Make a Timer App: Settings (Ep 5) - Android Kotlin Tutorial

In this course you will learn how to make a user interface. Later we’re going to code a timer which can run in the foreground. Then we are going to upgrade it to be able to run also in the background – and we will control it from notifications! Finally we will create a settings activity where a user will be able to set the length of the timer.

In this fifth and final part we’re creating settings for our timer app! They are pretty simple – we will be able to set the length of the timer. You will learn how to work with Android’s preferences so let’s get to it!

This post contains all the code that’s been written in this YouTube video.

You can also check out this GitHub repository: https://github.com/ResoCoder/TimerAppAndroidTutorial

preferences.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceScreen xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">

    <com.pavelsikun.seekbarpreference.SeekBarPreferenceCompat
        android:key="com.resocoder.timer.timer_length"
        android:title="Timer Length"
        android:summary="For how many minutes should the timer run?"
        android:defaultValue="10"
        app:msbp_minValue="1"
        app:msbp_maxValue="60"
        app:msbp_interval="1"
        app:msbp_measurementUnit="minutes"
        app:msbp_dialogEnabled="true"/>

</android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceScreen>

SettingsActivity.kt

package com.resocoder.timertutorial

import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity
import android.os.Bundle
import kotlinx.android.synthetic.main.activity_timer.*

class SettingsActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_settings)
        setSupportActionBar(toolbar)
        supportActionBar?.setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true)
        supportActionBar?.title = "Settings"
    }
}

SettingsActivityFragment.kt

package com.resocoder.timertutorial

import android.os.Bundle
import android.support.v7.preference.PreferenceFragmentCompat


class SettingsActivityFragment : PreferenceFragmentCompat() {
    override fun onCreatePreferences(savedInstanceState: Bundle?, rootKey: String?) {
        addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.preferences)
    }
}

PrefUtil.kt

package com.resocoder.timertutorial.util

import android.content.Context
import android.preference.PreferenceManager
import com.resocoder.timertutorial.TimerActivity


class PrefUtil {
    companion object {

        private const val TIMER_LENGTH_ID = "com.resocoder.timer.timer_length"
        fun getTimerLength(context: Context): Int{
            val preferences = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(context)
            return preferences.getInt(TIMER_LENGTH_ID, 10)
        }

        ...

    }
}

activity_settings.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context="com.resocoder.timertutorial.SettingsActivity">

    <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme.AppBarOverlay">

        <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
            android:id="@+id/toolbar"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
            android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
            app:popupTheme="@style/AppTheme.PopupOverlay" />

    </android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/fragment"
        android:name="com.resocoder.timertutorial.SettingsActivityFragment"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior"/>

</android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

TimerActivity.kt

...

override fun onOptionsItemSelected(item: MenuItem): Boolean {
    // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
    // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
    // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
    return when (item.itemId) {
        R.id.action_settings -> {
            val intent = Intent(this, SettingsActivity::class.java)
            startActivity(intent)
            true
        }
        else -> super.onOptionsItemSelected(item)
    }
}

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About the author

Matt Rešetár

Matt is an app developer with a knack for teaching others. Working as a freelancer and most importantly developer educator, he is set on helping other people succeed in their Flutter app development career.

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Cool tutorial, thanks!

one question:
If I want to set the timer to 6 hours, how can I handle doze mode?

Matej Rešetár says:

April 14, 2018 at 20:45

I’m not entirely sure because I’ve never done it but in the docs it writes that you should set the alarm by calling setAndAllowWhileIdle(). https://developer.android.com/training/monitoring-device-state/doze-standby.html

Reply

Hi there,

Thanks for you tuturial, it has been a pleasure learning with you.

I have just a question. When the timer is running and I go to settings and set another time, and you go back, timer still running and if you press stop button, doesn’t stop the timer and set the new time.

Do you know where could be the mistake?

