[android] Scheduling recurring task in Android

I'm designing an app that has a recurring task of sending presence to a dedicated server as long as the app is in foreground.

In my searches across the web I saw a few different approaches and wanted to know what is the best way of doing this.

What is the best way to schedule a server call?

The options I saw were:

1. Timer .

2. ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.

3. Service.

4. BroadcastReciever with AlarmManager.

What's your opinion?

EDIT:
The reason I need this is for a chat based app that sends all the user actions to a remote server.
i.e. user is typing a message, user is reading a message, user is online, user is offline etc.

This means that once every interval, I need to send the server what I'm doing, since I open a chat room with other people, they need to know what I'm doing.

Similar to the whatsapp message feedback mechanism:

EDIT #2:
Recurring tasks should now be scheduled almost always via the JobScheduler API (or FirebaseJobDispatcher for lower APIs) in order to prevent battery draining issues as can be read in the vitals section of the Android training

EDIT #3:
FirebaseJobDispatcher has been deprecated and replaced by Workmanager, which also incorporates features of JobScheduler.

I have created on time task in which the task which user wants to repeat, add in the Custom TimeTask run() method. it is successfully reoccurring.

 import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
 import java.util.Calendar;
 import java.util.Timer;
 import java.util.TimerTask;

 import android.os.Bundle;
 import android.view.View;
 import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
 import android.widget.Button;
 import android.widget.CheckBox;
 import android.widget.TextView;
 import android.app.Activity;
 import android.content.Intent;

 public class MainActivity extends Activity {

     CheckBox optSingleShot;
     Button btnStart, btnCancel;
     TextView textCounter;

     Timer timer;
     MyTimerTask myTimerTask;

     int tobeShown = 0  ;

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

    optSingleShot = (CheckBox)findViewById(R.id.singleshot);
    btnStart = (Button)findViewById(R.id.start);
    btnCancel = (Button)findViewById(R.id.cancel);
    textCounter = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.counter);
    tobeShown = 1;

    if(timer != null){
        timer.cancel();
    }

    //re-schedule timer here
    //otherwise, IllegalStateException of
    //"TimerTask is scheduled already" 
    //will be thrown
    timer = new Timer();
    myTimerTask = new MyTimerTask();

    if(optSingleShot.isChecked()){
        //singleshot delay 1000 ms
        timer.schedule(myTimerTask, 1000);
    }else{
        //delay 1000ms, repeat in 5000ms
        timer.schedule(myTimerTask, 1000, 1000);
    }

    btnStart.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener(){

        @Override
        public void onClick(View arg0) {


            Intent i = new Intent(MainActivity.this, ActivityB.class);
            startActivity(i);

            /*if(timer != null){
                timer.cancel();
            }

            //re-schedule timer here
            //otherwise, IllegalStateException of
            //"TimerTask is scheduled already" 
            //will be thrown
            timer = new Timer();
            myTimerTask = new MyTimerTask();

            if(optSingleShot.isChecked()){
                //singleshot delay 1000 ms
                timer.schedule(myTimerTask, 1000);
            }else{
                //delay 1000ms, repeat in 5000ms
                timer.schedule(myTimerTask, 1000, 1000);
            }*/
        }});

    btnCancel.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener(){

        @Override
        public void onClick(View v) {
            if (timer!=null){
                timer.cancel();
                timer = null;
            }
        }
    });

}

@Override
protected void onResume() {
    super.onResume();

    if(timer != null){
        timer.cancel();
    }

    //re-schedule timer here
    //otherwise, IllegalStateException of
    //"TimerTask is scheduled already" 
    //will be thrown
    timer = new Timer();
    myTimerTask = new MyTimerTask();

    if(optSingleShot.isChecked()){
        //singleshot delay 1000 ms
        timer.schedule(myTimerTask, 1000);
    }else{
        //delay 1000ms, repeat in 5000ms
        timer.schedule(myTimerTask, 1000, 1000);
    }
}


@Override
protected void onPause() {
    super.onPause();

    if (timer!=null){
        timer.cancel();
        timer = null;
    }

}

@Override
protected void onStop() {
    super.onStop();

    if (timer!=null){
        timer.cancel();
        timer = null;
    }

}

class MyTimerTask extends TimerTask {

    @Override
    public void run() {

        Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
        SimpleDateFormat simpleDateFormat = 
                new SimpleDateFormat("dd:MMMM:yyyy HH:mm:ss a");
        final String strDate = simpleDateFormat.format(calendar.getTime());

        runOnUiThread(new Runnable(){

            @Override
            public void run() {
                textCounter.setText(strDate);
            }});
    }
}

}

Quoting the Scheduling Repeating Alarms - Understand the Trade-offs docs:

A common scenario for triggering an operation outside the lifetime of your app is syncing data with a server. This is a case where you might be tempted to use a repeating alarm. But if you own the server that is hosting your app's data, using Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) in conjunction with sync adapter is a better solution than AlarmManager. A sync adapter gives you all the same scheduling options as AlarmManager, but it offers you significantly more flexibility.

So, based on this, the best way to schedule a server call is using Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) in conjunction with sync adapter.

Timer

As mentioned on the javadocs you are better off using a ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.

ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor

Use this class when your use case requires multiple worker threads and the sleep interval is small. How small ? Well, I'd say about 15 minutes. The AlarmManager starts schedule intervals at this time and it seems to suggest that for smaller sleep intervals this class can be used. I do not have data to back the last statement. It is a hunch.

Service

Your service can be closed any time by the VM. Do not use services for recurring tasks. A recurring task can start a service, which is another matter entirely.

BroadcastReciever with AlarmManager

For longer sleep intervals (>15 minutes), this is the way to go. AlarmManager already has constants ( AlarmManager.INTERVAL_DAY ) suggesting that it can trigger tasks several days after it has initially been scheduled. It can also wake up the CPU to run your code.

You should use one of those solutions based on your timing and worker thread needs.

I realize this is an old question and has been answered but this could help someone. In your activity

private ScheduledExecutorService scheduleTaskExecutor;

In onCreate

  scheduleTaskExecutor = Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(5);

    //Schedule a task to run every 5 seconds (or however long you want)
    scheduleTaskExecutor.scheduleAtFixedRate(new Runnable() {
        @Override
        public void run() {
            // Do stuff here!

            runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
                @Override
                public void run() {
                    // Do stuff to update UI here!
                    Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "Its been 5 seconds", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                }
            });

        }
    }, 0, 5, TimeUnit.SECONDS); // or .MINUTES, .HOURS etc.