Android Application Development Cookbook - Second Edition

Listing available sensors – an introduction to the Android Sensor Framework

Android includes support for hardware sensors using the Android Sensor Framework. The framework includes the following classes and interfaces:

• SensorManager
• Sensor
• SensorEventListener
• SensorEvent

Most Android devices include hardware sensors, but they vary greatly between different manufacturers and models. If your application utilizes sensors, you have two choices:

• Specify the sensor in the Android Manifest
• Check for the sensor at runtime

To specify your application uses a sensor, include the <uses-feature> declaration in the Android Manifest. Here is an example requiring a compass to be available:

<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.sensor.compass" android:required="true"/> ...