Develop Reference

How to run service for always in Android

In my application I want use service for get request to server.
I should run this service for always and not stop it!
I write below code in service, but just show for 5 time and when receive to 5 step. then not show Toast!
But I want always getData() and show Toast.
Service class :
public class NotifyService extends Service {
private static final String TAG = "HelloService";
private boolean isRunning = false;
#Override
public void onCreate() {
Log.i(TAG, "Service onCreate");
isRunning = true;
}
#Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
Log.i(TAG, "Service onStartCommand");
//Creating new thread for my service
//Always write your long running tasks in a separate thread, to avoid ANR
new Thread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
//Your logic that service will perform will be placed here
//In this example we are just looping and waits for 5000 milliseconds in each loop.
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
try {
Thread.sleep(5000);
} catch (Exception e) {
}
if (isRunning) {
ExploreSendData sendData = new ExploreSendData();
sendData.setPageIndex(1);
sendData.setPageSize(10);
sendData.setShowFollows(false);
sendData.setShowMovies(true);
sendData.setShowNews(true);
sendData.setShowReplies(false);
sendData.setShowSeries(true);
sendData.setShowSuggestions(false);
InterfaceApi api = ApiClient.getClient().create(InterfaceApi.class);
Call<ExploreResponse> call = api.getExplore(new SharedPrefrencesHandler(NotifyService.this)
.getFromShared(SharedPrefrencesKeys.TOKEN.name()), sendData);
call.enqueue(new Callback<ExploreResponse>() {
#Override
public void onResponse(Call<ExploreResponse> call, Response<ExploreResponse> response) {
if (response.body().getData() != null && response.body().getStatusCode() != 401
&& response.body().getStatusCode() != 402) {
Toast.makeText(NotifyService.this, "Test Show message ever 5second", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
}
#Override
public void onFailure(Call<ExploreResponse> call, Throwable t) {
}
});
}
}
//Stop service once it finishes its task
stopSelf();
}
}).start();
return Service.START_STICKY;
}
#Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent arg0) {
Log.i(TAG, "Service onBind");
return null;
}
#Override
public void onDestroy() {
isRunning = false;
Log.i(TAG, "Service onDestroy");
}
}
I copy this service code from internet, but just show 5times. I want show always.
How can I edit my codes and fix it? Please help me. Thanks

The problem is not in the service, services start and continue living as long as the app is alive and android doesn't kill it. For an infinite loop replace the "for loop" with "While loop". The below loop doesn't end.
while (true) {
......
......
......
}

Not able to run service indefinitley in background

I am working on below code to run a service in background,but the problem is i am not getting how to run the service indefinitely even though the app is closed,here on press of back my service is stopping.I have read many tutorials but still confused with this.
public class HelloService extends Service {
private static final String TAG = "HelloService";
private boolean isRunning = false;
#Override
public void onCreate() {
Log.i(TAG, "Service onCreate");
isRunning = true;
}
#Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
Log.i(TAG, "Service onStartCommand");
new Thread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
try {
Thread.sleep(1000);
} catch (Exception e) {
}
if (isRunning) {
Log.i(TAG, "Service running");
}
}
//Stop service once it finishes its task
stopSelf();
}
}).start();
return Service.START_STICKY;
}
#Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent arg0) {
Log.i(TAG, "Service onBind");
return null;
}
#Override
public void onDestroy() {
isRunning = false;
Log.i(TAG, "Service onDestroy");
}
}

On Android there is NO way (at least for a third party app) to have a never ending process running. The system can always kill your service. So you can use a foreground service but the system can kill your service even in this case (even with low probability). In addition, you should consider that the cpu can go to sleep. So you should take a wakelock but in this way you can kill the user battery so it's not a good solution. My suggestion is to always work "on event" for example with a brodacast receiver that starts a intent service, it does some work and then exit. The always running processes are simply a wrong design choices on Android.

One Way is to use while loop but keep a check i.e
while(true) {
if (condition != true) {
Thread.sleep(time);
} else {
break;
}
}

Is it possible to have Android Voice Recognition (as a custom service) on Google Glass?

