REST API Service : should be Bound or IntentService?

Question

If we define an Service to handle our REST API

Should this service be bound or IntentService ?

As we need to access it from many activities and need it to hold current Client-Server state attributes, I think we should choose the Bound Service, but am I right?

Summary
So finally I decided to combine Singleton and Sync Adapter models. Sync Adapter for large datasets and Singleton for quering non-data calls.

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 29 '11 at 11:14

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A bound service would be the best choice if you need to maintain state. IntentService is more for a worker queue type of invocation, where the service starts, does some work and then stops when there's no more work.

answered Nov 29 '11 at 11:14

botteaap

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score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:03

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The only advatage of using a Service instead of a singleton is that if your process has a started Service, the process is less likely to be killed by the OS (see this answer - Android: When to use Service vs Singleton?).

So I would just use a singleton instead of a Service. And perhaps start a dummy Service as a way of telling the OS that you want to stay in memory as long as possible. When you are ok with your process being killed, stop the dummy Service.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:03

Community

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answered Nov 29 '11 at 11:21

fhucho

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Yes, possible. Can we put this singleton into an different Thread? To avoid setting UI non-responding. – Marek Sebera Nov 29 '11 at 12:33
Of course, you should start a new Thread on your singleton (you would have to do this in a Service too). – fhucho Nov 29 '11 at 12:42

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 29 '11 at 12:00

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Why don't you try using a SyncAdapter? Take a look at this blog post.

answered Nov 29 '11 at 12:00

Macarse

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Interesting, but is it really a good idea to let user stop synchronizing the data? As the application is needed to have the latest data possible, or the most of functions can't be used. – Marek Sebera Nov 29 '11 at 12:31
Using a `SyncAdapter` doesn't mean you can't force an update. – Macarse Nov 29 '11 at 12:32
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Although you answered as last of all, your answer brought me most info I needed. Thanks – Marek Sebera Nov 29 '11 at 14:04
@MarekSebera: np. Good luck! :) – Macarse Nov 29 '11 at 14:26

REST API Service : should be Bound or IntentService?

3 Answers3