Static variable in Foreground Service

Question

My question is very simple. I have a foreground service that, when activated, runs indefinitely until the user stops it. In the I MainActivity, I need to know if the service is running or not (image if the user closes the app but the foreground service is still running, when he reenters the app, I need to know if the service is already running). Is it viable to have a companion object on the Service with a status variable so that I can access its status? Something like this:

@AndroidEntryPoint
class SomeForegroundService: Service() {

    companion object {
        var status = 0
    }
....

And then somewhere in my MainActivity...

SomeForegroundService.status == 1

Is this prone to memory leaks? Whats a better solution (not counting with checking every running system service)

"Is this prone to memory leaks?" -- no, unless you consider a single `Int` to be a significant leak. — CommonsWare, Sep 08 '21 at 10:52

Nitish · Answer 1 · 2021-09-08T08:32:10.087

0

You can use this method to check is service is running or not instead of static variable

// check and return true if service is running
private boolean isMyServiceRunning() {
    ActivityManager manager = (ActivityManager) getSystemService(Context.ACTIVITY_SERVICE);
    for (ActivityManager.RunningServiceInfo service : manager.getRunningServices(Integer.MAX_VALUE)) {
        if (TrackingService.class.getName().equals(service.service.getClassName())) {
            return true;
        }
    }
    return false;
}

Edit :
If you don't want to check every service, you can register broadcast receiver in the service and it pings the activity.
Original Answer by : How to check if a service is running on Android? (answer by Ben H)

edited Sep 08 '21 at 08:32

answered Sep 08 '21 at 08:20

Nitish

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Well, yeah, but this checks every running service. Isn't it there a better option? – André Nogueira Sep 08 '21 at 08:22
Yes it's check every service. Not that I'm aware of – Nitish Sep 08 '21 at 08:24

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 08 '21 at 08:42

0

What you need is to bind the service

https://developer.android.com/guide/components/bound-services

If you use bindService(intent, connection, 0) without the Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE flag, it will only bind to existing service, and return false if the service does not exist.

answered Sep 08 '21 at 08:42

Ricky Mo

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[`bindService`](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/Context#bindService(android.content.Intent,%20android.content.ServiceConnection,%20int)) returns false only if binding fails (invalid service or missing permission). You are allowed to bind to a service that is not running but you will not receive `onServiceConnected()` callback until that service starts. I guess you can use that state (binding active but no service connected) to determine that service is not running. – Pawel Sep 08 '21 at 10:04

Static variable in Foreground Service

2 Answers2