Question

I have a problem implementing what should be a simple example with services.
Following the Android developer scheme I managed to Bind to a service. The service works perfectly.

What i want to implement is the starting Date of the Service. I have in the

public class MyService extends Service {

    private Date _firstActivation= new Date();
    ....
    ....
    public Date GetFirstActivation() {
    return _firstActivation;
}
}

In the main activity that binds to the service I have a basic implementation during the OnStart method

 // Check if the Service is running and if it's running let's bind to the service through ServiceConnectionClass
    if (((MyApplication)getApplication())._serviceIsRunning)
    {
        Intent intent = new Intent(this, MyService.class);
        bindService(intent, mConnection, 0);
        _startingTime_TV.setText(_df.format(_myService.GetFirstActivation()));
    }
    else {
        _startingTime_TV.setText("Service Not Started");
    }

where _myService is the MyService and mConnection is the ServiceConnection…

Now what i expect is that once the service has started the first time, each time i Stop the activity (and at the same time unbind) and restart the activity (and at the same time bind) on the textview I can see always the same starting time.

What happens in that the time changes everytime i restart the activity…

Does anyone has a clue?

Answer 1

The lifecycle of the Service is determined:
– if is started via bindService, the Service is stopped when unbinding
– if started via startService, it is stopped via stopService or if Android OS wants this

So first of all: always start your service via startService and then bind to it.
In your bind you can do: _startingTime_TV.setText(_df.format(_myService.GetFirstActivation()));
Because after bindService(intent, mConnection, 0); you are not bound yet. You have to wait for a callback: onServiceConnected (function of ServiceConnection)