Question

I was wondering what the relationship is between an Android service and the activity that started it (which is happening in this case, via the StartService() method) ?

Is the service just another thread running within the same process the activity belongs, or does it get its own ?

The reason I ask is b/c I’m using a SQLite DB that is going to be accessed from both an activity and the service that it kicks off, and so need to determine the proper way to syncronize DB access between them (leverage the built-in multi-threading support of SQLite, or implement some homegrown interprocess snycronization methodology).

note: I’m not asking how to syncronize access, I’m trying to figure out weather I’m accessing the DB from two seperate processes or seperate threads, which will dictate how I go about this.

note: I’m writing in .net/mono using Mono.Data.Sqlite, not in raw Android/Java.

Any insight is welcome and appreciated, Thanks.

Answer 1

Does the android developer site not contain your answer? It goes into great detail of the Service and Activity.

Caution: A service runs in the main thread of its hosting process—the
service does not create its own thread and does not run in a separate
process (unless you specify otherwise). This means that, if your
service is going to do any CPU intensive work or blocking operations
(such as MP3 playback or networking), you should create a new thread
within the service to do that work. By using a separate thread, you
will reduce the risk of Application Not Responding (ANR) errors and
the application’s main thread can remain dedicated to user interaction
with your activities.