Use 0 or BIND_AUTO_CREATE for bindService's flag

Issue

By referring to bindService (Intent service, ServiceConnection conn, int flags)

May I know, when should we use 0 for flags, and when should we should we use BIND_AUTO_CREATE for flags? The documentation doesn't explain what is the meaning of 0 for flags.

Example for using 0 as flags

// Start auto complete service.
autoCompleteServiceIntent = new Intent(AutoCompleteService.class.getName()); 
startService(autoCompleteServiceIntent);
bindService(autoCompleteServiceIntent, serviceConnection, 0);

Example for using BIND_AUTO_CREATE as flags

mContext.bindService(new Intent("com.android.vending.billing.InAppBillingService.BIND"),
                             mServiceConn, Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE);

Solution

For method bindService(Intent, ServiceConnection, flag) if flag = Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE is used it will bind the service and start the service, but if "0" is used, method will return true and will not start service until a call like startService(Intent) is made to start the service. One of the common use of "0" is in the case where an activity to connect to a local service if that service is running, otherwise you can start the service.

Answered By - Sourab Sharma