We have a demo android application (Android 4.0.3) that runs voice recognition as a service, and (continuosly) logs the results of the recognition on the view.
Everything is working fine in our smartphones.
We would like to replicate this scenario in a Google Glass immersion application, but we always have this error message when we try to start the service:
no selected voice recognition service
Are there some known limitations? Or have someone figured out how to resolve this kind of problem?
Thanks in advance
This is some significant code of the activity:
public class MainActivity extends Activity implements Observer {
...
#Override
protected void onStart() {
super.onStart();
//Toast.makeText(this, "Hi guys", Toast.LENGTH_LONG);
startService(new Intent(this, SilentVoiceRecognitionService.class));
}
...
}
And this is the code of the service:
public class SilentVoiceRecognitionService extends Service {
protected AudioManager mAudioManager;
protected SpeechRecognizer mSpeechRecognizer;
protected Intent mSpeechRecognizerIntent;
protected final Messenger mServerMessenger = new Messenger(new IncomingHandler(this));
private Model model = Model.getInstance();
static final String TAG = "SilentRecognizer";
static final int MSG_RECOGNIZER_START_LISTENING = 1;
static final int MSG_RECOGNIZER_CANCEL = 2;
protected boolean mIsListening;
#Override
public void onCreate()
{
super.onCreate();
mSpeechRecognizer = SpeechRecognizer.createSpeechRecognizer(this);
mSpeechRecognizer.setRecognitionListener(new SpeechRecognitionListener());
mSpeechRecognizerIntent = new Intent(RecognizerIntent.ACTION_RECOGNIZE_SPEECH);
mSpeechRecognizerIntent.putExtra(RecognizerIntent.EXTRA_LANGUAGE_MODEL,
RecognizerIntent.LANGUAGE_MODEL_FREE_FORM);
mSpeechRecognizerIntent.putExtra(RecognizerIntent.EXTRA_CALLING_PACKAGE,
this.getPackageName());
}
#Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
Log.i("LocalService", "Received start id " + startId + ": " + intent);
// We want this service to continue running until it is explicitly
// stopped, so return sticky.
mSpeechRecognizer.startListening(mSpeechRecognizerIntent);
return START_STICKY;
}
#Override
public void onDestroy()
{
super.onDestroy();
if (mSpeechRecognizer != null)
{
mSpeechRecognizer.destroy();
}
}
protected class SpeechRecognitionListener implements RecognitionListener
{
...
}
protected static class IncomingHandler extends Handler
{
private WeakReference<SilentVoiceRecognitionService> mtarget;
IncomingHandler(SilentVoiceRecognitionService target)
{
mtarget = new WeakReference<SilentVoiceRecognitionService>(target);
}
#Override
public void handleMessage(Message msg)
{
final SilentVoiceRecognitionService target = mtarget.get();
switch (msg.what)
{
case MSG_RECOGNIZER_START_LISTENING:
if (!target.mIsListening)
{
target.mSpeechRecognizer.startListening(target.mSpeechRecognizerIntent);
target.mIsListening = true;
//Log.d(TAG, "message start listening"); //$NON-NLS-1$
}
break;
case MSG_RECOGNIZER_CANCEL:
target.mSpeechRecognizer.cancel();
target.mIsListening = false;
//Log.d(TAG, "message canceled recognizer"); //$NON-NLS-1$
break;
}
}
}
}

This feature has been recently accepted but not yet available, see https://code.google.com/p/google-glass-api/issues/detail?id=245
You can load the additional mentioned apk to get the functionality for the mean time.
See Using Android Speech Recognition APIs from Google Glass

As of XE16 it is now possible to use the SpeechRecognizer directly and get the results through the SpeechRecognitionListener.
Unfortunately this still dosen't work offline.

Is the Android service still alive even after the onDestroy() be called?