Thanks

org.gradle.api.tasks.TaskExecutionException: Execution failed for task ‘:app:processDebugManifest’.
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.executeActions(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:110)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.execute(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:77)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.OutputDirectoryCreatingTaskExecuter.execute(OutputDirectoryCreatingTaskExecuter.java:51)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipUpToDateTaskExecuter.execute(SkipUpToDateTaskExecuter.java:59)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ResolveTaskOutputCachingStateExecuter.execute(ResolveTaskOutputCachingStateExecuter.java:54)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ValidatingTaskExecuter.execute(ValidatingTaskExecuter.java:59)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipEmptySourceFilesTaskExecuter.execute(SkipEmptySourceFilesTaskExecuter.java:101)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.FinalizeInputFilePropertiesTaskExecuter.execute(FinalizeInputFilePropertiesTaskExecuter.java:44)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.CleanupStaleOutputsExecuter.execute(CleanupStaleOutputsExecuter.java:91)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ResolveTaskArtifactStateTaskExecuter.execute(ResolveTaskArtifactStateTaskExecuter.java:62)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipTaskWithNoActionsExecuter.execute(SkipTaskWithNoActionsExecuter.java:59)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.SkipOnlyIfTaskExecuter.execute(SkipOnlyIfTaskExecuter.java:54)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteAtMostOnceTaskExecuter.execute(ExecuteAtMostOnceTaskExecuter.java:43)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.CatchExceptionTaskExecuter.execute(CatchExceptionTaskExecuter.java:34)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.EventFiringTaskExecuter$1.run(EventFiringTaskExecuter.java:51)
at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$RunnableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:300)
at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$RunnableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:292)
at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:174)
at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.run(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:90)
at org.gradle.internal.operations.DelegatingBuildOperationExecutor.run(DelegatingBuildOperationExecutor.java:31)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.EventFiringTaskExecuter.execute(EventFiringTaskExecuter.java:46)
at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.LocalTaskInfoExecutor.execute(LocalTaskInfoExecutor.java:42)
at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskExecutionGraph$BuildOperationAwareWorkItemExecutor.execute(DefaultTaskExecutionGraph.java:277)
at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskExecutionGraph$BuildOperationAwareWorkItemExecutor.execute(DefaultTaskExecutionGraph.java:262)
at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskPlanExecutor$ExecutorWorker$1.execute(DefaultTaskPlanExecutor.java:135)
at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskPlanExecutor$ExecutorWorker$1.execute(DefaultTaskPlanExecutor.java:130)
at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskPlanExecutor$ExecutorWorker.execute(DefaultTaskPlanExecutor.java:200)
at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskPlanExecutor$ExecutorWorker.executeWithWork(DefaultTaskPlanExecutor.java:191)
at org.gradle.execution.taskgraph.DefaultTaskPlanExecutor$ExecutorWorker.run(DefaultTaskPlanExecutor.java:130)
at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ExecutorPolicy$CatchAndRecordFailures.onExecute(ExecutorPolicy.java:63)
at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ManagedExecutorImpl$1.run(ManagedExecutorImpl.java:46)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
at org.gradle.internal.concurrent.ThreadFactoryImpl$ManagedThreadRunnable.run(ThreadFactoryImpl.java:55)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: Manifest merger failed : Attribute application@appComponentFactory value=(android.support.v4.app.CoreComponentFactory) from [com.android.support:support-compat:28.0.0] AndroidManifest.xml:22:18-91
is also present at [androidx.core:core:1.0.1] AndroidManifest.xml:22:18-86 value=(androidx.core.app.CoreComponentFactory).
Suggestion: add ‘tools:replace=”android:appComponentFactory”‘ to element at AndroidManifest.xml:9:5-48:19 to override.
at com.android.builder.core.AndroidBuilder.mergeManifestsForApplication(AndroidBuilder.java:556)
at com.android.build.gradle.tasks.ProcessApplicationManifest.doFullTaskAction(ProcessApplicationManifest.java:198)
at com.android.build.gradle.internal.tasks.IncrementalTask.taskAction(IncrementalTask.java:106)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor673.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
at org.gradle.internal.reflect.JavaMethod.invoke(JavaMethod.java:73)
at org.gradle.api.internal.project.taskfactory.IncrementalTaskAction.doExecute(IncrementalTaskAction.java:50)
at org.gradle.api.internal.project.taskfactory.StandardTaskAction.execute(StandardTaskAction.java:39)
at org.gradle.api.internal.project.taskfactory.StandardTaskAction.execute(StandardTaskAction.java:26)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter$1.run(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:131)
at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$RunnableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:300)
at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor$RunnableBuildOperationWorker.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:292)
at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.execute(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:174)
at org.gradle.internal.operations.DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.run(DefaultBuildOperationExecutor.java:90)
at org.gradle.internal.operations.DelegatingBuildOperationExecutor.run(DelegatingBuildOperationExecutor.java:31)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.executeAction(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:120)
at org.gradle.api.internal.tasks.execution.ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.executeActions(ExecuteActionsTaskExecuter.java:99)
… 34 more

nice tutorial

Make a Timer App: Settings (Ep 5) – Android Kotlin Tutorial

You can also check out this GitHub repository: https://github.com/ResoCoder/TimerAppAndroidTutorial

preferences.xml

SettingsActivity.kt

SettingsActivityFragment.kt

PrefUtil.kt

activity_settings.xml

TimerActivity.kt

Matt Rešetár

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