Android Services 2

Dr. Miguel Angel Len Chvez

Android

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Creating a Background Service

The

IntentService class provides a straightforward

structure for running an operation on a single
background thread.
This allows it to handle long-running operations
without affecting your user interface's
responsiveness.
Also, an IntentService isn't affected by most user
interface lifecycle events, so it continues to run in
circumstances that would shut down an AsyncTask
Android

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Creating a Background Service

An

IntentService has a few limitations:

It can't interact directly with your user interface. To put its

results in the UI, you have to send them to an Activity.
Work requests run sequentially. If an operation is running
in an IntentService, and you send it another request, the
request waits until the first operation is finished.
An operation running on an IntentService can't be
interrupted.

However,

in most cases an IntentService is the

preferred way to simple background operations.

Android

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Create an IntentService
public class RSSPullService extends IntentService {
"
"@Override "
"protected void onHandleIntent(Intent workIntent) {
"
"
"// Gets data from the incoming Intent
"String dataString=workIntent.getDataString();
"
"
"... "
"
"// Do work here, based on the contents of
dataString "
"
"... "
"
"}"
}

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Define the IntentService in the Manifest

<application "
"android:icon="@drawable/icon" "
"android:label="@string/app_name"> "
"... "
"<!-- "
"
"Because android:exported is set to "false,
the service is only available to this app.
"
"--> "
"<service "
"
"android:name=".RSSPullService" "
"
"android:exported="false"/> " "
"
"... "
<application/>

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Sending Work Requests to the

Background Service
To

create a work request and send it to an

IntentService, create an explicit Intent, add work
request data to it, and send it to IntentService by
calling startService().

Android

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Create and Send a Work Request to an

IntentService
1.

Create a new, explicit Intent for the IntentService

called RSSPullService.

/*Creates a new Intent to start the"

* RSSPullServiceIntentService. Passes a"
* URI in theIntent's "data" field."
*/"

mServiceIntent = new Intent(getActivity(),

RSSPullService.class);"
mServiceIntent.setData(Uri.parse(dataUrl));
Android

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Create and Send a Work Request to an

IntentService
2.

Call startService()

// Starts the IntentService"

getActivity().startService(mServiceIntent);"
"
Notice that you can send the work request from anywhere in
an Activity or Fragment.
Once you call startService(), the IntentService does the work
defined in its onHandleIntent() method, and then stops itself.

Android

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Reporting Work Status

To

send the status of a work request in an

IntentService to other components, first create an
Intent that contains the status in its extended data. As
an option, you can add an action and data URI to this
Intent.
Next, send the Intent by calling
LocalBroadcastManager.sendBroadcast().

Android

This sends the Intent to any component in your application

that has registered to receive it. To get an instance of
LocalBroadcastManager, call getInstance().
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Reporting Work Status

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Receive Status Broadcasts from an

IntentService
To

receive broadcast Intent objects, use a subclass

of BroadcastReceiver. In the subclass, implement
the BroadcastReceiver.onReceive() callback
method, which LocalBroadcastManager invokes
when it receives an Intent.
LocalBroadcastManager passes the incoming
Intent to BroadcastReceiver.onReceive().

Android

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Receive Status Broadcasts from an

IntentService
// Broadcast receiver for receiving status updates from the
IntentService"
private class ResponseReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver"
{ "
"// Prevents instantiation "
"private DownloadStateReceiver() { "
"} "
// Called when the BroadcastReceiver gets an Intent it's
registered to receive "
"@public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {"
"
"
"... "
"
"
"/* "
"
"
"* Handle Intents here. "
"
"
"*/"
"
"
"... "
"
"}"
}
Android
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Receive Status Broadcasts from an

IntentService

Android

Once you've defined the BroadcastReceiver, you can

define filters for it that match specific actions, categories,
and data. To do this, create an IntentFilter.

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Receive Status Broadcasts from an

IntentService

Android

To register the BroadcastReceiver and the IntentFilter with

the system, get an instance of LocalBroadcastManager and
call its registerReceiver() method.

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Receive Status Broadcasts from an

IntentService
A

single BroadcastReceiver can handle more than

one type of broadcast Intent object, each with its
own action.

This feature allows you to run different code for each

action, without having to define a separate
BroadcastReceiver for each action.

To

define another IntentFilter for the same

BroadcastReceiver, create the IntentFilter and
repeat the call to registerReceiver().

Android

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Receive Status Broadcasts from an

IntentService

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Receive Status Broadcasts from an

IntentService
Sending an broadcast Intent doesn't start or resume an
Activity.
The BroadcastReceiver for an Activity receives and
processes Intent objects even when your app is in the
background, but doesn't force your app to the
foreground.
If you want to notify the user about an event that
happened in the background while your app was not
visible, use a Notification.
Never start an Activity in response to an incoming
broadcast Intent.

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References

Android

https://developer.android.com/training/run-backgroundservice/index.html
http://www.androidcurso.com/index.php/tutorialesandroid-fundamentos/38-unidad-8-serviciosnotificaciones-y-receptores-de-anuncios

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