Develop Reference

How to stop a Android service called from multiple activites when app is closed?

I have a public class Tracking extends Service witch is called from practically every activity with something like this:
Intent serviceIntent = new Intent(this, Tracking.class);
serviceIntent.putExtra("name", "Tabla3b Kras");
serviceIntent.putExtra("time", TimeGenerator.getTime());
startService(serviceIntent);
And that works fine, public void onCreate()is called only the fisrst time and, public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) is called every other time.
The problem I have is that when the user closes the app. Let's say double back press or going in the open apps list and dismising it. I get a "Unfortunately, "appname" has stopped working.
I know that I can close the service in onStop(), but since I am calling the service from almost all the activities do I have to implement onStop() in all of them or is it enough to just do it in MainActivity.java? And will the service stop if the user changes between activities?

Service is a background process. It is not meant to start/stop from every activity.
You can start your service only once in your app. Like you started in your first activity (splash) or application level class. You don't need to start service in every activity.
Same you don't need to stop your service from every activity. You can stop your service once when you handle onBackPress().
How do I then pass variables to the service from other activites?
There are several ways you can communicate between Activities & Services.
Use Binder. You can follow this answer.
You can use Handler. Follow this.
You can use BroadcastReceiver. Follow this.
Use EventBus by GreenBot. This library is getting popular now a day becasue of ease of implement.
If you ask my preference, I used BroadcastReceiver & Binder earlier days. But now I use EventBus. You can simple implementation steps in EventBus documentation.
Suggestion:
Check if your service is already running or not. Start service before use if not running.
private boolean isMyServiceRunning(Class<?> serviceClass) {
ActivityManager manager = (ActivityManager) getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
for (RunningServiceInfo service : manager.getRunningServices(Integer.MAX_VALUE)) {
if (serviceClass.getName().equals(service.service.getClassName())) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}

Android is killing activity while the service controlled by it lives on

I have an app which has a single activity which has a checkbox the starts and stops a foreground service. The activity also has some other settings which control that service.
The problem is that after some time navigating other apps the service continues to run fine but the activity gets killed. If I restart the activity the checkbox will be set to default, off. If I switch it to on, a second service starts, while the first one is still running and can't be controlled anymore.
I can't figure out how to handle this situation. It's necessary for the service to run indefinitely and there doesn't seem to be anyway to keep the activity from dying. Maybe there's a way for the new activity to find the old service?

Try to kill the service in OnPause() method of your activity .that solve my problem few times ago.

To check if particular service is running, write the below method your activity, and call it when you want to check the state of the service
private boolean isMyServiceRunning(Class<?> serviceClass) {
ActivityManager manager = (ActivityManager) getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
for (RunningServiceInfo service : manager.getRunningServices(Integer.MAX_VALUE)) {
if (serviceClass.getName().equals(service.service.getClassName())) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}

"service continues to run fine but the activity gets killed"
services are given more importance than activities, if android where given a choice to kill an activity or a service it always kill an activity first.
"a second service starts"
services can only be started once no matter how many times you start a service.
"checkbox will be set to default"
use sharedpreferences to persist values.

Foreground service being stopped by Android does not restart later

I have a Foreground Service for my app, which must run the whole time and never stops. While I was testing it few times, it seems after 3-4 days Android decides it just to stop it, and never restart it again, and in my Activity I have a check for the service if its running, and if it isnt to start it.
Even though, the service is not starting, and I can't debug it, because this is not happening immidiatelly.
So this is my check, is there something wrong in it?
if (!isMyServiceRunning(MyService.class)) {
startService(new Intent(this, MyService.class));
}
private boolean isMyServiceRunning(Class<?> serviceClass) {
ActivityManager manager = (ActivityManager) getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
for (RunningServiceInfo service : manager.getRunningServices(Integer.MAX_VALUE)) {
if (serviceClass.getName().equals(service.service.getClassName())) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
I call this check in onResume() of the Activity, and I can't just run it everytime when the activity starts, because I have a constantly running Thread in the service, which will get more than one instance if started several times...
So here is what I want:
Either have more reliable way to check for the service if its running
or
Just start the service every time the activity starts, to prevent problems, and the thread inside of it must always have just 1 instance (I have already declared is as static)

You can make your service Bindable and bind your Activity to the service when the Activity starts/resumes. This way you will be sure the service is running. But I think you have a problem with your service. My I ask you to post more information about the service? It is not normal the OS to kill a foreground service with no traces.

How can I stop my old service?

I want to start service when I exit from my app.
code is :
Intent i_service = new Intent(MainActivity.this,check.class);
startService(i_service);
And when I re-open my app , I want to stop my service which I started when I exit from my app.
code is:
Intent i_service = new Intent(MainActivity.this,check.class);
stopService(i_service);
This is the right way to do it ?
How can stop my old service?
thanks in advance

Check Your service is run or not and then stop ur service on oncreate() of ur activity as below,
ActivityManager manager = (ActivityManager) getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
for (RunningServiceInfo service : manager.getRunningServices(Integer.MAX_VALUE)) {
if (check.getName().equals(service.service.getClassName())) {
Intent i_service = new Intent(MainActivity.this,check.class);
stopService(i_service);
}
}

I think you are doing it in the correct way. Just that when the Application is started again, you need to first check whether it is running or not, and then stop it.
The answer with code described by "MSS" above explains it well!

Creating start stop service button

I want to create a single button which serves both functions of Starting and Stopping a service.
Also I want to make sure that even if user quits the application and again comes back then according to whether service is running or not, I want to show appropriate Text on Button.
So in short, With what thing I can get to know if service is running or not ?

You can check if service is running or not with below code. Rest of the question is logic based once you find the service is running or not.
private boolean isMyServiceRunning() {
ActivityManager manager = (ActivityManager) getSystemService(ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
for (RunningServiceInfo service : manager.getRunningServices(Integer.MAX_VALUE)) {
if ("com.example.MyService".equals(service.service.getClassName())) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
I refer this answer just check it