Reading sensor data – using the Android Sensor Framework events

The previous recipe, Listing available sensors – an introduction to the Android Sensor Framework, provided an introduction to the Android Sensor Framework. Now we'll look at reading the sensor data using the SensorEventListener. The SensorEventListener interface only has two callbacks:

• onSensorChanged()

• onAccuracyChanged()

When the sensor has new data to report, it calls the onSensorChanged() with a SensorEvent object. This recipe will demonstrate reading the Light sensor, but since all the sensors use the same framework, it's very easy to adapt this example to any of the other sensors. (See the list of sensor types available in the previous recipe's introduction.)

Getting ready

Create a new project in Android Studio and call it: ReadingSensorData. Use the default Phone & Tablet options and select Empty Activity when prompted for the Activity Type.

How to do it...

We'll add a TextView to the activity layout to display the sensor...