Calling activity class method from Service class

Define an interface your Service will use to communicate events:

public interface ServiceCallbacks {
    void doSomething();
} 

Write your Service class. Your Activity will bind to this service, so follow the sample shown here. In addition, we will add a method to set the ServiceCallbacks.

public class MyService extends Service {
    // Binder given to clients
    private final IBinder binder = new LocalBinder();
    // Registered callbacks
    private ServiceCallbacks serviceCallbacks;


    // Class used for the client Binder.
    public class LocalBinder extends Binder {
        MyService getService() {
            // Return this instance of MyService so clients can call public methods
            return MyService.this;
        }
    }

    @Override
    public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
        return binder;
    }

    public void setCallbacks(ServiceCallbacks callbacks) {
        serviceCallbacks = callbacks;
    }
}

Write your Activity class following the same guide, but also make it implement your ServiceCallbacks interface. When you bind/unbind from the Service, you will register/unregister it by calling setCallbacks on the Service.

public class MyActivity extends Activity implements ServiceCallbacks {
    private MyService myService;
    private boolean bound = false;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(...);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onStart() {
        super.onStart();
        // bind to Service
        Intent intent = new Intent(this, MyService.class);
        bindService(intent, serviceConnection, Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onStop() {
        super.onStop();
        // Unbind from service
        if (bound) {
            myService.setCallbacks(null); // unregister
            unbindService(serviceConnection);
            bound = false;
        }
    }

    /** Callbacks for service binding, passed to bindService() */
    private ServiceConnection serviceConnection = new ServiceConnection() {

        @Override
        public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName className, IBinder service) {
            // cast the IBinder and get MyService instance
            LocalBinder binder = (LocalBinder) service;
            myService = binder.getService();
            bound = true;
            myService.setCallbacks(MyActivity.this); // register
        }

        @Override
        public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName arg0) {
            bound = false;
        }
    };

    /* Defined by ServiceCallbacks interface */
    @Override
    public void doSomething() {
        ...
    }
}

Now when your service wants to communicate back to the activity, just call one of the interface methods from earlier. Inside your service:

if (serviceCallbacks != null) { 
    serviceCallbacks.doSomething();
}