WidgetUpdateHelper

This library helps managing the updates of widgets. Just update all your widgets on background thread with android.app.IntentService, that provides that library. It's provide an easy and simple way to update app widgets.

How to use WidgetUpdateHelper

WidgetBuilder

There is an abstract class WidgetUpdater, which has only two methods: abstract update(Context context, Bundle dataBundle, int... ids) and makeNotification(Context context) with default implementation.

public class SingleUpdater extends WidgetUpdater {
    @Override
    public void update(Context context, Bundle dataBundle, int... ids) {
        //This callback will be running on background thread
        AppWidgetManager appWidgetManager = AppWidgetManager.getInstance(context);
       
        try {
            //DB or Internet requests
            Thread.sleep(10000);
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        //make RemoteViews depends on dataBundle and update by widget ID
        RemoteViews remoteViews = new RemoteViews();
        for (int widgetId : ids) {
            appWidgetManager.updateAppWidget(widgetId, remoteViews);
        }
    }
    
    @RequiresApi(api = Build.VERSION_CODES.O)
    @Override
    public Notification makeNotification(@NonNull Context context) {
        //This callback will be also running on background thread
        
        //make custom notification if you need (WidgetUpdater already has default implementation)
        
        //this notification will be shown on Android Oreo devices and higher (don't forget about NotificationChannel)
        return new Notification();
    }
}

WidgetProvider

When creating your own widget you can use RemoteViewsUpdater annotation to link the WidgetUpdater's child with your android.appwidget.AppWidgetProvider as below. WidgetUpdateService is an android.app.IntentService which will invokes your WidgetUpdater by calling method updateWidgets(Context context, AppWidgetsProvider provider, Bundle dataBundle, int... ids).

@RemoteViewsUpdater(SingleUpdater.class)
public class ExampleSingleAppWidget extends AppWidgetProvider {
        @Override
        public void onUpdate(Context context, AppWidgetManager appWidgetManager, int[] appWidgetIds) {
             // trigger you WidgetUpdater by this call
             WidgetUpdateService.updateWidgets(context, this, bundle, appWidgetIds);
        }

        @Override
        public void onEnabled(Context context) {
             AppWidgetManager appWidgetManager = AppWidgetManager.getInstance(context);
             int[] widgetIds = appWidgetManager.getAppWidgetIds(
                           new ComponentName(context, ExampleSingleAppWidget.class));
           
             // add some params for RemoteViews
             Bundle bundle = new Bundle();
             //...
             // update widgets
             WidgetUpdateService.updateWidgets(context, this, bundle, widgetIds);
        }

        @Override
        public void onDisabled(Context context) {
            //...
        }
}

RemoteViews extensions

List of helper extensions on RemoteViews:

method public static void setBackgroundColor(android.widget.RemoteViews, @IdRes int viewId, @ColorInt int color);
method public static void setBackgroundResource(android.widget.RemoteViews, @IdRes int viewId, @DrawableRes int drawable);
method public static void setEnabled(android.widget.RemoteViews, @IdRes int viewId, boolean enabled);
method public static void setImageViewAlpha(android.widget.RemoteViews, @IdRes int viewId, @IntRange(from=0L, to=255L) int alpha);
method public static void setImageViewMaxHeight(android.widget.RemoteViews, @IdRes int viewId, @DimenRes int height);
method public static void setImageViewMaxWidth(android.widget.RemoteViews, @IdRes int viewId, @DimenRes int width);
method public static void setTextViewMaxLines(android.widget.RemoteViews, @IdRes int viewId, int lines);
method public static void setTextViewMinLines(android.widget.RemoteViews, @IdRes int viewId, int lines);
method public static void setTextViewPaintFlags(android.widget.RemoteViews, @IdRes int viewId, int flags);
method public static void setTextViewTextSize(android.widget.RemoteViews, @IdRes int viewId, @DimenRes float size);

Please, have a look at the example project, if you have problems with implementation

Integration

The library is published to the jitpack repository, your project's build.gradle must contain:

allprojects {
	repositories {
		...
		maven { url 'https://jitpack.io' }
	}
}

To use this library add following to your module's build.gradle:

dependencies {
    implementation 'com.github.HeyAlex:WidgetUpdateHelper:1.4'
}

Why to use

All updates are on background thread. So if you need to make RemoteViews depends on data from Database or Internet, that's what you need. Android P is also supported.

License

WTFPL