Calling update_state on device_tracker vs requesting location update

backslashv · July 27, 2023, 2:18am

Hi,

For a mobile device which provides a device_tracker entity, is there a different between calling the update_entity service on the device_tracker entity vs sending an intent (in the case of Android) to update the location? Is the system smart enough to request a location update when update_entity is called on a mobile device_tracker?

dshokouhi · July 27, 2023, 2:23am

in this case I do not think so? its not mentioned in the documentation on the companion site

backslashv · July 27, 2023, 2:37am

Thanks. I guess I’ll stick with the intent then. Another question, I have multiple Waze sensors that use this device_tracker. When I request a location update using intents, 1) is there a way to know how long to wait before the Waze sensors are updated? 2) I guess the Waze sensors update automatically when they sense a change in the device_tracker if “Enable polling for updates” is checked, right?

dshokouhi · July 27, 2023, 2:43am

on android we request a location update to come within 10 seconds

github.com

home-assistant/android/blob/d9db8a06dfb3d6bdeffd29bd799f08e41a3926f4/app/src/full/java/io/homeassistant/companion/android/sensors/LocationSensorManager.kt#L1059

    
      
          sensorDao.add(SensorSetting(singleAccurateLocation.id, SETTING_ACCURATE_UPDATE_TIME, minTimeBetweenUpdates.toString(), SensorSettingType.NUMBER))
          
          
// Only update accurate location at most once a minute
          if (now < latestAccurateLocation + minTimeBetweenUpdates) {
              Log.d(TAG, "Not requesting accurate location, last accurate location was too recent")
              return
          }
          sensorDao.add(Attribute(singleAccurateLocation.id, "lastAccurateLocationRequest", now.toString(), "string"))
          
          
val maxRetries = 5
          val request = LocationRequest.Builder(10000).apply {
              setPriority(Priority.PRIORITY_HIGH_ACCURACY)
              setMaxUpdates(maxRetries)
              setMinUpdateIntervalMillis(5000)
          }.build()
          LocationServices.getFusedLocationProviderClient(latestContext)
              .requestLocationUpdates(
                  request,
                  object : LocationCallback() {
                      val wakeLock: PowerManager.WakeLock? =
                          latestContext.getSystemService<PowerManager>()

make sure your sending the notification using the critical format to ensure its delivered immediately