Google glass: Is there a way to start speech recognition from a UI service?

Question

I have a glass app using LiveCards. As such, I don't explicitly have running activities, but just a background service that interacts with the LiveCard for information. At some point, I'd like to bring up a voice input. The problem is that the code samples tell you to use startActivityForResult, which isn't something I can do from within a service. So - is there a different way to bring this up, or can I not do this in my current configuration?

Answer 1

I was having this problem too, not with speech input but I needed to run an activity to get the information to display in a "low-frequency rendering" live card without the user bringing up a menu first. I think you could use an activity to get your text input then send it back to the service.

Most of the information on how to bind the service came from http://developer.android.com/guide/components/bound-services.html

MainService This is the service that is started by "ok glass, ..." The layout just has a single TextView with the id text.

public class MainService extends Service {

    private static final String LIVE_CARD_TAG = "my_card";

    private final IBinder mBinder = new LocalBinder();

    LiveCard mLiveCard;
    TimelineManager mTimelineManager;
    RemoteViews mViews;

    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();
        mTimelineManager = TimelineManager.from(this);
    } 

    public class LocalBinder extends Binder {
        MainService getService() {
            return MainService.this;
        }
    }

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

    public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
        mLiveCard = mTimelineManager.createLiveCard(LIVE_CARD_TAG);
        mViews = new RemoteViews(this.getPackageName(),R.layout.activity_main);
        mLiveCard.setViews(mViews);
        Intent mIntent = new Intent(this, MenuActivity.class);
        mIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
        mLiveCard.setAction(PendingIntent.getActivity(this, 0, mIntent, 0));
        mLiveCard.publish(LiveCard.PublishMode.REVEAL);
        new android.os.Handler().postDelayed(
                new Runnable() {
                    public void run() {
                        // run the test activity after the initial text has displayed
                        Intent testIntent = new Intent(getBaseContext(), TestActivity.class);
                        testIntent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
                        getApplication().startActivity(testIntent);
                    }
                }, 3000);
        return START_STICKY;
    }

    public void updateText(String textString) {
        mViews.setTextViewText(R.id.text,textString);
        mLiveCard.setViews(mViews);
    }

    @Override
    public void onDestroy() {
        if (mLiveCard != null && mLiveCard.isPublished()) {
            Log.d("debug", "Unpublishing LiveCard");
            mLiveCard.unpublish();
            mLiveCard = null;
        }
        super.onDestroy();
    }

}

TestActivity This is run after a delay from the MainService and updates the text on the live card automatically with no user input.

public class TestActivity extends Activity {

    MainService mService;
    boolean mBound = false;

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

    @Override
    protected void onStart() {
        super.onStart();
        Intent intent = new Intent(this, MainService.class);
        bindService(intent, mConnection, Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onStop() {
        super.onStop();
        if (mBound) {
            unbindService(mConnection);
            mBound = false;
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        new android.os.Handler().postDelayed(
                new Runnable() {
                    public void run() {
                        // this crashes if run right away, so give it a little time
                        mService.updateText("Updated from TestActivity");
                        finish();
                    }
                }, 500);
    }

    private ServiceConnection mConnection = new ServiceConnection() {
        @Override
        public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName className, IBinder service) {
            LocalBinder binder = (LocalBinder) service;
            mService = binder.getService();
            mBound = true;
        }
        @Override
        public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName arg0) {
            mBound = false;
        }
    };

}

MenuActivity This is the activity that is set as the pending intent for the live card. It brings up a menu to exit or update the text when the touchpad is tapped.

public class MenuActivity extends Activity {

    MainService mService;
    boolean mBound = false;

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

    @Override
    protected void onStart() {
        super.onStart();
        Intent intent = new Intent(this, MainService.class);
        bindService(intent, mConnection, Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onStop() {
        super.onStop();
        if (mBound) {
            unbindService(mConnection);
            mBound = false;
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        openOptionsMenu();
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
        inflater.inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        switch (item.getItemId()) {
            case R.id.stop:
                stopService(new Intent(this, MainService.class));
                return true;
            case R.id.update:
                mService.updateText("Updated from MenuActivity");
                return true;
            default:
                return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onOptionsMenuClosed(Menu menu) {
        finish();
    }

    private ServiceConnection mConnection = new ServiceConnection() {
        @Override
        public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName className, IBinder service) {
            LocalBinder binder = (LocalBinder) service;
            mService = binder.getService();
            mBound = true;
        }
        @Override
        public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName arg0) {
            mBound = false;
        }
    };
}