For studying the Android service, I wrote a test program that have three button "bind service", "unbind service" and "send echo" on the screen. When clicked, they use bindService(), unbindService() and a Messenger to communicate with the service.
Here is the service codes:
public class MessengerService extends Service {
private final Messenger mMessenger = new Messenger(new TempHandler());
private class TempHandler extends Handler {
#Override
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
switch (msg.what) {
case MSG_SAY_HELLO:
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Hi, there.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
break;
case MSG_SAY_GOODBYE:
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "See you next time.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
break;
case MSG_ECHO:
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Received " + msg.arg1 + " from client.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
Messenger replyMessenger = msg.replyTo;
Message replyMsg = Message.obtain(null, MSG_ECHO, msg.arg1, 0);
try {
replyMessenger.send(replyMsg);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
default:
super.handleMessage(msg);
}
}
}
#Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Service bound", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
return mMessenger.getBinder();
}
#Override
public void onDestroy() {
Log.d("", "Service.onDestroy()...");
super.onDestroy();
}
}
And here is the activity code:
public class MessengerActivity extends Activity {
private Messenger mMessengerService;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity2);
Button bind = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button5);
bind.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
#Override
public void onClick(View v) {
doBindService();
}
});
Button unbind = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button6);
unbind.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
#Override
public void onClick(View v) {
doUnbindService();
}
});
Button echo = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button7);
echo.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
#Override
public void onClick(View v) {
doSendEcho();
}
});
}
private void doBindService() {
Intent intent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), MessengerService.class);
bindService(intent, mConnection, Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE);
}
private void doUnbindService() {
Message msg = Message.obtain(null, MessengerService.MSG_SAY_GOODBYE);
try {
mMessengerService.send(msg);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
unbindService(mConnection);
}
private void doSendEcho() {
if (mMessengerService != null) {
Message msg = Message.obtain(null, MessengerService.MSG_ECHO, 12345, 0);
msg.replyTo = mMessenger;
try {
mMessengerService.send(msg);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
private final Messenger mMessenger = new Messenger(new TempHandler());
private ServiceConnection mConnection = new ServiceConnection() {
#Override
public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName name, IBinder service) {
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Service is connected.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
mMessengerService = new Messenger(service);
Message msg = Message.obtain(null, MessengerService.MSG_SAY_HELLO);
try {
mMessengerService.send(msg);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
#Override
public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName name) {
mMessengerService = null;
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Service is disconnected.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
};
private class TempHandler extends Handler {
#Override
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
switch (msg.what) {
case MessengerService.MSG_ECHO:
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Get the echo message (" + msg.arg1 + ")", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
break;
default:
super.handleMessage(msg);
}
}
}
}
When I click "bind service" and "send echo" button. I can see the service is connected and the message communication is good. And then click "unbind service", I saw the service onDestroy() be called, so I expect the service is stopped and should not respond to the coming message again. But actually is, the service seems still alive and I could get the echo message again when click the "send echo" button. So I'm wondering is there anything I made incorrect? Or maybe I'm not fully understand about the service?
Hope someone can help, thanks.

