ServiceConnection.onServiceConnected() never called after binding to started service

Question

In a game application I have the following scenario:

• From the main game Activity, the player starts several game tasks that run in the background

Answer 1

ServiceConnection's onServiceConnected() is called, but nobody guarantees that it will be called before onCreate continues execution. So, what happens here - you successfuly bind to the service (that's why onBind returns true), but you're not fully connected - onServiceConnected() has not yet been called, so your local mProgressService object is not yet initalized, and therefore you get the NullPointerException.

Solution:

Move these two lines:

mProgressBarList = mProgressService.getProgressBarList();
mStaffNameList = mProgressService.getStaffNameList();

from onCreate() to onServiceConnected() function (use the service object after it is initialized in onServiceConnected()).