android_irc_log

11:31 AM S3nsat10n
Do you have to create an IDL in order to interact with a service running in another process inside your own app? Or can you bind to it like you would a service running in the main process?
11:31 AM evancharlton
you can just bind to it
11:31 AM lov
S3nsat10n: it depends.
11:31 AM pfn
S3nsat10n, another process = need idl
11:31 AM evancharlton
IDL is pretty much just for IPC as far as I know
11:31 AM lov
S3nsat10n: you don't need to use aidl; you may want to use messages
11:31 AM pfn
S3nsat10n, or if you're willing to use a Messenger/Handler, you can communicate that way
11:31 AM lov
there's a good docs about this
11:31 AM pfn
use IDL for tight-coupling, Messenger/Handler for loose-coupling
11:32 AM S3nsat10n
I've been reading up a bit, but got confused whether it was only talking about services in other apps...hence my question
11:32 AM lov
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals/bound-services.html
11:32 AM lov
basically, if the service is in another process it (by definition) doesn't live in your own process space
11:32 AM lov
so you can't just take the service object and call methods directly
11:32 AM
you either use aidl to send your communications or you use a messenger
11:32 AM virunga has left IRC (Read error: Connection reset by peer)
11:32 AM S3nsat10n
ok, so either an IDL or a messenger
11:32 AM lov
messenger is sufficient if you don't need to worry about synchronization
11:32 AM lov
s/synchronization/multithreading
11:33 AM S3nsat10n
will both of those work if you decide to run the service in the foreground?
11:33 AM
basically, I have a service in a library that the dev can decide to run in the background or foreground
11:33 AM lov
that's irrelevant to this
11:33 AM S3nsat10n
and I want to have an interface that works for either
11:33 AM lov
I don't really know what you mean by "background or foreground"
11:33 AM
see http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals/bound-services.html#Messenger
11:33 AM S3nsat10n
sorry
11:33 AM
in the main process or another process
11:33 AM lov
ah
11:33 AM pfn
aidl
11:33 AM lov
your service should really only live in one process; pick one
11:34 AM lov
if you're including your service with multiple apps, very strongly consider whether you want to actually export that service.
11:34 AM
if you do export it, you run the risk of version related problems
11:34 AM
if you don't export it, you could have multiple apps running their own service simultaniously
11:34 AM
I guess it depends on what the service does really
11:34 AM luxurymode
lov, i always would use started service with a bunch of static methods in the service class to control the media stuff and then send broadcasts from the service to notify interested activities about media playback events. does this make sense? also i still dont think im clear on this: a Service, by default, runs in the same process as the rest of the app, correct?
11:35 AM S3nsat10n
lov: it's a location service
11:35 AM S3nsat10n
pfn: aidl will work whether the service is in the main or separate process?
11:35 AM lov
luxurymode: unless you explicitly set a different process, yes, a service lives in the same process as the rest of its application
11:35 AM pfn
S3nsat10n, that's the point of using aidl
11:35 AM S3nsat10n
pfn: good to know