Broadcast Receiver within a Service

I am trying to start up a BroadcastReceiver within a Service. What I am trying to do is have a background running service going that collects incoming text messages, and logs incoming phone calls. I figured the best way to go about this is to have a service running that incorporates a broadcast receiver that can catalog either.

How do i go about doing this? I already have my service up and running.

as your service is already setup, simply add a broadcast receiver in your service:

private final BroadcastReceiver receiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
   @Override
   public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
      String action = intent.getAction();
      if(action.equals("android.provider.Telephony.SMS_RECEIVED")){
        //action for sms received
      }
      else if(action.equals(android.telephony.TelephonyManager.ACTION_PHONE_STATE_CHANGED)){
           //action for phone state changed
      }     
   }
};

in your service's onCreate do this:

IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter();
filter.addAction("android.provider.Telephony.SMS_RECEIVED");
filter.addAction(android.telephony.TelephonyManager.ACTION_PHONE_STATE_CHANGED);
filter.addAction("your_action_strings"); //further more
filter.addAction("your_action_strings"); //further more

registerReceiver(receiver, filter);

and in your service's onDestroy:

unregisterReceiver(receiver);

and you are good to go to receive broadcast for what ever filters you mention in onCreate. Make sure to add any permission if required. for e.g.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_SMS" />

The better pattern is to create a standalone BroadcastReceiver. This insures that your app can respond to the broadcast, whether or not the Service is running. In fact, using this pattern may remove the need for a constant-running Service altogether.

Register the BroadcastReceiver in your Manifest, and create a separate class/file for it.

Eg:

<receiver android:name=".FooReceiver" >
    <intent-filter >
        <action android:name="android.provider.Telephony.SMS_RECEIVED" />
    </intent-filter>
</receiver>

When the receiver runs, you simply pass an Intent (Bundle) to the Service, and respond to it in onStartCommand().

Eg:

public class FooReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
    @Override
    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
        // do your work quickly!
        // then call context.startService();
    }   
}