Develop Reference

Stop the Service on Destroy of Application

I am confused right now , about service concept of running and stopping:
what i want to do:
Start Location service at the very start of application.
Keep getting location updates and store them to shared preference
Stop the service in onDestroy of Application scope!
So far i have searched and studied we can only do following things with service(correct me if i'm wrong):
Stop the service automatically by binding it to related activities/fragments/views , when all of them destroyed service unbind itself automatically so we can call stopself method in unbind
return START_NOT_STICKY in onStartCommand to tell OS , don't recreate it , and create intent local service , after completion of some work it will destroy itself.
Stopping the service manually , by declaring it's intent in some kind of static scope and stopping the service in on onActivityDestroyed of Application class [I am not sure what will happen? , maybe service will destroy each time any activity will be destroyed ? or it will be destroyed only when overall application get's destroyed?]
Either way , i am bit confused and beat , been trying to adjust my Location service with given details for 2 days

If you start your Service using START_NOT_STICKY, then your app will kill your service once your entire application is closed from background i.e. you cleaned your app from home screen.
Here START_NOT_STICKY states that you need not recreate service in case it is been killed.
If this is not the case then you have to manually kill it by your self.
Like
Intent lintent = new Intent(context, LocationService.class);
context.stopService(lintent);
You can use this code at point where your application kills.
That's it. You are good to go with this.

First of all, launch the "LocationService" on your app start:
public class MyApp extends Application {
private static final String TAG = "MyApp";
#Override
public void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();
Log.d(TAG, "App started up");
startService(new Intent(this, MyLocationService.class));
}
}
Second :
As you said, the Service should better run with the "START_NOT_STICKY" flag
#Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
return START_NOT_STICKY;
}
Thrid:
Once the system kills your app, the Service will automatically be killed, so no problems at all.
There is no onDestroy() method on the Application object, the only similar event is onTerminated() and it is not being launched on production devices.
onTerminate
Added in API level 1 void onTerminate () This method is for use in
emulated process environments. It will never be called on a production
Android device, where processes are removed by simply killing them; no
user code (including this callback) is executed when doing so.
More information:
https://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/Application.html#onTerminate()
Btw, If you want the MyLocationService to send updates of the location to your app (when it is open), you should consider to use Otto or EventBus (I recommend you this last one because of the simplicity to use it). You can even configure the #Suscriber to receive updates of old retrieved locations if you want.

I will try to explain in a easiest way :)
There are two type of service
IntentService and Service
IntentService when started will kill itself once it treated the content of it onHandleIntent method
as for Service well this one will not end until you give it the command to do so even if your start it using the context of an activity. It will also stop when the application is stopped in an extreme case (by system (Settings/application/YourApp/stop app OR an app crash)

Easiest way is First of all start IntentService with AlarmManager at some repeating time (10 mintutes), then in onHandleIntent() get Location and store into preference.
No Need bind to your activity, the IntentService automatically stops itself after saved in preferences.

Yes you can stop the service in onDestroy() of the activity:
#Override
public void onDestroy(){
Log.v("SERVICE","Service killed");
service.stop();
super.onDestroy();
}

IntentService working between Intents

I don't know if this is possible, but I would like to do the next:
Imagine an app with 2 activities: MenuActivity and OtherPurposeActivity.
So, on the onCreate method of Menu I had run the Service. In the same Activity (Menu), I can easily "connect"(Edit: communicate) with this Service with no problems.
Then, I click the only button there is on MenuActivity, which starts OtherPurposeActivity. Here comes the question:
How can I connect to the Service I had run on MenuActivity? Is it possible? (I hadn't called stopService).
Thanks in advance.
Edit: Code:
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_menu);
/* Execute service */
Log.d("SERVICE", "Launching service");
Intent msgIntent = new Intent(MenuActivity.this, ServerProcessingService.class);
msgIntent.setAction(ServerProcessingService.ACTION_STATUS);
startService(msgIntent);
/* Connection to the IntentService */
IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter();
filter.addAction(ServerProcessingService.ACTION_STATUS);
//filter.addAction(ServerProcessingService.ACTION_CONTROL);
rcv = new ProgressReceiver();
registerReceiver(rcv, filter);
}
So I can handle the communication with the ProgressReceiver class. But, what if I open another activity, and this service still running? Can I access to it?

How can I connect to the Service I had run on MenuActivity?
Another activity that wants to communicate with the service can use exactly the same method as MenuActivity. startService() will only start the service if it is not already running, and then send the intent to onStartCommand() in all cases, so it is all right to call start service from multiple activities.
As a commenter pointed out, if your activity requires ongoing communication with a service, you should bind to it.
Is it possible? (I hadn't called stopService).
An IntentService will stop itself if it has no work to do, so it doesn't matter that you did not stop it explicitly. If the service needs to continue running, don't use an intent service.

To be on the same page I will describe briefly how I understood your dilemma.
You have an IntentService perfroming some operation which provides at the end some results. You are starting this process in one activity(asynchronously of course) and switch immediately to another one. Now, you are not sure whether service will finish the work before you switch to second Activity and result will be lost.
Basically, approach with BroadcastReceiver would be a good choice but if you won't register on time the data will be lost and service will end it's work. You could let the service to store the result before it ends, in DB, file or even in memory(depending on data type). When your second Activity start you can check if there is data waiting for you, if not you can wait for BroadcastReceiver to deliver it.
You could also use Otto library which is far more advanced solution than BroadcastReceiver. It allows to return to registered observer(Activity) the last result and what is more important it will allow your service to check if any observer received the message. If not you could only then store last result.

