in what case does bindService return false?

Question

I was wondering when does Context.bindService() return false?

I've tried to make the onBind() return null, but it still returns true when bindService is called and the onServiceConnected does not get executed. I also saw this on Google Groups with no response https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/android-developers/ZLl56Mz1jYg

I also can't find the implementation of bindService, since it is abstract in Context.java and searching for "public boolean bindService" does not yield any useful results either (closest was ApplicationContext which does not seem to be present in the current API levels).

Answer 1

One very common case in which bindService returns false is if the service was not declared in the Manifest. In that case you should add code like seen below to your manifest file

<manifest ... >
  ...
  <application ... >
      <service android:name=".ExampleService" />
      ...
  </application>
</manifest>