Android parcelable object passes to activity but not to service

Question

I want to send a parcelable object to both an activity and a service. For sending to both I use:

public void onClick(View view) {
    Intent intent = new Intent(mContext, MainActivity.class);
    Intent i = new Intent(mContext, OverlayService.class);
    intent.putExtra(ITEM_KEY, item);
    i.putExtra(ITEM_KEY, item);
    mContext.startActivity(intent);
}

Then to receive, in my activity:

DataItem item = getIntent().getExtras().getParcelable(DataItemAdapter.ITEM_KEY);
    if (item == null) {
        throw new AssertionError("Null data item received!");
    }

This works perfectly. But for my service I use:

@Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
    DataItem item = intent.getExtras().getParcelable(DataItemAdapter.ITEM_KEY);
    if (item == null) {
        throw new AssertionError("Null data item received!");
    }else{
        Toast.makeText(this, "Item received", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    }
    return START_STICKY;
}

The result is a nullpointer exception:

Unable to start service com.madhatter.nat.test.OverlayService@7aae5dd with Intent { cmp=com.madhatter.nat.test/.OverlayService }: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'android.os.Parcelable android.os.Bundle.getParcelable(java.lang.String)' on a null object reference
at android.app.ActivityThread.handleServiceArgs(ActivityThread.java:3314)
at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap21(ActivityThread.java)
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1565)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:154)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6077)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:865)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:755)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'android.os.Parcelable android.os.Bundle.getParcelable(java.lang.String)' on a null object reference
at com.madhatter.nat.test.OverlayService.onStartCommand(OverlayService.java:46)
at android.app.ActivityThread.handleServiceArgs(ActivityThread.java:3297)
at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap21(ActivityThread.java) 
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1565) 
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102) 
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:154) 
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6077) 
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) 
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:865) 
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:755)

Here is the code I use to start the service:

public void show(View view) {
    checkPermissionOverlay();
    Intent svc = new Intent(this, OverlayService.class);
    startService(svc);
    notificationService();
}

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

You need to include the extras in the intent that you use to start the service in the same manner that you are starting the activity.

public void show(View view) {
    checkPermissionOverlay();
    Intent svc = new Intent(this, OverlayService.class);
    svc.putExtra(DataItemAdapter.ITEM_KEY, dataItem);
    startService(svc);
    notificationService();
}