MediaPlayer Service Android

Question

I am new to Android. I am creating service for Media Player so that it can continue to play song even if i close the application. I have created activity for Media Player and it is having all the functionality like play , pause , next , previous , seekbar and also includes oncompletionlistener . All works excellent. But Now i want that all should be managed by service.

I have Created MyService Class :

public class MyService extends Service {

    public static MediaPlayer mp;

    @Override
    public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        return null;
    }

    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        mp = new MediaPlayer();     
    }

    @Override
    public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {  
        return START_STICKY;
    }

But in my player activity i have created ArrayList for Songlist from which i am taking currentsongIndex and through it i am maintaining all the functionality like next , previous and all.. Now in service how do i get songlist which is also required in my activity ?? Where should i create MediaPlayer object mean in service or activity ??

for MediaPlayer I have reffered http://www.androidhive.info/2012/03/android-building-audio-player-tutorial/ . For my media player code you can refer this site. Thanks. Pleaze clear my doubt. I am so confused. Reply me soon..

Answer 1

You are on the right track. I have adapted from the SDK Samples; this is how I do it and it works great. From your ArrayList (in your activity NOT from the Service) call

onListItemClick

and start an intent that starts the music service:

startService(new Intent(MusicService.ACTION_PLAY));

In your manifest you will need to add:

 <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="com.blah.blah.action.PLAY" />
           <xxx xxx> 
 </intent-filter>

And of course in your Music Service you need to receive the Intent:

public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
    String action = intent.getAction();
    if (action.equals(ACTION_PLAY))
        processPlayRequest();
  }

Be sure to add Intents for skip, rewind, stop etc. Let me know if this helps.

Answer 2

Getting the app to run in background should be taken care of by the 'Service' itself.
Try following this example http://www.vogella.com/articles/AndroidServices/article.html
A service is designed to work in the background.