Android Question foreground service exception - update to "short-term" service or receiver?

[Dave O]

My checklist app uses a service to upload a backup file to Google Drive when the list changes or the app exits. I first save the file locally (instant), but because it takes a few seconds to upload to the net, I thought a service would be the right way to do this (so that the service gets the ack message and shows a success toast a few seconds after the app has closed).

This has worked well until recently, but now I'm getting crash reports for a ForegroundServiceStartNotAllowedException on Android 12, 13, and 14. I suspect that this is because of the recent restrictions placed on services.

My question is, should I add a "short-run" type to the service, as described in the Android 14 docs, or should I switch to a receiver (which seems to be the general solution suggested by Erel and others)?

For background, I call the service from a (foreground) activity:

Sub saveIfNeeded
    If listHasChanged Then
        saveCurrentShoplist
        CallSubDelayed2(backupService, "backupCurrentListIfEnabled_", currentShopList)
    end if
End Sub

...then that calls the "GoogleDrive via API V3" class to connect to Drive and upload the file, with several async operations that usually last 1-10 seconds depending on the connection speed.

Here's a typical stack trace on Android 14:

Exception java.lang.RuntimeException:
  at android.app.ActivityThread.handleServiceArgs (ActivityThread.java:4962)
  at android.app.ActivityThread.-$$Nest$mhandleServiceArgs
  at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage (ActivityThread.java:2393)
  at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage (Handler.java:111)
  at android.os.Looper.loopOnce (Looper.java:242)
  at android.os.Looper.loop (Looper.java:362)
  at android.app.ActivityThread.main (ActivityThread.java:8393)
  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke
  at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run (RuntimeInit.java:552)
  at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main (ZygoteInit.java:992)
Caused by android.app.ForegroundServiceStartNotAllowedException:
  at android.app.ForegroundServiceStartNotAllowedException$1.createFromParcel (ForegroundServiceStartNotAllowedException.java:54)
  at android.app.ForegroundServiceStartNotAllowedException$1.createFromParcel (ForegroundServiceStartNotAllowedException.java:50)
  at android.os.Parcel.readParcelableInternal (Parcel.java:4870)
  at android.os.Parcel.readParcelable (Parcel.java:4852)
  at android.os.Parcel.createExceptionOrNull (Parcel.java:3052)
  at android.os.Parcel.createException (Parcel.java:3041)
  at android.os.Parcel.readException (Parcel.java:3024)
  at android.os.Parcel.readException (Parcel.java:2966)
  at android.app.IActivityManager$Stub$Proxy.startService (IActivityManager.java:6377)
  at android.app.ContextImpl.startServiceCommon (ContextImpl.java:1951)
  at android.app.ContextImpl.startForegroundService (ContextImpl.java:1926)
  at android.content.ContextWrapper.startForegroundService (ContextWrapper.java:830)
  at anywheresoftware.b4a.keywords.Common.StartServiceImpl (Common.java:924)
  at anywheresoftware.b4a.keywords.Common.StartService (Common.java:911)
  at anywheresoftware.b4a.objects.ServiceHelper$StarterHelper.onStartCommand (ServiceHelper.java:229)
  at name.obrien.dave.lister.backupservice.onStartCommand (backupservice.java:72)
  at android.app.ActivityThread.handleServiceArgs (ActivityThread.java:4944)

Any tips appreciated!

 

[josejad]

Hi:

Maybe this read can help you

Android 14 / targetSdkVersion 34 and Services

B4A v13.0+ should be used with targetSdkVersion 34+. Android 14 continues the longtime trend of making services less flexible and more difficult to use (converging to iOS background tasks features from 2014). Many of the previous use cases for services are better covered by receivers...

www.b4x.com

 

[Dave O]

...and more specifically, this page about Data transfer background task options.

Looks like the "datasync" type has been quasi-deprecated, and "shortService" seems to fit the bill better based on their examples.

But will adding the service type solve this problem across all Android versions? Or should I just switch to a receiver (will have to look up how, hopefully easy)?

 

[Erel]

You don't need a foreground service if it takes a few seconds to complete. If it takes a few minutes then you should use shortService. Check the service here as it has special requirements: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/t...orm-videos-and-images-chooser.161093/#content

Receivers will not help here.

 

[Dave O]

OK, looks like the most practical way to fix my problem is to assign the shortService type to my backup service. Thanks.

Do I need to update B4A to v13.0 for this? (I'll have to do an update this month anyway for targeting SDK 34.).

And does the service type get quoted? e.g.

SetServiceAttribute(backupService, android:foregroundServiceType, shortService)
vs.
SetServiceAttribute(backupService, android:foregroundServiceType, "shortService")

Thanks again!

 

[Erel]

Do I need to update B4A to v13.0 for this?

Yes.

And does the service type get quoted?

It doesn't matter.

And you must add this sub to the service:

Private Sub Service_Timeout(Params As Map)
    Service.StopForeground(NotificationId)
End Sub

 

[Dave O]

I don't use notifications for the service, so I don't have a variable called NotificationId to pass to StopForeground.

The Android docs show this as an enumeration, so I'll assume I can just pass a "1" (the value of STOP_FOREGROUND_REMOVE):

Service.StopForeground(1)        '1 = STOP_FOREGROUND_REMOVE

 

[Alessandro71]

I don't use notifications for the service, so I don't have a variable called NotificationId to pass to StopForeground.

The Android docs show this as an enumeration, so I'll assume I can just pass a "1" (the value of STOP_FOREGROUND_REMOVE):

Service.StopForeground(1)        '1 = STOP_FOREGROUND_REMOVE

I always assumed that the notification id was an integer that should match the one you used in Service.StartForeground(NotificationId, n)

 

[Erel]

1 is the wrong id. You need to provide more information, specifically on how you are starting the foreground service.

 

[Dave O]

As shown in my original post, I'm implicitly starting the service by using CallSubDelayed2:

CallSubDelayed2(backupService, "backupCurrentListIfEnabled_", currentShopList)

...so I'm not associating it with a notification. Should I?

 

[Erel]

It is the automatic foreground mode.

It should be:

Private Sub Service_Timeout(Params As Map)
    Service.StopAutomaticForeground
End Sub