In this tutorial we will look at some solutions to use regarding sensors and gestures in android.

(a). Sensey

Android library which makes playing with sensor events & detecting gestures a breeze.

Sensey eliminates most boilerplate code for dealing with setting up sensor based event and gesture detection on Android.

Here are the supported gestures:

Supported gestures/events

Step 1: Install it

The first step in using Sensey is to install it. Grab it using the following implementation statement:

implementation 'com.github.nisrulz:sensey:1.0.1'

Step 2: Write Code

The first thing is to initialize Sensey. Do this inside the onCreate() method by obtaining an insatnce then invoking the init() and passing it a context like this:

Sensey.getInstance().init(context);

Then for example here is how you listen to shake events(shake start and shake stop) in the device:

First create a shake listener:

ShakeDetector.ShakeListener shakeListener=new ShakeDetector.ShakeListener() {
    @Override public void onShakeDetected() {
       // Shake detected, do something
   }

   @Override public void onShakeStopped() {
       // Shake stopped, do something
   }
};

Then start listen to the shake gestures:

Sensey.getInstance().startShakeDetection(shakeListener);

If you want to modify the threshold and time before declaring that shake gesture is stopped, use

Sensey.getInstance().startShakeDetection(threshold,timeBeforeDeclaringShakeStopped,shakeListener);

To stop listening for Shake gesture, pass the instance shakeListener to stopShakeDetection() function

Sensey.getInstance().stopShakeDetection(shakeListener);

To stop Sensey, under your onDestroy() in the activity/service, call

 // *** IMPORTANT ***
 // Stop Sensey and release the context held by it
 Sensey.getInstance().stop();

Device Flip

Create an instance of FlipListener

FlipDetector.FlipListener flipListener=new FlipDetector.FlipListener() {
    @Override public void onFaceUp() {
       // Device Facing up
    }

    @Override public void onFaceDown() {
      // Device Facing down
    }
};

Now to start listening for Flip gesture, pass the instance flipListener to startFlipDetection() function

Sensey.getInstance().startFlipDetection(flipListener);

To stop listening for Flip gesture, pass the instance flipListener to stopFlipDetection() function

Sensey.getInstance().stopFlipDetection(flipListener);

Light Detection

Create an instance of LightListener

LightDetector.LightListener lightListener=new LightDetector.LightListener() {
   @Override public void onDark() {
      // Dark
   }

   @Override public void onLight() {
      // Not Dark
   }
};

Now to start listening for Orientation gesture, pass the instance lightListener to startLightDetection() function

Sensey.getInstance().startLightDetection(lightListener);

To stop listening for Orientation gesture, pass the instance lightListener to stopLightDetection() function

Sensey.getInstance().stopLightDetection(lightListener);

Example

There is a full example here. The screenshots for the example are shown above.

Reference

Here is the code reference