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Android Threads and Services Introducing Services Creating a Service

Yevgeny Yermakov
Yevgeny Yermakov
10,979 Points
Posted by Yevgeny Yermakov
Yevgeny Yermakov
10,979 Points

Creating a service

Can’t pass the final task of this challenge. I’ve been trying to pass it for the past couple of hours but nothing seems to work. Tried many different options but still no success. Still can’t figure out where my mistake is.

And this is the error message that I get: ./MainActivity.java:13: error: cannot find symbol service.startService(); ^ symbol: method startService() location: variable service of type TwitterService 1 error

Any help would be very appreciated. Thanks!

TwitterService.java 
public class TwitterService extends Service {
  TwitterClient twitterClient = new TwitterClient();    

  TwitterThread twitterThread;

  @Override 
  public void onCreate() {
    twitterThread = new TwitterThread();
    twitterThread.start();
  }

  @Override
  public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
    return null;
  }

  @Override
  public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId){
      Message message = Message.obtain();
      twitterThread.twitterHandler.sendMessage(message);
      return START_REDELIVER_INTENT;
  }


  class TwitterThread extends Thread {
    TwitterHandler twitterHandler;
    @Override
    public void run() {
      Looper.prepare();
      twitterHandler = new TwitterHandler();
      Looper.loop();
    }
  }    

  class TwitterHandler extends Handler {
    @Override
    public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
      twitterClient.update();
      stopSelf();
    }
  }
}
MainActivity.java 
public class MainActivity extends Activity {
  Button button;
  private TwitterService service;

  @Override
  public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    button = (Button) findViewById(R.id.update_button);
    button.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
      @Override
      public void onClick(View v){
        service.startService();
        service.stopSelf();
      }
    });
  }
}

1 Answer

Ben Deitch
STAFF
Ben Deitch
Treehouse Teacher
Ben Deitch
Ben Deitch
Treehouse Teacher

Hey Yevgeny!

We don't start Services explicitly. We start them by creating a new Intent that points to the Service, and then calling the 'startService' method (of the Activity) while passing in the Intent.

@Override
public void onClick(View v){
  Intent intent = new Intent(MainActivity.this, TwitterService.class);
  startService(intent);
}

Hope that helps!

Yevgeny Yermakov
Yevgeny Yermakov
10,979 Points
Yevgeny Yermakov
Yevgeny Yermakov
10,979 Points

Ah! Now I see. Thanks a lot for your help, Ben! It worked! :—)