[android-developers] Re: Service onCreate is asynchronous

2010-11-05 Thread Hal
You may want to try the Messaging Design Pattern (MDP) or the Command
Design Pattern. MDP
provides improvements in terms of coupling, encapsulation and
reusability.

Messaging Design Pattern (MDP) and pattern implementation -
Published in the 17th conference on Pattern Languages of Programs
(PLoP 2010).
https://jt.dev.java.net/files/documents/5553/150311/designPatterns.pdf

The Jt design pattern framework provides implementations for both of
these patterns:

Jt Design Pattern framework
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-designpattern/index.html

I hope this helps.


On Nov 2, 3:21 pm, jotobjects  wrote:
> Further even the Service constructor is called asynchronously.
>
> It looks like all operations on a Local Service have to go through the
> ServiceConnection, or at least operations on the service have to be
> deferred until after onServiceConnected has been called.  Is that
> correct?
>
> Any other pointers about the correctdesignpatternto use for a
> LocalService?
>
> On Nov 2, 11:54 am, jotobjects  wrote:
>
> > I have tried both startService() and bindService().  Both methods
> > return before Service.onCreate() is called.  So work I was expecting
> > to complete in Service.onCreate() is not done.
>
> > Is it necessary to do initialization steps in the Service
> > constructor?  If so what use is the Service.onCreate method?  Any
> > suggestions about how others handle this problem?
>
> > I found this thread which describes the problem, but the poster's
> > solution is not described.
>
> >http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers/browse_thread/threa...

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[android-developers] Re: Service onCreate is asynchronous

2010-11-03 Thread jotobjects


On Nov 3, 2:30 pm, Brion Emde  wrote:
> > This result might (I'm speculating) be because the onCreate() methods
> > of the Activity and the Service are guaranteed to complete in their
> > lifecycle. So maybe Android only lets one of them run at a time?
>
> This is very true. Since the Service runs in the UI thread, along with
> the Activity, all that is really happening is that a message is being
> sent to start the Service. It isn't actually started until you have
> left the Activity and the UI thread gets around to processing the
> messaging queue and starts the Service.
>
Thanks for clarifying that.  Makes sense.

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[android-developers] Re: Service onCreate is asynchronous

2010-11-03 Thread jotobjects


On Nov 3, 2:12 pm, Frank Weiss  wrote:
> I can't help but think this is just a misunderstanding or failure to RTFM.
> The method ref says "This defines a dependency between your application and
> the service". Perhaps this is also a confusion about what an Android service
> really is.

Excuse me?  What is your point?  This doesn't seem to be a helpful
comment IMHO

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[android-developers] Re: Service onCreate is asynchronous

2010-11-03 Thread Brion Emde
> This result might (I'm speculating) be because the onCreate() methods
> of the Activity and the Service are guaranteed to complete in their
> lifecycle. So maybe Android only lets one of them run at a time?

This is very true. Since the Service runs in the UI thread, along with
the Activity, all that is really happening is that a message is being
sent to start the Service. It isn't actually started until you have
left the Activity and the UI thread gets around to processing the
messaging queue and starts the Service.