A service is "bound" when an application component binds to it by calling bindService(). A bound service offers a client-server interface that allows components to interact with the service, send requests, get results, and even do so across processes with interprocess communication (IPC). A bound service runs only as long as another application component is bound to it.
http://developer.android.com/guide/components/services.html
A service will shut down after all bindService() calls have had their corresponding unbindService() calls. If there are no bound clients, then the service will also need stopService() if and only if somebody called startService() on the service.
Drawing from the below link.
How to check if a service is running on Android?.
private void doSendEcho() {
if(isMyServiceRunning()) // if service is running
{
if (mMessengerService != null) {
Message msg = Message.obtain(null, MessengerService.MSG_ECHO, 12345, 0);
msg.replyTo = mMessenger;
try {
mMessengerService.send(msg);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
}
private boolean isMyServiceRunning() {
ActivityManager manager = (ActivityManager) getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
for (RunningServiceInfo service : manager.getRunningServices(Integer.MAX_VALUE)) {
if (MessengerService.class.getName().equals(service.service.getClassName())) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
#Override
protected void onStop() {
super.onStop();
// Unbind from the service
unbindService(mConnection);
Log.i("Stopped!",""+isMyServiceRunning());
Log.i("stopped", "Service Stopped");
}
Example:
I tested the below it works fine.
public class MessengerService extends Service {
public static final int MSG_SAY_HELLO =1;
public static final int MSG_SAY_GOODBYE =2;
ArrayList<Messenger> mClients = new ArrayList<Messenger>();
private final Messenger mMessenger = new Messenger(new TempHandler());
private class TempHandler extends Handler {
#Override
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
switch (msg.what) {
case MSG_SAY_HELLO:
mClients.add(msg.replyTo);
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Hi, there.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
break;
case MSG_SAY_GOODBYE:
mClients.add(msg.replyTo);
break;
default:
super.handleMessage(msg);
}
}
}
#Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Service bound", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
return mMessenger.getBinder();
}
#Override
public void onDestroy() {
Log.i("MessengerService", "Service Destroyed...");
super.onDestroy();
}
}
MainAactivity.java
public class MainActivity extends Activity {
boolean mIsBound=false;
Messenger mService = null;
private boolean isMyServiceRunning() {
ActivityManager manager = (ActivityManager) getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
for (RunningServiceInfo service : manager.getRunningServices(Integer.MAX_VALUE)) {
if (MessengerService.class.getName().equals(service.service.getClassName())) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
Button bind = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button1);
bind.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
#Override
public void onClick(View v) {
doBindService();
}
});
Button unbind = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button2);
unbind.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
#Override
public void onClick(View v) {
doUnbindService();
}
});
}
class TempHandler extends Handler {
#Override
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
switch (msg.what) {
case MessengerService.MSG_SAY_GOODBYE:
Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this,"Received from service: " + msg.arg1,1000).show();
break;
default:
super.handleMessage(msg);
}
}
}
/**
* Target we publish for clients to send messages to IncomingHandler.
*/
final Messenger mMessenger = new Messenger(new TempHandler());
/**
* Class for interacting with the main interface of the service.
*/
private ServiceConnection mConnection = new ServiceConnection() {
public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName className,
IBinder service) {
// This is called when the connection with the service has been
// established, giving us the service object we can use to
// interact with the service. We are communicating with our
// service through an IDL interface, so get a client-side
// representation of that from the raw service object.
mService = new Messenger(service);
// mCallbackText.setText("Attached.");
// We want to monitor the service for as long as we are
// connected to it.
try {
Message msg = Message.obtain(null,
MessengerService.MSG_SAY_HELLO);
msg.replyTo = mMessenger;
mService.send(msg);
// Give it some value as an example.
// msg = Message.obtain(null,
// MessengerService.MSG_E, this.hashCode(), 0);
// mService.send(msg);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
// In this case the service has crashed before we could even
// do anything with it; we can count on soon being
// disconnected (and then reconnected if it can be restarted)
// so there is no need to do anything here.
}
// As part of the sample, tell the user what happened.
Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "remote_service_connected",
Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName className) {
// This is called when the connection with the service has been
// unexpectedly disconnected -- that is, its process crashed.
mService = null;
// mCallbackText.setText("Disconnected.");
// As part of the sample, tell the" user what happened.
Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "remote_service_disconnected",
Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
};
void doBindService() {
// Establish a connection with the service. We use an explicit
// class name because there is no reason to be able to let other
// applications replace our component.
bindService(new Intent(MainActivity.this,
MessengerService.class), mConnection, Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE);
mIsBound=true;
Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "Binding",1000).show();
}
void doUnbindService() {
if (mIsBound) {
// If we have received the service, and hence registered with
// it, then now is the time to unregister.
if (mService != null) {
try {
Message msg = Message.obtain(null,
MessengerService.MSG_SAY_GOODBYE);
msg.replyTo = mMessenger;
mService.send(msg);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
// There is nothing special we need to do if the service
// has crashed.
}
}
// Detach our existing connection.
unbindService(mConnection);
mIsBound = false;
Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "UnBinding"+isMyServiceRunning(),1000).show();
}
}
}

