Keep Service running

Question

Can anyone tell me the way to keep a Service always running or restarting itself when the user close it? I've watched that facebook services restart when i clear memory. I don't want to make ForegroundServices.

Answer 1

You should create a sticky service. Read more about it here.

You can do this by returning START_STICKY in onStartCommand.

@Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
    Log.i("LocalService", "Received start id " + startId + ": " + intent);
    // We want this service to continue running until it is explicitly
    // stopped, so return sticky.
    return START_STICKY;
}

Read also about application:persistent which is "Whether or not the application should remain running at all times". This is more troublesome - System will try not to kill your app which will effect others in the system, you should be careful using it.

Answer 2

I copied this from a service I used in an app I did before.

ITS IMPORTANT TO NOT UPDATE ANY UI. because you have no user interface in services. this applies to Toasts as well.

good luck

public class nasserservice extends Service {
    private static long UPDATE_INTERVAL = 1*5*1000;  //default

    private static Timer timer = new Timer(); 
    @Override
    public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        return null;
    }

    @Override
    public void onCreate(){
        super.onCreate();
        _startService();

    }   

    private void _startService()
    {      
        timer.scheduleAtFixedRate(    

                new TimerTask() {

                    public void run() {

                        doServiceWork();

                    }
                }, 1000,UPDATE_INTERVAL);
        Log.i(getClass().getSimpleName(), "FileScannerService Timer started....");
    }

    private void doServiceWork()
    { 
        //do something wotever you want 
        //like reading file or getting data from network 
        try {
        }
        catch (Exception e) {
        }

    }

    private void _shutdownService()
    {
        if (timer != null) timer.cancel();
        Log.i(getClass().getSimpleName(), "Timer stopped...");
    }

    @Override 
    public void onDestroy() 
    {
        super.onDestroy();

        _shutdownService();

        // if (MAIN_ACTIVITY != null)  Log.d(getClass().getSimpleName(), "FileScannerService stopped");
    }

}