY_SYNC_REQUEST";
    ...
    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        // Get a GCM object instance
        GoogleCloudMessaging gcm =
                GoogleCloudMessaging.getInstance(context);
        // Get the type of GCM message
        String messageType = gcm.getMessageType(intent);
        /*
         * Test the message type and examine the message contents.
         * Since GCM is a general-purpose messaging system, you
         * may receive normal messages that don't require a sync
         * adapter run.
         * The following code tests for a a boolean flag indicating
         * that the message is requesting a transfer from the device.
         */
        if (GoogleCloudMessaging.MESSAGE_TYPE_MESSAGE.equals(messageType)
            &&
            intent.getBooleanExtra(KEY_SYNC_REQUEST)) {
            /*
             * Signal the framework to run your sync adapter. Assume that
             * app initialization has already created the account.
             */
            ContentResolver.requestSync(ACCOUNT, AUTHORITY, null);
            ...
        }
        ...
    }
    ...
}

> The following code snippet shows you how to schedule periodic sync adapter runs:

public class MainActivity extends FragmentActivity {
    ...
    // Constants
    // Content provider authority
    public static final String AUTHORITY = "com.example.android.datasync.provider";
    // Account
    public static final String ACCOUNT = "default_account";
    // Sync interval constants
    public static final long SECONDS_PER_MINUTE = 60L;
    public static final long SYNC_INTERVAL_IN_MINUTES = 60L;
    public static final long SYNC_INTERVAL =
            SYNC_INTERVAL_IN_MINUTES *
            SECONDS_PER_MINUTE;
    // Global variables
    // A content resolver for accessing the provider
    ContentResolver mResolver;
    ...
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        ...
        // Get the content resolver for your app
        mResolver = getContentResolver();
        /*
         * Turn on periodic syncing
         */
        ContentResolver.addPeriodicSync(
                ACCOUNT,
                AUTHORITY,
                Bundle.EMPTY,
                SYNC_INTERVAL);
        ...
    }
    ...
}