Question

I have a broadcast receiver in my application.
When I receive a broadcast I pass the content to a service to decode it.

public class Receiver extends BroadcastReceiver {

@Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
    if (intent.getAction().equals("xxx.yyy.zzz")) {
        Log.d("Receiver", "Intent received from server!");

        byte[] data = intent.getByteArrayExtra("Data");
        String params = intent.getStringExtra("Params");

        Intent i = new Intent(context, DecodeService.class);
        i.putExtra("Data", data);
        i.putExtra("Params", params);

        context.startService(i);
    }
  }
}

Depending on the content, I start an appropriate activity from this service.

Now I have some questions about how to manage this service.

• Where should I stop this service? Should I stop it after starting an activity from it and start it again when I receive a broadcast? Or should I let it run while the application is active and stop it when the application is exited.

• What would be the advantage of binding to this service? And can I bind to a service from a broadcastreceiver?

Answer 1

Seems like you are using Service just to decode and start an Activity. Instead, I would suggest you to ditch the service part and try to accommodate decoding and launching your activity from the BroadcastReceiver class.

For simple tasks, dont get involved with services. It will be a lot easier to expect your application’s behavior when not using services.

In case you really want to use service, then I would suggest you to read about IntentService. It is also a type of service which runs in the background, does its job on a separate thread and automatically gets killed at the end.