I personally find the terminology/nomenclature to be dissatisfying/misleading.
"onDestroy" and "stopService" might be better understood if they were called "FlagForAndroidOSDestruction" and "FlagForAndroidStopService".
If one downloads/compiles/runs any of the following examples, one can see that even when the OnHandleIntent is finished or stopService has been called, the process and even the service can still hang around! To see this simply launch the example(s) below, and then on your phone/tablet goto
Settings->Apps->Running->Show Running Services
and
Settings->Apps->Running->Show Cached Processes
When you see these, try launching a ton of other apps on the phone and THEN you'll see Android destroying said service & process.
http://developer.android.com/guide/components/services.html#ExtendingIntentService
http://android-er.blogspot.com/2013/03/stop-intentservice.html
How to check all the running services in android?

Yes, this is a conclusion drawn out of the official docs:
A service can be both started and have connections bound to it. In such a case, the system will keep the service running as long as either it is started or there are one or more connections to it with the Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE flag. Once neither of these situations hold, the service's onDestroy() method is called and the service is effectively terminated. All cleanup (stopping threads, unregistering receivers) should be complete upon returning from onDestroy().

From http://developer.android.com/guide/components/services.html :
These two paths are not entirely separate. That is, you can bind to a service that was already started with startService(). For example, a background music service could be started by calling startService() with an Intent that identifies the music to play. Later, possibly when the user wants to exercise some control over the player or get information about the current song, an activity can bind to the service by calling bindService(). In cases like this, stopService() or stopSelf() does not actually stop the service until all clients unbind.
So you have to call unBindService() and after stopService()

This link (Do I need to call both unbindService and stopService for Android services?) says that you need to call stopService before unbindService.
Try that.

What is the proper way to update activity based on Network responses?

I am implementing an application which is kind of VOIP application. So my application is kind of network application. Now I want to implement two part in my application, one is GUI part and one is network part. My GUI part will just contain activities and handling of user interaction. My Network part should handle all network related activities like handling incoming network data and sending data to network based on GUI interaction. Now whenever there is any incoming data, I want to update some activity whose reference is not there in Network module. So what could be the best way to update activity from some other class? In my case some other class is my Network class. So in short I would like to ask that what should be the architecture in such scenario? i.e. Network part should run in separate thread and from there it should update GUI?

Depending on the type/size of data you need to send to the activity, you can use one of a number of options.
Use one of the methods described here.
Use a BroadcastReceiver: register it in the Activity and then fire off matching Intents in the Service that handles the networking code.
Make your Activity bind to your Service and then pass in a Handler that you send Messages to.

