Is there a good Kotlin wrapper for the Google Play Services Location API mess?

# android

[ribesg]

Is there a good Kotlin wrapper for the Google Play Services Location API mess?

[Bino]

If you’re interested in using LifecycleObserver this could be useful:https://github.com/thebino/LocationLifecycleObserver/blob/master/app/src/main/java/de/stuermerbenjamin/livedata/DeviceLocationObserver.kt

[ribesg]

Everything looks wrong about this code 🤮

[Bino]

wanna tell me what in specific it is, you don’t like?

[ribesg]

Why are you passing negative values to the location manager

[Bino]

Thats a valid point, fixed it right now. Anything else you might change?

[louiscad]

Not yet, but here's how to get a fresh location with a suspend call (be sure to catch the exceptions):

import android.Manifest
import android.location.Location
import androidx.annotation.RequiresPermission
import com.google.android.gms.location.LocationCallback
import com.google.android.gms.location.LocationRequest
import com.google.android.gms.location.LocationResult
import com.google.android.gms.location.LocationServices
import kotlinx.coroutines.CompletableDeferred
import kotlinx.coroutines.tasks.await
import splitties.init.appCtx
import splitties.mainthread.mainLooper

@RequiresPermission(Manifest.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION)
suspend fun getCurrentLocation(): Location {
    val request = LocationRequest().apply { numUpdates = 1; ... /* Put other config for your use case */ }
    val locationClient = LocationServices.getFusedLocationProviderClient(appCtx)
    val locationAsync = CompletableDeferred<Location>()
    locationClient.requestLocationUpdates(request, object : LocationCallback() {
        override fun onLocationResult(result: LocationResult) {
            locationAsync.complete(result.lastLocation)
        }
    }, mainLooper).await()
    return locationAsync.await()
}

[Bino]

Thanks @louiscad. The repo is a simple showcase, how to use lifecycle observer for location updates. But I could add a coroutine to fetch last known user location as another use-case to the sample

[louiscad]

Just edited my snippet, was missing LocationRequest config. @ribesg Is this what you was looking for?

[ribesg]

@louiscad does that show the popup if the GPS is disabled?

[louiscad]

@ribesg No, but it's possible to make a version that does so. Do you struggle making it?

[ribesg]

@louiscad well what you did in your snippet isn’t hard, the hard part is showing such popup. I don’t want to redirect users to the settings, I want to use the popup which directly enables the GPS, that’s what I did in my gist https://gist.github.com/Ribesg/58f5ba76270b139cf581a666bc2f66f5

[ribesg]

An invisible activity is the only solution I see unless I missed something

[louiscad]

@ribesg You can use a DialogFragment to simplify it. Here's an example on how to do it with runtime permissions: https://github.com/LouisCAD/Splitties/blob/61a4035ba3b18270dbfb0828436b5045bff44919/sample/src/androidMain/kotlin/com/louiscad/splittiessample/preview/permissions/PermissionRequestDialogFragment.kt#L13 & https://github.com/LouisCAD/Splitties/blob/61a4035ba3b18270dbfb0828436b5045bff44919/sample/src/androidMain/kotlin/com/louiscad/splittiessample/preview/permissions/SuspendPermissionRequest.kt#L18-L35

[ribesg]

@louiscad DialogFragment has onActivityResult?

[louiscad]

@ribesg Yes, like all `Fragment`s.

[ribesg]

@louiscad right but it’s still not an Activity. An Activity is required https://developers.google.com/android/reference/com/google/android/gms/common/api/ResolvableApiException#startResolutionForResult(android.app.Activity,%20int)

[louiscad]

Just be sure to not rely on onActivityResult in case the Activity was restarted, or the process was killed and restarted with the Activity

[louiscad]

You can use getResolution() instead, and start it from the Fragment

[ribesg]

Ok, I’ll look into that, thanks

[louiscad]

@ribesg This (decompiled with in-IDE JetBrains decompiler) shows how startResoltuionForResult just uses the PendingIntent. A Fragment has the same abilities thanks to its host `Activity`:

public final void startResolutionForResult(Activity var1, int var2) throws SendIntentException {
        if (this.hasResolution()) {
            var1.startIntentSenderForResult(this.zzi.getIntentSender(), var2, (Intent)null, 0, 0, 0);
        }
    }

[ribesg]

I’ll just drop the idea of using the google location API, it’s a mess and adds too many corner cases

[ribesg]

Aaaaand now I read and see that the “Vanilla” way is much slower, less accurate, depends on device manufacturer and uses more power, nice.

[louiscad]

In my case, I just detect with system API (not Play Services) if location is enabled, and if not, I take the user to the settings. I agree that it should be simpler. I'll let you know if I could make it a single suspending function that handles taking the user to settings.

[louiscad]

…and also handles continuing if user enables through quick settings.

[ribesg]

That’s what I’m doing too now, showing an alert and sending to settings
https://gist.github.com/Ribesg/5e02ee49431ea31d8e7d4f6f51d0bff1