Can I do both Wakeful and Non Wakeful works inside WakefulIntentService alternatively

Suppose i want to run both wakeful and non wakeful service alternatively.
Something like a toggle button. If its On then i have to start my WakefulIntentService with doWakefulWork() method.
And if its off then I have to do all same tasks in same WakefulIntentService but with a different method which don't interact with CPU and wifi in sleep mode something like non wakeful work in my word..
I just added a new method in my Service, but unable to go forward.
public class NetworkCommunicationService extends WakefulIntentService{
private static String UserID;
public NetworkCommunicationService() {
super("NetworkCommunicationService");
}
#Override
protected void doWakefulWork(Intent intent) {
if (Utils.isNetworkAvailable(this))
new SyncValidater().execute();
}
/**I have to do something like this.... */
protected void doNonWakefulWork() {
if (Utils.isNetworkAvailable(this))
new SyncValidater().execute();
}
Is their any solution for this... Or I have to create a new service to do the non wakeful work.
Please help. Thanks

Suppose i want to run both wakeful and non wakeful service alternatively
It is not clear to me what situation would make sense for this. WakefulIntentService does not support this scenario (or, if it does, it is by accident, not intention).
I would recommend switching to WakefulBroadcastReceiver. Then, when you want the service to run "wakefully", follow the WakefulBroadcastReceiver recipe and call startWakefulService(). If you want the service to run normally, just have the receiver call startService(). Note, though, that there is a chance that the service will not get an opportunity to run in this case, if the device falls asleep before the service starts.

BroadcastReceiver stops working

In general i have a service that sends an intent to my activity which is ALWAYS on every 6 sec and a BroadcastReceiver everytime on receive updates a timer.
I found by accident that after a while ( this is random ) that the particular receiver stops working.
OnPause i unregister it and onResume i register it again.
Also this happens randomly in any devices and android versions.
I found by researching on the web , that after onReceive the receiver is ready to killed by Android but mine keeps getting intents.
"Receiver Lifecycle
A BroadcastReceiver object is only valid for the duration of the call to onReceive(Context, Intent). Once your code returns from this function, the system considers the object to be finished and no longer active.
"
FYI i have declare it like this inside my activity
public class MyReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
#Override
public void onReceive(Context arg0, Intent intent) {
Log.i("Intent received", "+_ " + intent.getAction());
if (intent.getAction().equals(TEST)) {
//do sth
} else {
//do sth else
}
}
}
Thans a lot even for taking the time to read :).
I dont declare anythin to my manifest and as for my logcat i must be over my phone the moment it happens. The service is a simple send broadcast after one async task. The last test i made was ensuring that the code from the service was running by logging the beeing sent. And the service kept on.
I am away from my code write now but i think there will be no help because is very simple. Thnaks

Well i could still figure out but I find a solution to my problem
Timer now is in the activity and receiver is sending the event but after 10000 tries i want to trigger the END EVENT. Now the receiver since he didn't work i couldn't get it but now i Start an intent with extras for the same activity always with flags new_task and clear_top.
No matter if my receiver is working or not, since the service is ok i will start the specific Activity and pseudo-show the END EVENT.
PS:: This behavior isn't always trigger but sometimes. So now i am ok.
If i am not understood please comment and ask anything. Thanks

How can I ensure that a CountDownTimer ticks and completes?

I have a widget that, when pressed, sends a broadcast that starts a CountDownTimer that updates my widget, and at the end plays an alarm. This works beautifully in the emulator.
On my phone, however, it's a different story. My phone is so resource constrained that my process is killed regularly, which, of course, means that the CountDownTimer no longer updates my widget.
It seems to be that the only way to reliably do stuff in the future is to use the AlarmManager, as this sets a system-level alarm. However, the documentation states, and I agree, that you're not supposed to use it for ticks. However, since anything else you're likely to use has the possibility of being shut down arbitrarily, they're not really giving us much choice.
My question is: is there a way to ensure that a CountDownTimer keeps ticking and finally calls onFinish(), or do I have to simply drop it and switch to AlarmManager, and "misuse" it? Any other options of guaranteeing that the thing ticks and finishes are also welcome.
I should add that I can't rely on the OS calling onUpdate(), both because it will do so no faster than every 30 minutes, and also because most of the time the widget just does nothing. It's only when it is clicked that it ticks down every second for a handful of minutes.

I think this is a solution.. Create a dummy service..
public class DummyService extends Service{
#Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
return null;
}
#Override
public void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();
}
#Override
public void onDestroy() {
super.onDestroy();
}
}
and start it from your activity using countdowntimer like this.. in oncreate of the activity
Intent intent = new Intent(this, DummyService.class);
startService(intent);
and also dont forget to declare this service in your manifest like this..
<service android:name=".DummyService" >
</service>
hope this helps..

What I ended up doing was moving from a BroadcastReceiver to a Service.
Not just using a dummy service, but having a real service embody what the BroadcastReceiver did previously.
As this won't guarantee that my timers won't get killed, if requested, android will automatically try to restart your service after it's been killed. In this event, I plan to have some code that will restore the running state from disk and continue.

To add to the accepted answer: from what I remember, the BroadcastReceiver only lives as long as it takes to process the broadcast.
So launching a timer or something from within the BroadcastReceiver will not work (as stated).
This is why it is recommended to use the BroadcastReceiver to launch a Service that will do the timing. Sure, the service can still be killed, but not as early as the BroadcastReceiver.