UWP background tasks

Remarks#

For registering a background task that runs in a seperate process, you have to go to the “Declarations” Tab in the Package.appxmanifest and add a new “Background Task” and set the entry point.
Registering a single-process background task can be done by means of BackgroundTaskBuilder, but the application will throw an exception if you register a task twice, so you must check if you have already registered a task.
The app must gain authority to register a new task, this can be done by calling BackgroundExecutionManager.RequestAccessAsync(), but make sure that you really have the permission. The call returns the type of access (BackgroundAccessStatus enum) which will indicate whether you have access or not.
Tasks registered are kept until the package is uninstalled, but it won’t hurt to check the tasks you need on every launch, bug happens!
When the application is updated, permission to register a new task is revoked. To keep your app running after an update, especially if you have added a new task register, you have to remove and request the access over, by means of BackgroundAccessManager. One method to know if your app is updated, is to register another task with a SystemTrigger, type of SystemTriggerType.ServicingComplete.

Registering a Task

/// <summary>
/// Registers a background task in the system waiting to trigger
/// </summary>
/// <param name="taskName">Name of the task. Has to be unique</param>
/// <param name="taskEntryPoint">Entry point (Namespace) of the class (has to implement IBackgroundTask and has to be in a Windows Runtime Component) to start</param>
/// <param name="trigger">What has to be triggered to start the task</param>
/// <param name="condition">Optional condition. Can be null</param>
/// <param name="recreateIfExists">Should the Task be recreated if it already exists?</param>
/// <returns></returns>
public BackgroundTaskRegistration RegisterTask(string taskName, string taskEntryPoint, IBackgroundTrigger trigger, IBackgroundCondition condition = null) {
    Debug.WriteLine("Try registering task: " + taskName);

    var builder = new BackgroundTaskBuilder {
        Name = taskName,
        TaskEntryPoint = taskEntryPoint
    };

    builder.SetTrigger(trigger);

    if (condition != null) {
        builder.AddCondition(condition);
    }

    try {
        var task = builder.Register();
        Debug.WriteLine("Task successfully registered");
        return task;
    } catch (Exception exception) {
        Debug.WriteLine("Error creating Task: " + exception);
        return null;
    }
}

Get a registered task by its name

/// <summary>
/// Gets a BackgroundTask by its name
/// </summary>
/// <param name="taskName">Name of the task to find</param>
/// <returns>The found Task or null if none found</returns>
public BackgroundTaskRegistration TaskByName(string taskName) =>
       BackgroundTaskRegistration.AllTasks.FirstOrDefault(x => x.Value.Name.Equals(taskName)).Value as BackgroundTaskRegistration;

The task

public sealed class BackgroundTask : IBackgroundTask {

    private BackgroundTaskDeferral _deferral;

    /// <summary>
    /// Registers the listener to check if the button is pressed
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="taskInstance">An interface to an instance of the background task. The system creates this instance when the task has been triggered to run.</param>
    public async void Run(IBackgroundTaskInstance taskInstance) {
        _deferral = taskInstance.GetDeferral();

        //Do async operations here

        _deferral.Complete();
    }
}

Check if Task is registered

private bool IsTaskRegistered(string taskName) =>
        BackgroundTaskRegistration.AllTasks.Any(x => x.Value.Name.Equals(taskName));

Triggering a task manually

var trigger = new ApplicationTrigger();
TaskHandlerMentionedInThisTutorial.RegisterTask(TaskName, entryPoint, trigger, null, true);    
await trigger.RequestAsync();

Unregistering a task

/// <summary>
/// Unregister a single background task with given name
/// </summary>
/// <param name="taskName">task name</param>
/// <param name="cancelTask">true if task should be cancelled, false if allowed to finish</param>
public void UnregisterTask(string taskName, bool cancelTask) =>
    BackgroundTaskRegistration.AllTasks.First(x => x.Value.Name.Equals(taskName)).Value?.Unregister(cancelTask);

/// <summary>
/// Unregister an active group of background tasks, which name contains given string
/// </summary>
/// <param name="taskNamePart">part of the task name</param>
/// <param name="cancelTask">true if tasks should be cancelled, false if allowed to finish</param>
public void UnregisterTasks(string taskNamePart, bool cancelTask)
{
    foreach (var task in BackgroundTaskRegistration.AllTasks.Where(x => x.Value.Name.Contains(taskNamePart)))
        task.Value.Unregister(cancelTask);
}

Register background task with trigger

The background task are a great way to perform some work while your application is not running. Before being able to use then , you will have to register them.

Here is a sample of a background task class including the registration with a trigger and a condition and the Run implementation

public sealed class Agent : IBackgroundTask
{    
    public void Run(IBackgroundTaskInstance taskInstance)
    {
        // run the background task code
    }
    
    // call it when your application will start.
    // it will register the task if not already done
    private static IBackgroundTaskRegistration Register()
    {
        // get the entry point of the task. I'm reusing this as the task name in order to get an unique name
        var taskEntryPoint   = typeof(Agent).FullName;
        var taskName         = taskEntryPoint;
        
        // if the task is already registered, there is no need to register it again
        var registration            = BackgroundTaskRegistration.AllTasks.Select(x => x.Value).FirstOrDefault(x => x.Name == taskName);
        if(registration != null) return registration;
                        
        // register the task to run every 30 minutes if an internet connection is available
        var taskBuilder             = new BackgroundTaskBuilder();
        taskBuilder.Name            = taskName;
        taskBuilder.TaskEntryPoint  = taskEntryPoint;
        taskBuilder.SetTrigger(new TimeTrigger(30, false));
        taskBuilder.AddCondition(new SystemCondition(SystemConditionType.InternetAvailable));
        
        return taskBuilder.Register();
    }
}