[General Questions and Answers] imso:
Hi i'm new to android so that's why i come to find help... Hi an introduction to the app i'm doing here, i'm actually doing an car blackbox app..

I had my service run the video recording processes in the background so i should be able to leave the app for a while and come back to the Video recording GUI with the surfaceview but my application was force to close when i return to the app. So is the problem related to onResume() method or something else? If its yes what i should do in order to get my application GUI to return to the video recording surfaceview and still running the background recording using the service rather than giving me an error? Can someone help please...

public class CameraTest extends Activity implements SurfaceHolder.Callback {

private static final String TAG = "Exception";

public static SurfaceView surfaceView;
public static SurfaceHolder surfaceHolder;
public static Camera camera;
public static boolean previewRunning;

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.main);

surfaceView = (SurfaceView)findViewById(R.id.surface_camera);
surfaceHolder = surfaceView.getHolder();
surfaceHolder.addCallback(this);

surfaceHolder.setType(SurfaceHolder.SURFACE_TYPE_PUSH_BUFFERS);

Button btnStart = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button4);
btnStart.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener()
{
public void onClick(View v)
{
startService(new Intent(getApplicationContext(), ServiceRecording.class));
}
});

Button btnStop = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button5);
btnStop.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener()
{
public void onClick(View v)
{
stopService(new Intent(getApplicationContext(), ServiceRecording.class));
}
});
}

@Override
public void surfaceCreated(SurfaceHolder holder) {
camera = Camera.open();
if (camera != null) {
Camera.Parameters params = camera.getParameters();
camera.setParameters(params);
}
else {
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Camera not available!", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
finish();
}
}

@Override
public void surfaceChanged(SurfaceHolder holder, int format, int width, int height) {
if (previewRunning) {
camera.stopPreview();
}

Camera.Parameters p = camera.getParameters();
p.setPreviewSize(320, 240);
p.setPreviewFormat(PixelFormat.JPEG);
camera.setParameters(p);

try {
camera.setPreviewDisplay(holder);
camera.startPreview();
previewRunning = true;
}
catch (IOException e) {
Log.e(TAG,e.getMessage());
e.printStackTrace();
}
}

@Override
public void onResume(){
super.onResume();

}

@Override
public void surfaceDestroyed(SurfaceHolder holder){
camera.stopPreview();
previewRunning = false;
camera.release();
}
}

My RecordingService.java Service file

public class ServiceRecording extends Service {

@Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
return null;
}

private SurfaceView surfaceView;
private SurfaceHolder surfaceHolder;
private Camera camera;
private boolean recordingStatus;
private MediaRecorder mediaRecorder;
private final int maxDurationInMs = 20000;

private static final String TAG = "Exception";

@Override
public void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();

recordingStatus = false;
camera = CameraTest.camera;
surfaceView = CameraTest.surfaceView;
surfaceHolder = CameraTest.surfaceHolder;
}

@Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
super.onStartCommand(intent, flags, startId);
if (recordingStatus == false)
startRecording();

return START_STICKY;
}

@Override
public void onDestroy() {
super.onDestroy();

stopRecording();
//camera.stopPreview();
recordingStatus = false;
//camera.release();
}

public boolean startRecording(){
try {
Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "Recording Started", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
try{
camera.unlock();
}
catch(Exception e){

camera.reconnect();
}

mediaRecorder = new MediaRecorder();

mediaRecorder.setCamera(camera);

mediaRecorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.MIC);

mediaRecorder.setVideoSource(MediaRecorder.VideoSource.CAMERA);

mediaRecorder.setOutputFormat(MediaRecorder.OutputFormat.DEFAULT);

mediaRecorder.setMaxDuration(maxDurationInMs);

mediaRecorder.setAudioEncoder(MediaRecorder.AudioEncoder.DEFAULT);

mediaRecorder.setVideoEncoder(MediaRecorder.VideoEncoder.DEFAULT);

//mediaRecorder.setOutputFormat(MediaRecorder.OutputFormat.DEFAULT);
DateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH_mm_ss");
Date date = new Date();
File directory = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + "/VideoList");

if(!(directory.exists()))
directory.mkdir();

File FileSaved = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + "/VideoList", dateFormat.format(date) + ".3gp");
mediaRecorder.setOutputFile(FileSaved.getPath());

mediaRecorder.setVideoSize(surfaceView.getWidth(),surfaceView.getHeight());

//mediaRecorder.setVideoFrameRate(videoFramesPerSecond);

mediaRecorder.setPreviewDisplay(surfaceHolder.getSurface());

mediaRecorder.prepare();
mediaRecorder.start();

recordingStatus = true;

return true;
}

catch (IllegalStateException e) {
Log.d(TAG,e.getMessage());
e.printStackTrace();
return false;
}
catch (IOException e) {
Log.d(TAG,e.getMessage());
e.printStackTrace();
return false;
}
}

public void stopRecording() {
Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "Recording Stopped", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
mediaRecorder.stop();
try {
camera.reconnect();
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
recordingStatus = false;
}
}