On Nov 3, 4:56 pm, jotobjects  wrote:
> What I discovered was the locus of my problem is that if you call
> bindService() from either Activity.onCreate() or Activity.onStart()
> then bindService() will return "true" indicating the Service is bound
> to the Activity BUT the Service will NOT have been constructed and the
> Service onCreate() method will NOT have been called.
>
> This is a little non-intuitive since you would think that if the
> Service is bound, then service would at least exist.  But in fact it
> might not even exist yet!
>
> This result might (I'm speculating) be because the onCreate() methods
> of the Activity and the Service are guaranteed to complete in their
> lifecycle. So maybe Android only lets one of them run at a time?
>
> On Nov 2, 4:57 pm, jotobjects  wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Nov 2, 2:43 pm, Kostya Vasilyev  wrote:
>
> > > Services are a mechanism for doing tasks that take a long time (among
> > > another things). Based on this, the result of a service doing something
> > > is typically available after a delay, so services are asynchronous by
> > > their nature.
>
> > Right.  Long running tasks have asynchronous results.  That's why you
> > put them in a Service (and run the actual tasks in a thread).
>
> > > If you have a piece of code that you wish to run synchronously, just
> > > call that code directly (remembering to avoid code that can lead to ANRs).
>
> > > The only time I can see synchronous start / bind could be useful is
> > > updating an Activity with the current state of some process managed by a
> > > service.
>
> > Right, that's 101 as Frank said. I'm not trying to do anything
> > synchronously.  But what tripped me up was that I have new work for
> > the Service to do from time to time based on other things going on in
> > the application.  There is no way to actually know when the Service
> > exists.  So you can't reliably communicate with the Service EXCEPT via
> > Intents with startService (as Mark pointed out) or somehow with the
> > ServiceConnection by deferring communication with the servie until
> > after onServiceConnected(0 is called.
>
> > Some of the Local Service examples out there can lead one to believe
> > that the service can be used directly and that's not true.
>
> > > But even this case should work pretty well, because at the time onCreate
> > > is called (and presumable, that's where service start / bind is called),
> > > the activity is not fully visible yet (since its content view is only
> > > specified inside onCreate).
>
> > > -- Kostya
>
> > > 03.11.2010 0:30, jotobjects пишет:
>
> > > > On Nov 2, 1:33 pm, Frank Weiss  wrote:
> > > >> GUI Programming 101
>
> > > >> All GUIs I've seen use an event queue. This is one of the biggest 
> > > >> prardigm
> > > >> shifts to overcome for someone who is used to sequential, non-GUI
> > > >> applications.
> > > > The Service object by definition has nothing to with GUI programming,
> > > > but you sort of have the right idea.
>
> > > --
> > > Kostya Vasilyev -- WiFi Manager + pretty widget 
> > > --http://kmansoft.wordpress.com- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

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Re: [android-developers] Re: Service onCreate is asynchronous

2010-11-03 Thread Frank Weiss
I can't help but think this is just a misunderstanding or failure to RTFM.
The method ref says "This defines a dependency between your application and
the service". Perhaps this is also a confusion about what an Android service
really is.

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Re: [android-developers] Re: Service onCreate is asynchronous

2010-11-03 Thread Kostya Vasilyev

Right.

bindService returning "true" means that the call succeeded.

The connection (at least the part exposed to the application) is made later.

-- Kostya

03.11.2010 23:56, jotobjects пишет:

What I discovered was the locus of my problem is that if you call
bindService() from either Activity.onCreate() or Activity.onStart()
then bindService() will return "true" indicating the Service is bound
to the Activity BUT the Service will NOT have been constructed and the
Service onCreate() method will NOT have been called.

This is a little non-intuitive since you would think that if the
Service is bound, then service would at least exist.  But in fact it
might not even exist yet!

This result might (I'm speculating) be because the onCreate() methods
of the Activity and the Service are guaranteed to complete in their
lifecycle. So maybe Android only lets one of them run at a time?


On Nov 2, 4:57 pm, jotobjects  wrote:

On Nov 2, 2:43 pm, Kostya Vasilyev  wrote:


Services are a mechanism for doing tasks that take a long time (among
another things). Based on this, the result of a service doing something
is typically available after a delay, so services are asynchronous by
their nature.

Right.  Long running tasks have asynchronous results.  That's why you
put them in a Service (and run the actual tasks in a thread).




If you have a piece of code that you wish to run synchronously, just
call that code directly (remembering to avoid code that can lead to ANRs).
The only time I can see synchronous start / bind could be useful is
updating an Activity with the current state of some process managed by a
service.

Right, that's 101 as Frank said. I'm not trying to do anything
synchronously.  But what tripped me up was that I have new work for
the Service to do from time to time based on other things going on in
the application.  There is no way to actually know when the Service
exists.  So you can't reliably communicate with the Service EXCEPT via
Intents with startService (as Mark pointed out) or somehow with the
ServiceConnection by deferring communication with the servie until
after onServiceConnected(0 is called.

