Category Archives: Android

create running background task within android

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This is more of a beginners entry about that topic. Background tasks are called Service in Android. Creating and using one is pretty simple. From your activity call the following code:

  1. public class TestActivity extends Activity {
  2.     @Override
  3.     public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  4.         super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
  5.         setContentView(R.layout.main);
  6.  
  7.         startService(new Intent(this, TestService.class));
  8.     }
  9. }

And the service class looks like this for instance:

  1. public class TestService extends Service{
  2. 	@Override
  3. 	public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
  4. 		return null;
  5. 	}
  6.  
  7. 	@Override
  8. 	public void onCreate() {
  9. 		// TODO Auto-generated method stub
  10. 		super.onCreate();
  11. 	}
  12.  
  13. 	@Override
  14. 	public void onDestroy() {
  15. 		// TODO Auto-generated method stub
  16. 		super.onDestroy();
  17. 	}
  18.  
  19. 	@Override
  20. 	public void onStart(Intent intent, int startId) {
  21. 		// TODO Auto-generated method stub
  22. 		super.onStart(intent, startId);
  23.  
  24. 		new Thread(new Runnable() {
  25.  
  26. 			public void run() {
  27.  
  28. 				while(1 == 1){
  29. 				// do something useful and dont waste to much battery
  30. 				}
  31.  
  32. 			}
  33. 		}).start();
  34. 	}
  35. }

Thats basically it, all you have to do now to make it work, is register that service within the AndroidManifest.xml with a line like that:

<service android:name=".package.TestService" />

Now you are done and got a background job running on your android device, again, easy, isn’t it?