Delphi and Android services

Since Delphi’s introduction of Android support with the release of XE5, there have been many questions posted hither and thither regarding whether and how you can build service applications with it. The pervading suggestion or suspicion is that maybe Delphi isn’t cut out to build such exotic Android creations.

Well, if your goal is to just build some sort of a service app I wouldn’t particularly recommend Delphi for the job right now, simply because it hasn’t got the wherewithal to support you in that endeavour in its current guise, and consequently it’s quite difficult. Really, if you just want to build a service app you’d probably have an easier time using Java or Oxygene for Java in conjunction with the Android SDK.

However if you are invested in building a Delphi Android app, are in the midst of building a FireMonkey application for mobile deployment, and need an Android service as part of that, well it’s quite possible. But as I may have mentioned, it’s neither particularly easy nor especially straightforward.

I am aware that I have (at this time of writing) yet to write up the business of adding Android menus to Delphi apps, employing a splash screen and launching Android activities and getting results back (as demo’d in my CodeRage 8 talk, albeit with code samples available in that linked post)*.

Now I can add to the list of things I have yet to write up the steps for creating a service application. If you take a look at this Google Play Store listing you’ll see I’ve built an app that, as well as a splash screen, also implements a service.

 

So yes, it’s quite feasible to build a service and a broadcast receiver in a Delphi app. That said, I’ve had to be a little creative on exiting the app to avoid a failure being evident on the screen.

As mentioned, these Android aspects that fall outside the standard simple business app paradigm haven’t factored into what is readily supported currently in Delphi’s Android support. Hopefully this will be improved as time goes on to allow all sorts of Android features and facets to be surfaced in Delphi Android code. In the mean time a certain degree of spelunking and skulduggery is needed to achieve certain ends.

I know quite a few people are clamouring for knowledge on how to build service apps. Hopefully in the near future I’ll write it up, but certainly in the nearer future I’ll release the code sample, once I’ve exhausted possibilities to clean up the wrinkle around app shutdown. That should satisfy the keener of you out there. In the mean time, be satisfied that it’s been proved to be possible at all.