Question

I am getting confused with all the different terminology when using Android: Activity, Service…

Right now I create a service:

startService(new Intent(this, RingerServer.class));

And this service starts a thread:

public class RingerServer extends Service {

    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();

        new Thread(new Ringer()).start();
    }

    public class Ringer implements Runnable { ... }

    public void refuseConnection() { ... }

}

In this service, the RingerServer, I also have methods that I want to use. I would like to keep a reference to the RingerServer. I would basically like the Activity that created the service to be able to call refuseConnection(), but not make that method static.

startService returns a ComponentName, so I’ve been trying to cast it back to RingerServer but that doesn’t seem to work. I see that it has getClass() and I’ve checked and getClassName() gives me the correct class. I haven’t been able to use getClass() properly though.

Is there any way I can please keep a reference to the newly created RingerServer class? I am sure this is trivial, but I am stuck right now.

Thank you very much,

James

Answer 1

You have two options

1.Override onStartCommand of the service and start the server with intent using an action. that intent will be received in service, based on the intent action you can call refuseConnection()

//In Activity 
...
//Start the service 
Intent intent=new Intent("com.xx.xx.REFUSE_CONNECTION");
startService(this,intent);
...
//In Service 

public void onStart(Intent intent, int startId) {
        super.onStart(intent, startId);
        if(intent.getAction().equals("com.xx.xx.REFUSE_CONNECTION")){
            //Refuse the connection
            refuseConnection();
        }else {
            //Do something else
        }
}

//In Manifest

<service android:name="RingerService">
     <intent-filter>
       <action android:name="com.xx.xx.REFUSE_CONNECTION"></action>
     </intent-filter>
</service>

1. Implement AIDL interface and override onBind() of service , and use this interface to call refuseConnection(). Refer to this link http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/aidl.html regarding AIDL.