Some of the Local Service examples out there can lead one to believe
that the service can be used directly and that's not true.




But even this case should work pretty well, because at the time onCreate
is called (and presumable, that's where service start / bind is called),
the activity is not fully visible yet (since its content view is only
specified inside onCreate).
-- Kostya
03.11.2010 0:30, jotobjects пишет:

On Nov 2, 1:33 pm, Frank Weisswrote:

GUI Programming 101
All GUIs I've seen use an event queue. This is one of the biggest prardigm
shifts to overcome for someone who is used to sequential, non-GUI
applications.

The Service object by definition has nothing to with GUI programming,
but you sort of have the right idea.

--
Kostya Vasilyev -- WiFi Manager + pretty widget --http://kmansoft.wordpress.com



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[android-developers] Re: Service onCreate is asynchronous

2010-11-03 Thread jotobjects
What I discovered was the locus of my problem is that if you call
bindService() from either Activity.onCreate() or Activity.onStart()
then bindService() will return "true" indicating the Service is bound
to the Activity BUT the Service will NOT have been constructed and the
Service onCreate() method will NOT have been called.

This is a little non-intuitive since you would think that if the
Service is bound, then service would at least exist.  But in fact it
might not even exist yet!

This result might (I'm speculating) be because the onCreate() methods
of the Activity and the Service are guaranteed to complete in their
lifecycle. So maybe Android only lets one of them run at a time?


On Nov 2, 4:57 pm, jotobjects  wrote:
> On Nov 2, 2:43 pm, Kostya Vasilyev  wrote:
>
> > Services are a mechanism for doing tasks that take a long time (among
> > another things). Based on this, the result of a service doing something
> > is typically available after a delay, so services are asynchronous by
> > their nature.
>
> Right.  Long running tasks have asynchronous results.  That's why you
> put them in a Service (and run the actual tasks in a thread).
>
>
>
> > If you have a piece of code that you wish to run synchronously, just
> > call that code directly (remembering to avoid code that can lead to ANRs).
>
> > The only time I can see synchronous start / bind could be useful is
> > updating an Activity with the current state of some process managed by a
> > service.
>
> Right, that's 101 as Frank said. I'm not trying to do anything
> synchronously.  But what tripped me up was that I have new work for
> the Service to do from time to time based on other things going on in
> the application.  There is no way to actually know when the Service
> exists.  So you can't reliably communicate with the Service EXCEPT via
> Intents with startService (as Mark pointed out) or somehow with the
> ServiceConnection by deferring communication with the servie until
> after onServiceConnected(0 is called.
>
> Some of the Local Service examples out there can lead one to believe
> that the service can be used directly and that's not true.
>
>
>
> > But even this case should work pretty well, because at the time onCreate
> > is called (and presumable, that's where service start / bind is called),
> > the activity is not fully visible yet (since its content view is only
> > specified inside onCreate).
>
> > -- Kostya
>
> > 03.11.2010 0:30, jotobjects пишет:
>
> > > On Nov 2, 1:33 pm, Frank Weiss  wrote:
> > >> GUI Programming 101
>
> > >> All GUIs I've seen use an event queue. This is one of the biggest 
> > >> prardigm
> > >> shifts to overcome for someone who is used to sequential, non-GUI
> > >> applications.
> > > The Service object by definition has nothing to with GUI programming,
> > > but you sort of have the right idea.
>
> > --
> > Kostya Vasilyev -- WiFi Manager + pretty widget 
> > --http://kmansoft.wordpress.com

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[android-developers] Re: Service onCreate is asynchronous

2010-11-02 Thread jotobjects


On Nov 2, 2:43 pm, Kostya Vasilyev  wrote:
> Services are a mechanism for doing tasks that take a long time (among
> another things). Based on this, the result of a service doing something
> is typically available after a delay, so services are asynchronous by
> their nature.

Right.  Long running tasks have asynchronous results.  That's why you
put them in a Service (and run the actual tasks in a thread).

