Ambiguity updating multiple AppWidgets

Question

I have multiple widgets. On update for each i start a service Code in service:

for (int widgetId : allWidgetIds) {

// Register an onClickListener for DisplayActivity
            Intent clickIntentUpdate1 = new Intent(
                    this.getApplicationContext(), DisplayActivity.class);
            clickIntentUpdate1.putExtra("widgetid", widgetId);
            clickIntentUpdate1.putExtra(DisplayActivity.WHAT, what);
            clickIntentUpdate1.putExtra(DisplayActivity.WHAT_COLOR, prefs
                    .getString(QuoteConfigure.PREF_PREFIX_KEY_QUOTE_COLOR
                            + widgetId, "Transparent"));
            clickIntentUpdate1.putExtra(DisplayActivity.WHO, who);
            clickIntentUpdate1.putExtra(DisplayActivity.WHO_COLOR, prefs
                    .getString(
                            QuoteConfigure.PREF_PREFIX_KEY_QUOTE_BY_COLOR
                                    + widgetId, "Transparent"));
            clickIntentUpdate1.putExtra(
                    DisplayActivity.BG_COLOR,
                    prefs.getString(QuoteConfigure.PREF_PREFIX_KEY_QUOTE_BG
                            + widgetId, "Transparent"));
            PendingIntent pendingIntentUpdate1 = PendingIntent.getActivity(
                    getApplicationContext(), 0, clickIntentUpdate1,
                    PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);
            remoteViews.setOnClickPendingIntent(R.id.what,
                    pendingIntentUpdate1);
            Log.d("quoteSERVICE", what + " -> " + who);
            Log.d("quoteSERVICE", "what inside intent:"+clickIntentUpdate1.getExtras().getString(DisplayActivity.WHAT));
            Log.d("quoteSERVICE", "widgetid:"+widgetId);
            Log.d("quoteSERVICE", "--------------------");

            // Register an onClickListener for Who search
            Intent clickIntentSearch = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
            clickIntentSearch.setData(Uri
                    .parse("http://www.google.com/search?q=" + who));
            PendingIntent pendingIntentSearch = PendingIntent.getActivity(
                    getApplicationContext(), 0, clickIntentSearch, 0);
            remoteViews.setOnClickPendingIntent(R.id.who,
                    pendingIntentSearch);

            appWidgetManager.updateAppWidget(widgetId, remoteViews);
}
stopSelf();

Now the problem is:

I have two widgets and when they update intent on R.id.who is fired as it is supposed to be with the required data. However the event for R.id.what is not fired as it is supposed to be. The data sent on this event is the last values of what and who sent(i.e. the ones in the last widget to be updated.)

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 25 '14 at 16:32

Tim's answer is correct regarding the need to differentiate PendingIntents. The uniqueness requirement is by design, it's a feature not a bug. When they're not unique, Android reuses them.

A PendingIntent is unique when at least one of its parameter differ from other PendingIntents. In your code

PendingIntent pendingIntentUpdate1 = PendingIntent.getActivity(
                    getApplicationContext(), 0, clickIntentUpdate1,
                    PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);

your PendingIntents are identical because they are launched with the same parameters, and yes, it seems that a different content in extras does not count. Tim's solution works because it sends a different action for each widget instance: "foobar1", "foobar2", etc. That makes each intent distinct.

I've discovered this when trying to differentiate PendingIntents for each date in my calendar widget. Since it has 6 weeks and 7 days per week, and may have multiple widget instances, I needed to make distinct a tap in date i,j on widget #1 from date i,j on widget #2, for each one of the possible 42 combinations.

I solved this by assigning a different requestCode (2nd parameter) to each resource identifier (date):

Intent dateTapIntent = new Intent(Consts.WIDGET_CLICK_DATE)
                   .putExtra(AppWidgetManager.EXTRA_APPWIDGET_ID, awId)
                   .putExtra(Consts.SELECTED_DATE_EXTRA, getSelectedDate(awId, i-1, j-1));
int request = awId * 100 + i * 10 + j;
rv.setOnClickPendingIntent(identifier,
        PendingIntent.getBroadcast(mContext, request,
                                   dateTapIntent, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT));

The formula awId * 100 + i * 10 + j is what brings the uniqueness for each date among all widget instances.

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 09 '12 at 20:32

0

I could be wrong, but IIRC Android has a bug/quirk/feature that does not let you have multiple identical outstanding PendingIntents.

That means if you create two pending intents that differ only by extras, the first one will be forgotten and when the intent fires it will send the last intent that was set.

I think you can differentiate them by setting a bogus "Action", that while unused, causes android to not assume the two intents are the same, and your code will work how you expect.

Can you try inserting this statement below, and see if that fixes your problem?

Intent clickIntentUpdate1 = new Intent(
                this.getApplicationContext(), DisplayActivity.class);

clickIndentUpdate1.setAction("foobar" + String.valueOf(widgetId)); //NEW LINE

The action string itself does not matter, you just need each appwidget's intent to have a unique string, so that the intents are not combined.

answered Oct 09 '12 at 20:32

Tim

35,413
11
95
121

It did work. As is mentioned in your answer, are there anymore bugs related to widgets? However, I still don't understand the problem, why is the first **Intent** forgotten. – harshit Oct 10 '12 at 15:44
Android appears to not look at the content of extras when deciding if PendingIntents are unique. Therefore when it sees you creating a second intent, it says to itself "Is this exactly the same intent as the existing PendingIntent? Yes? Ok just use this intent for both cases". I'm not sure why it is this way. @harshit – Tim Oct 10 '12 at 15:46
but it actually not is. I mean the extras I pass is different. Also, it works for the other intent in which I am passing the Google query URI. How come? – harshit Oct 10 '12 at 18:21
I've said twice: **Android appears to not look at the content of extras when deciding if PendingIntents are unique.** @harshit – Tim Oct 10 '12 at 18:22

Ambiguity updating multiple AppWidgets

2 Answers2