title: Start service in Android
body: <p>I want to call a service when a certain activity starts. So, here's the Service class:</p>
  
  <pre><code>public class UpdaterServiceManager extends Service {
  
      private final int UPDATE_INTERVAL = 60 * 1000;
      private Timer timer = new Timer();
      private static final int NOTIFICATION_EX = 1;
      private NotificationManager notificationManager;
  
      public UpdaterServiceManager() {}
  
      @Override
      public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
          // TODO Auto-generated method stub
          return null;
      }
  
      @Override
      public void onCreate() {
          // Code to execute when the service is first created
      }
  
      @Override
      public void onDestroy() {
          if (timer != null) {
              timer.cancel();
          }
      }
  
      @Override
      public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startid) {
          notificationManager = (NotificationManager) 
                  getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);
          int icon = android.R.drawable.stat_notify_sync;
          CharSequence tickerText = "Hello";
          long when = System.currentTimeMillis();
          Notification notification = new Notification(icon, tickerText, when);
          Context context = getApplicationContext();
          CharSequence contentTitle = "My notification";
          CharSequence contentText = "Hello World!";
          Intent notificationIntent = new Intent(this, Main.class);
          PendingIntent contentIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(this, 0,
                  notificationIntent, 0);
          notification.setLatestEventInfo(context, contentTitle, contentText,
                  contentIntent);
          notificationManager.notify(NOTIFICATION_EX, notification);
          Toast.makeText(this, "Started!", Toast.LENGTH_LONG);
          timer.scheduleAtFixedRate(new TimerTask() {
  
              @Override
              public void run() {
                  // Check if there are updates here and notify if true
              }
          }, 0, UPDATE_INTERVAL);
          return START_STICKY;
      }
  
      private void stopService() {
          if (timer != null) timer.cancel();
      }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And here is how I call it:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Intent serviceIntent = new Intent();
  serviceIntent.setAction("cidadaos.cidade.data.UpdaterServiceManager");
  startService(serviceIntent);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The problem is that nothing happens. The above code block is called at the end of the activity's <code>onCreate</code>. I already debugged and no exception is thrown.</p>
  
  <p>Any idea?</p>