>
> If you have a piece of code that you wish to run synchronously, just
> call that code directly (remembering to avoid code that can lead to ANRs).
>
> The only time I can see synchronous start / bind could be useful is
> updating an Activity with the current state of some process managed by a
> service.

Right, that's 101 as Frank said. I'm not trying to do anything
synchronously.  But what tripped me up was that I have new work for
the Service to do from time to time based on other things going on in
the application.  There is no way to actually know when the Service
exists.  So you can't reliably communicate with the Service EXCEPT via
Intents with startService (as Mark pointed out) or somehow with the
ServiceConnection by deferring communication with the servie until
after onServiceConnected(0 is called.

Some of the Local Service examples out there can lead one to believe
that the service can be used directly and that's not true.

>
> But even this case should work pretty well, because at the time onCreate
> is called (and presumable, that's where service start / bind is called),
> the activity is not fully visible yet (since its content view is only
> specified inside onCreate).
>
> -- Kostya
>
> 03.11.2010 0:30, jotobjects пишет:
>
> > On Nov 2, 1:33 pm, Frank Weiss  wrote:
> >> GUI Programming 101
>
> >> All GUIs I've seen use an event queue. This is one of the biggest prardigm
> >> shifts to overcome for someone who is used to sequential, non-GUI
> >> applications.
> > The Service object by definition has nothing to with GUI programming,
> > but you sort of have the right idea.
>
> --
> Kostya Vasilyev -- WiFi Manager + pretty widget 
> --http://kmansoft.wordpress.com

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Re: [android-developers] Re: Service onCreate is asynchronous

2010-11-02 Thread Kostya Vasilyev
Services are a mechanism for doing tasks that take a long time (among 
another things). Based on this, the result of a service doing something 
is typically available after a delay, so services are asynchronous by 
their nature.


If you have a piece of code that you wish to run synchronously, just 
call that code directly (remembering to avoid code that can lead to ANRs).


The only time I can see synchronous start / bind could be useful is 
updating an Activity with the current state of some process managed by a 
service.


But even this case should work pretty well, because at the time onCreate 
is called (and presumable, that's where service start / bind is called), 
the activity is not fully visible yet (since its content view is only 
specified inside onCreate).


-- Kostya

03.11.2010 0:30, jotobjects пишет:

On Nov 2, 1:33 pm, Frank Weiss  wrote:

GUI Programming 101

All GUIs I've seen use an event queue. This is one of the biggest prardigm
shifts to overcome for someone who is used to sequential, non-GUI
applications.

The Service object by definition has nothing to with GUI programming,
but you sort of have the right idea.




--
Kostya Vasilyev -- WiFi Manager + pretty widget -- http://kmansoft.wordpress.com

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[android-developers] Re: Service onCreate is asynchronous

2010-11-02 Thread jotobjects

On Nov 2, 1:33 pm, Frank Weiss  wrote:
> GUI Programming 101
>
> All GUIs I've seen use an event queue. This is one of the biggest prardigm
> shifts to overcome for someone who is used to sequential, non-GUI
> applications.

The Service object by definition has nothing to with GUI programming,
but you sort of have the right idea.

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[android-developers] Re: Service onCreate is asynchronous

2010-11-02 Thread jotobjects
Further even the Service constructor is called asynchronously.

It looks like all operations on a Local Service have to go through the
ServiceConnection, or at least operations on the service have to be
deferred until after onServiceConnected has been called.  Is that
correct?

Any other pointers about the correct design pattern to use for a
LocalService?

On Nov 2, 11:54 am, jotobjects  wrote:
> I have tried both startService() and bindService().  Both methods
> return before Service.onCreate() is called.  So work I was expecting
> to complete in Service.onCreate() is not done.
>
> Is it necessary to do initialization steps in the Service
> constructor?  If so what use is the Service.onCreate method?  Any
> suggestions about how others handle this problem?
>
> I found this thread which describes the problem, but the poster's
> solution is not described.
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers/browse_thread/threa...

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