How to keep the android client connected to the server even on activity changes and send data to server?

Question

I initially implemented an async task in my activity which sends data to the server. But when i changed activities the connection was lost. To avoid this my approach was to implement a service that centralizes the network operation and sends data to the server and the code for this service is given below

import java.io.BufferedWriter;
import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.net.InetAddress;
import java.net.Socket;

import android.app.Service;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Binder;
import android.os.IBinder;
import android.util.Log;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class SocketService extends Service {
  public static final String SERVERIP = ""; //your computer IP address should be written here
  public static final int SERVERPORT = 5000;
  PrintWriter out;
  Socket socket;
  InetAddress serverAddr;

@Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
    // TODO Auto-generated method stub
    System.out.println("I am in Ibinder onBind method");
      return myBinder;
}

  private final IBinder myBinder = new LocalBinder();
  TCPClient mTcpClient = new TCPClient();

  public class LocalBinder extends Binder {
        public SocketService getService() {
            System.out.println("I am in Localbinder ");
            return SocketService.this;

        }
    }

  @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();
        System.out.println("I am in on create");     
    }

  public void IsBoundable(){
        Toast.makeText(this,"I bind like butter", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
    }

  public void sendMessage(String message){
        if (out != null && !out.checkError()) {
            System.out.println("in sendMessage"+message);
            out.println(message);
            out.flush();
        }
    }

    @Override
    public int onStartCommand(Intent intent,int flags, int startId){
        super.onStartCommand(intent, flags, startId);
        System.out.println("I am in on start");
      //  Toast.makeText(this,"Service created ...", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
        Runnable connect = new connectSocket();
        new Thread(connect).start();
        return START_STICKY;
    }


    class connectSocket implements Runnable {

        @Override
        public void run() {


            try { 
                 //here you must put your computer's IP address.
                serverAddr = InetAddress.getByName(SERVERIP);
                Log.e("TCP Client", "C: Connecting...");
                //create a socket to make the connection with the server

                socket = new Socket(serverAddr, SERVERPORT);

                 try {


                     //send the message to the server
                     out = new PrintWriter(new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(socket.getOutputStream())), true);


                     Log.e("TCP Client", "C: Sent.");

                     Log.e("TCP Client", "C: Done.");


                    } 
                 catch (Exception e) {

                     Log.e("TCP", "S: Error", e);

                 }
            } catch (Exception e) {

                Log.e("TCP", "C: Error", e);

            }

        }

    }


    @Override
    public void onDestroy() {
        super.onDestroy();
          try {
              socket.close();
          } catch (Exception e) {
              // TODO Auto-generated catch block
              e.printStackTrace();
          }
          socket = null;
      }


    }

Rotator.java is my activity which I bind to this service. Following are few pieces of code from my activity.

private ServiceConnection mConnection = new ServiceConnection() {
            //EDITED PART
    @Override
    public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName name, IBinder service) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
         mBoundService = ((SocketService.LocalBinder)service).getService();

    }

    @Override
    public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName name) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
         mBoundService = null;
    }

  };


   private void doBindService() {
       bindService(new Intent(Rotator.this, SocketService.class), mConnection, Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE);
       mIsBound = true;
       if(mBoundService!=null){
       mBoundService.IsBoundable();
       }
   }


   private void doUnbindService() {
       if (mIsBound) {
           // Detach our existing connection.
           unbindService(mConnection);
           mIsBound = false;
       }
   }

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
      super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
      gestureDetector = new GestureDetector(this, new GestureListener());
      setContentView(R.layout.activity_rotator);


      //Binding the activity to the service to perform client-server operations
      //start service on create
        startService(new Intent(Rotator.this,SocketService.class));
        doBindService();
                  ...........
                  ...........
}   


@Override
protected void onDestroy() {
    super.onDestroy();
    doUnbindService();
}

Now as this service runs in the background, If i want to send some data to the server i use the following

 if(mBoundService!=null)
{
    mBoundService.sendMessage("right");
}

Answer 1

The code is right. The only mistake was that I was trying to start the service twice once in onServiceConnected() method and the other in onCreate() method.

I changed my code to start the service only in onCreate() method in the launcher activity. The rest of the activities directly bind to the service by using doBindService() method

Answer 2

When a service is bound to an Activity , it gets killed when the Activity is stopped, its like a background service only for the Activity. Hence, to keep it running, implement the onStartCommand() method in your Service class and return this.START_STICKY. and manage you're service in this method.