I have written apps like this, and I prefer the Handler method. In fact I have written an Abstract Activity class to do all the hard work and simply extend it in any activity that want to be notified of a change.
To Use the following code, just get your Activity to extend UpdatableActivity and override the dataUpdated() method. This method is called when your Service notifies the handler that data has been updated. In the Service code put your code to do an update in the update() method (Or modify to call your existing code). This allows an activity to call this.updateService() to force an update. The service can call the sendMessageToUI() method to notify all interested activities that the data has been updated.
Here is what the abstract activity looks like:
public abstract class UpdatableActivity extends Activity {
public static final String TAG = "UpdatableActivity (Abstract)";
private final Messenger mMessenger = new Messenger(new IncomingHandler());
private Messenger mService = null;
private boolean mIsBound;
protected class IncomingHandler extends Handler {
#Override
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
if (Constants.LOG_DEBUG) Log.d(TAG, "Service has notified us of an update: ");
switch (msg.arg1) {
case UpdateService.MSG_DATA_UPDATED:
dataUpdated();
break;
default: super.handleMessage(msg);
}
}
}
private ServiceConnection mConnection = new ServiceConnection() {
public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName className, IBinder service) {
mService = new Messenger(service);
try {
Message msg = Message.obtain(null, UpdateService.MSG_REGISTER_CLIENT);
msg.replyTo = mMessenger;
mService.send(msg);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
// In this case the service has crashed before we could even do anything with it
}
}
public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName className) {
// This is called when the connection with the service has been unexpectedly disconnected - process crashed.
mService = null;
}
};
/**Override this method in you acctivity to handle the update */
public abstract void dataUpdated();
void doBindService() {
if (Constants.LOG_DEBUG) Log.d(TAG, "Binding to service...");
bindService(new Intent(this, UpdateService.class), mConnection, Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE);
mIsBound = true;
}
void doUnbindService() {
if (mIsBound) {
// If we have received the service, and hence registered with it, then now is the time to unregister.
if (mService != null) {
try {
Message msg = Message.obtain(null, UpdateService.MSG_UNREGISTER_CLIENT);
msg.replyTo = mMessenger;
mService.send(msg);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
// There is nothing special we need to do if the service has crashed.
}
}
// Detach our existing connection.
unbindService(mConnection);
mIsBound = false;
}
}
public void updateService() {
if (Constants.LOG_DEBUG) Log.d(TAG,"Updating Service...");
if (mIsBound) {
if (mService != null) {
try {
Message msg = Message.obtain(null, UpdateService.MSG_SET_INT_VALUE, UpdateService.MSG_DO_UPDATE, 0);
msg.replyTo = mMessenger;
mService.send(msg);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
if (Constants.LOG_ERROR) Log.e(TAG,Log.getStackTraceString(e));
}
}
} else {
if (Constants.LOG_DEBUG) Log.d(TAG, "Fail - service not bound!");
}
}
pu
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
this.doBindService();
}
#Override
protected void onDestroy() {
super.onDestroy();
try {
doUnbindService();
} catch (Throwable t) {
if (Constants.LOG_ERROR) Log.e(TAG, "Failed to unbind from the service", t);
}
}
}
And here is what the Service looks Like:
public class UpdateService extends Service {
public static final String TAG = "UpdateService";
public static final int MSG_DATA_UPDATED = 0;
public static final int MSG_REGISTER_CLIENT = 1;
public static final int MSG_UNREGISTER_CLIENT = 2;
public static final int MSG_DO_UPDATE = 3;
public static final int MSG_SET_INT_VALUE = 4;
private static boolean isRunning = false;
private Handler handler = new IncomingHandler();
private final Messenger mMessenger = new Messenger(handler);
private ArrayList<Messenger> mClients = new ArrayList<Messenger>(); // Keeps track of all current registered clients.
#Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
return mMessenger.getBinder();
}
class IncomingHandler extends Handler { // Handler of incoming messages from clients.
#Override
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
switch (msg.what) {
case MSG_REGISTER_CLIENT:
mClients.add(msg.replyTo);
break;
case MSG_UNREGISTER_CLIENT:
mClients.remove(msg.replyTo);
break;
case MSG_SET_INT_VALUE:
switch (msg.arg1) {
case MSG_DO_UPDATE:
if (Constants.LOG_DEBUG) Log.d(TAG,"UI has asked to update");
update();
break;
}
break;
default:
super.handleMessage(msg);
}
}
}
private void sendMessageToUI() {
if (Constants.LOG_DEBUG) Log.d(TAG, "Notifying "+mClients.size()+" UI clients that an update was completed");
for (int i=mClients.size()-1; i>=0; i--) {
try {
// Send data as an Integer
mClients.get(i).send(Message.obtain(null, MSG_SET_INT_VALUE, MSG_DATA_UPDATED, 0));
} catch (RemoteException e) {
// The client is dead. Remove it from the list; we are going through the list from back to front so this is safe to do inside the loop.
mClients.remove(i);
}
}
}
public static boolean isRunning()
{
return isRunning;
}
#Override
public void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();
isRunning = true;
if (Constants.LOG_DEBUG) Log.d(TAG, "Service Started");
update();
}
#Override
public void onDestroy() {
if (Constants.LOG_DEBUG) Log.d(TAG, "Service Destroyed");
isRunning = false;
}
private void update() {
/**Your code to do an update goes here */
}
}

Yes, personally i think that the network and UI should be in separate threads. The way I tend to communicate between the two, which is probably not the recommended proper way, but it works for me, is to create a global variable in your application class. hope this helps a little

I would directly post to the main UI thread,
Handler mHandler = new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper());
mHandler.post(new Runnable() {...});