How can I bind two Android Activities to one Service?

Question

I would like to ask for some example, where two different activities (a button in the first activity opens a second activity), are communicating with one service (AIDL, etc.).

I've tried many different tutorials, but they are only about how to make one activity → one service.

score 14 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 21 '22 at 20:17

14

This is probably old, but I'll try to answer it anyway...

In Android, seeing as only one Activity can bind to a Service at a time, and only one Activity can be shown at a time, there isn't any real reason to want to bind two Activities at a time.

But, if you'd like, the best solution is to bind the Service in the onResume() method, and unbind it in the onPause() method. This allows you to give two unrelated Activities access to the service, while only having one bound at a time.

edited Dec 21 '22 at 20:17

Peter Mortensen

30,738
21
105
131

answered Jul 14 '11 at 15:49

D4N14L

440
1
6
10

1

indeed.... this also might help him i think, http://www.techotopia.com/index.php/Android_Local_Bound_Services_%E2%80%93_A_Worked_Example – gumuruh Aug 18 '14 at 07:02

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 12 '11 at 19:36

3

Each Activity is responsible for binding and unbinding from the Service. This is normally done in onResume / onPause, or onStart / onStop, depending on your requirements. One Activity cannot bind another Activity to a Service. That's just the way it is. :)

answered Feb 12 '11 at 19:36

Rich Schuler

41,814
6
72
59

1

that's not thing i wanted to say. – lauriys Feb 13 '11 at 20:11
3

i don't want one activity to bind another activity to service. i just want to know, how to bind two activities to one service. first activity start service, and second bind itself to it. – lauriys Feb 13 '11 at 20:12

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 21 '22 at 20:20

You can do it by using Messenger that provide IPC communication without using AIDL. This is how you can bind multiple activities to a service.

If you need your service to communicate with remote processes, then you can use a Messenger to provide the interface for your service. This technique allows you to perform inter-process communication (IPC) without the need to use AIDL.

Have a look at this link. When you see the code, you will find a switch case within a Handler. This will cater to the multiple requests that you will send from you multiple activities/components.

How can I bind two Android Activities to one Service?

3 Answers3

Linked