How can I update information in an Android Activity from a background Service

Question

I am trying to create a simple Android application that has a ActivityList of information, when the application starts, I plan to start a Service that will be constantly cal

Answer 1

You need to use bindService() to bind the activity with running service and communicate with it.

public class BindingActivity extends Activity {
YourService mService;
boolean mBound = false;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.main);
}

@Override
protected void onStart() {
    super.onStart();
    // Bind to Your Service
    Intent intent = new Intent(this, YourService.class);
    bindService(intent, mConnection, Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE);
}

@Override
protected void onStop() {
    super.onStop();
    // Unbind from the service
    if (mBound) {
        unbindService(mConnection);
        mBound = false;
    }
}

/** Called when a button is clicked (the button in the layout file attaches to
  * this method with the android:onClick attribute) */
public void onButtonClick(View v) {
    if (mBound) {
        // Call a method from your Service.
        // However, if this call were something that might hang, then this request should
        // occur in a separate thread to avoid slowing down the activity performance.
        int num = mService.getRandomNumber();
        Toast.makeText(this, "number: " + num, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    }
}

/** Defines callbacks for service binding, passed to bindService() */
private ServiceConnection mConnection = new ServiceConnection() {

    @Override
    public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName className,
            IBinder service) {
        // We've bound to the running Service, cast the IBinder and get instance
        LocalBinder binder = (LocalBinder) service;
        mService = binder.getService();
        mBound = true;
    }

    @Override
    public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName arg0) {
        mBound = false;
    }
 };
}

and your service like:

public class LocalService extends Service {
    // Binder given to clients
   private final IBinder mBinder = new LocalBinder();
   // Random number generator
   private final Random mGenerator = new Random();

/**
 * Class used for the client Binder.  Because we know this service always
 * runs in the same process as its clients, we don't need to deal with IPC.
 */
public class LocalBinder extends Binder {
    LocalService getService() {
        // Return this instance of LocalService so clients can call public methods
        return LocalService.this;
    }
}

@Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
    return mBinder;
}

/** method for clients */
public int getRandomNumber() {
  return mGenerator.nextInt(100);
  }
}