Android java app - Blinking camera flash LED

I'm developing hardware control applications for the Android phone platform to replicate functionality I've previously used in gadgets for the Arduino.

Finally I achieved my goal of replicating the very first "I'm Alive!" hardware test on a new platform.  Whenever you make a new gadget, the first program you run blinks a light to show health.

I was able to get the LED used for the camera flash to blink!  Hooray!   In my earlier post I found the code and permissions needed to turn it on and off with a button press.   Then I had to find a suitable system clock to use to time the blinking, but got sidetracked generating audio tones.  So finally I put the two together and here is how I did it using the Android SDK in Eclipse.  This technique is limited to <500Hz because the system clock is milliseconds.   The next step will be to find a method to access a faster clock.  However if the goal is communicate to humans or slow serial interface, this might be good enough.

in AndroidManifest.xml you need (you may not need them all, didn't test that)

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA"/>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.FLASHLIGHT"/>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.HARDWARE_TEST"></uses-permission>

The code I wrote looks like this (copied out the relevant bits from a larger program so hopefully I didn't leave out something critical).  This code was placed in a callback from a button press.  The actual flashing is just done with the for loops, but the rest starts it in another thread so the phone is locked up while this is running.  You don't have to do this but you might frustrate a user if you don't.  I tried it first without the additional thread.   The full app is here, but the relevant bits are below  http://code.google.com/p/arduino-java-xyzcnc/downloads/detail?name=Siliconfish%20Blink.zip&can=2&q=#makechanges
  
    //variables for light blinking
    private final int blinkrate_ms = 100;
    private long nextblink = blinkrate_ms;
        
            //blink the light
            // Use a new thread to flash as this can take a while
                final Thread thread = new Thread(new Runnable() {
                    public void run() {
                        handler.post(new Runnable() {


                            public void run() {                              
                                // loop to flash the camera LED
                                for(int q = 0; q<10; q++)  {
                            nextblink = SystemClock.elapsedRealtime() + blinkrate_ms;
                            while (SystemClock.elapsedRealtime()<nextblink) {
                            setOn(true, null);
                            }
                            nextblink = SystemClock.elapsedRealtime() + blinkrate_ms;
                            while (SystemClock.elapsedRealtime()<nextblink) {
                            setOn(false, null);
                            }
                            } //for
                                
                            }
                        });
                    } 
                }); //thread
                thread.start();
           
                  
It required these functions which turn on and off the LED
     
    // code largely copied from   http://www.java2s.com/Open-Source/Android/Tools/quick-settings/com/bwx/bequick/flashlight/Droid22Flashlight.java.htm
    // Controls the camera flash LED
    
    private Object mManager;


    public boolean isOn(Context context) {
        try {
            Object manager = getManager();
            if (manager != null) {
                Method getFlashlightEnabledMethod = manager.getClass()
                        .getMethod("getFlashlightEnabled");
                return (Boolean) getFlashlightEnabledMethod
                        .invoke(manager);
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            Log.e(TAG, "", e);
        }
        return false;
    }


    public void setOn(boolean on, Context context) {
        try {
            Object manager = getManager();
            if (manager != null) {
                Method setFlashlightEnabledMethod = manager.getClass()
                        .getMethod("setFlashlightEnabled",
                                boolean.class);
                setFlashlightEnabledMethod.invoke(manager, on);
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            Log.e(TAG, "", e);
        }
    }


    private Object getManager() {
        if (mManager == null) {
            try {
                Class<?> managerClass = Class
                        .forName("android.os.ServiceManager");
                Method methodGetService = managerClass.getMethod(
                        "getService", String.class);
                IBinder hardwareService = (IBinder) methodGetService
                        .invoke(managerClass, "hardware");


                Class<?> stubClass = Class
                        .forName("android.os.IHardwareService$Stub");
                Method asInterfaceMethod = stubClass.getMethod(
                        "asInterface", IBinder.class);
                mManager = asInterfaceMethod.invoke(stubClass,
                        hardwareService);
            } catch (Exception e) {
                Log.e(TAG, "", e);
            }
        }
        return mManager;
    }