Android - implementing startForeground for a service?

I'd start by completely filling in the Notification. Here is a sample project demonstrating the use of startForeground().

From your main activity, start the service with the following code:

Intent i = new Intent(context, MyService.class); 
context.startService(i);

Then in your service for onCreate() you would build your notification and set it as foreground like so:

Intent notificationIntent = new Intent(this, MainActivity.class);

PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(this, 0,
                notificationIntent, 0);

Notification notification = new NotificationCompat.Builder(this)
                .setSmallIcon(R.mipmap.app_icon)
                .setContentTitle("My Awesome App")
                .setContentText("Doing some work...")
                .setContentIntent(pendingIntent).build();

startForeground(1337, notification);

Solution for Oreo 8.1

I've encountered some problems such as RemoteServiceException because of invalid channel id with most recent versions of Android. This is how i solved it:

Activity:

override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
    val intent = Intent(this, BackgroundService::class.java)

    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.O) {
        startForegroundService(intent)
    } else {
        startService(intent)
    }
}

BackgroundService:

override fun onCreate() {
    super.onCreate()
    startForeground()
}

private fun startForeground() {

  
    val channelId =
            if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.O) {
                createNotificationChannel()
            } else {
                // If earlier version channel ID is not used
                // https://developer.android.com/reference/android/support/v4/app/NotificationCompat.Builder.html#NotificationCompat.Builder(android.content.Context)
                ""
            }

    val notificationBuilder = NotificationCompat.Builder(this, channelId )
    val notification = notificationBuilder.setOngoing(true)
            .setSmallIcon(R.mipmap.ic_launcher)
            .setPriority(PRIORITY_MIN)
            .setCategory(Notification.CATEGORY_SERVICE)
            .build()
    startForeground(101, notification)
}


@RequiresApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.O)
private fun createNotificationChannel(): String{
    val channelId = "my_service"
    val channelName = "My Background Service"
    val chan = NotificationChannel(channelId,
            channelName, NotificationManager.IMPORTANCE_HIGH)
    chan.lightColor = Color.BLUE
    chan.importance = NotificationManager.IMPORTANCE_NONE
    chan.lockscreenVisibility = Notification.VISIBILITY_PRIVATE
    val service = getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE) as NotificationManager
    service.createNotificationChannel(chan)
    return channelId
}

JAVA EQUIVALENT

public class YourService extends Service {

    // Constants
    private static final int ID_SERVICE = 101;
    
    @Override
    public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
        super.onStartCommand(intent, flags, startId);
        return START_STICKY;
    }

    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();

        // do stuff like register for BroadcastReceiver, etc.

        // Create the Foreground Service
        NotificationManager notificationManager = (NotificationManager) getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);
        String channelId = Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.O ? createNotificationChannel(notificationManager) : "";
        NotificationCompat.Builder notificationBuilder = new NotificationCompat.Builder(this, channelId);
        Notification notification = notificationBuilder.setOngoing(true)
                .setSmallIcon(R.mipmap.ic_launcher)
                .setPriority(PRIORITY_MIN)
                .setCategory(NotificationCompat.CATEGORY_SERVICE)
                .build();

        startForeground(ID_SERVICE, notification);
    }
    
    @RequiresApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.O)
    private String createNotificationChannel(NotificationManager notificationManager){
        String channelId = "my_service_channelid";
        String channelName = "My Foreground Service";
        NotificationChannel channel = new NotificationChannel(channelId, channelName, NotificationManager.IMPORTANCE_HIGH);
        // omitted the LED color
        channel.setImportance(NotificationManager.IMPORTANCE_NONE);
        channel.setLockscreenVisibility(Notification.VISIBILITY_PRIVATE);
        notificationManager.createNotificationChannel(channel);
        return channelId;
    }
}