Accessing UI thread handler from a service

Solution 1:

This snippet of code constructs a Handler associated with the main (UI) thread:

Handler handler = new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper());

You can then post stuff for execution in the main (UI) thread like so:

handler.post(runnable_to_call_from_main_thread);

If the handler itself is created from the main (UI) thread the argument can be omitted for brevity:

Handler handler = new Handler();

The Android Dev Guide on processes and threads has more information.

Solution 2:

Create a Messenger object attached to your Handler and pass that Messenger to the Service (e.g., in an Intent extra for startService()). The Service can then send a Message to the Handler via the Messenger. Here is a sample application demonstrating this.