When I start a service (IntentService) it will call the onHandleIntent() which is the service function. While it is running, if I call startService() again, it caches the invoke, and calls the onHandleIntent() again. Actually what I want to do is, pass some new data to the current running service instance, without creating an additional. (Like signaling in threads or a listener).
How do I do it?
In my onHandleIntent() I want to use while(true){....} , so it will run forever.
Extend the normal Service class. On the first onStartCommand() that you receive, start a background thread that has your "while(true) {...}" code. On the onStartCommand() calls thereafter, check for the existence of your worker thread and when it exists, signal it.
Without knowing what you are going to use this Service for it is hard to give you any better advice. However, some things to think about: - Check out the Looper/Handler classes that are also used by the IntentService.. They may give you some nice way to code your "while(true)" loop, including signalling. - Remember that the onStartCommand() method should return within a few seconds (it is running on the main thread) so if you want to hand off new work (that is received through the Intent passed in onStartCommand) you should make sure this hand-off doesn't take too long. The Looper/Handler classes may help you here as well.