Mark L. Murphy

1. Is it required that the service should be running to use bindService(Intent)?

No, but if it is not running, you will need the BIND_AUTO_CREATE flag as the last parameter to bindService().

2. What is differnce between startService and bindService?

startService() starts the service. bindService() binds an AIDL client to an AIDL interface of the service, possibly starting it if BIND_AUTO_CREATE is included. When you later unbind from that service, if nobody else has bound to it and nobody else called startService(), the service will automatically shut down. When you call startService(), the service will run until either you call stopService(), the service calls stopSelf(), or the OS kills off the process to reclaim memory.

Is there any way to set those alarms on device startup etc.

Sure. Register to be given control on boot.

http://androidguys.com/?p=4411

I'd like to announce a new Android development community resource: a development wiki, located at http://wiki.andmob.org. There's not much up at present -- a dozen or so pages plus some custom search boxes. However, it's a starting point, and once this launches I'll be continuing to pour in content. It's open for contributions from all, though you at least need to register on wikidot.com (no anonymous edits). So, if you have anything you'd like to add, please do! The focus is on Android development (apps and the open source project), not on hardware or rooting your device.

I am not aware of any means at the SDK level of triggering the same code as happens when you press the answer button.

Did you start with the source code from that API demo? It is available in your SDK.

http://developer.android.com/guide/tutorials/views/hello-tabwidget.html

can I monitor any application from my application?

AFAIK, again, not without firmware changes.

Can I restrict any user to uninstall application from phone?

You can build your own firmware, install it on your own devices, and sell those devices.

Otherwise, the user is in control of his or her phone and can uninstall any applications (s)he elected to install.

Some of those classes are not in the SDK. The IM application was written as part of the source code, not the SDK. If you wish to make modifications to IM, you need to be rebuilding the firmware.

It's more that they are system events, not network events. So, you can wake up on an SMS, or a low-battery condition, or getting near some GPS-based location. Networking, however, is not handled this way -- more like JavaSE than JavaME.

They are called broadcast Intents in Android. Your application registers a BroadcastReceiver, either in the manifest XML or in Java, and will get control when the events occur.

Leave off the standard intent-filter for activities you do not want to have in the launcher.

What is a "push registry"?

The official recommendation is: don't do that.

The unofficial solution: System.exit(0); just like any other Java app.

Try android:layout_gravity="center", or one of the other valid gravity values.