Android bound service - should I manually reconnect in onServiceDisconnected or it tries reconnect automatically?

Question

If i get disconnected from bound service due to some unexpected circumstances, after i called, should I manually reconnect in onServiceDisconnected or it tries to reconnect automatically?

public class MyServiceConnection extends Activity implements ServiceConnection {

    MyBinder binder;

    @Override
    protected void onStart() {
        super.onStart();

        connect();
    }

    private void connect() {
        bindService(new Intent(this, MyService.class), 
                this, Service.BIND_AUTO_CREATE);
    }

    @Override
    public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName name, IBinder service) {
        binder = (MyBinder) service;
    }

    @Override
    public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName name) {

        binder = null;

        //should i reconnect here ?
        connect();
    }
}

Answer 1

According to the ServiceConnection API:

public abstract void onServiceDisconnected (ComponentName name)

Called when a connection to the Service has been lost. This typically happens when the process hosting the service has crashed or been killed. This does not remove the ServiceConnection itself -- this binding to the service will remain active, and you will receive a call to onServiceConnected(ComponentName, IBinder) when the Service is next running.

Back to your question:

@Override
public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName name) {
    binder = null;
    //should i reconnect here ?
    connect();
}

It is all depend on which process the actual service lives.

Local Service:

Service is running in the same process as other components (i.e. activity that bound to it) from the same application, when this single application-scoped process has crashed or been killed, it is very likely that all components in this process (include the activity that bound to this service) are also destroyed. In this case, calling connect() inside onServiceDisconnected() doesn't make any effect, as when application process is recovered, everything is rolling over from very beginning and the activity is recreated again and service is bound in activity's onStart() callback.

Remote Service:

Service is running in separate process, when this process has crashed or been killed, only the actual service is destroyed, the activity lives in another process that bound to the service is remained, so it is probably OK to call connect() in its onServiceDisconnected() callback in order to re-create/re-bind the service.

Check out here to see how to configure service running on separate process in AndroidManifest.xml.