title: Binding activity to a running service in android
body: <p>I have a service S that starts at boot. 
  It has a contentobserver C that starts an intentservice X to do some processing. 
  The default activity A is started by the user.</p>
  
  <p>I want to know if it's possible to bind A to the running service S without stopping it so that I can pass on a resultreceiver R to S that in turn has to be passed on to X. </p>
  
  <p>I want to achieve this so that I can start X again, this time free from C, from the bound service S with R as a parcelable extra. 
  Via R, a progress dialog is updated in A whenever it's run. </p>
  
  <p>Before trying my luck with resultreceivers, I was using notifications, the one from the support library. 
  But the problem was that I was building and showing them again for each iteration of a loop.
  The alert sound was playing repeatedly for like 300 odd times and that was unpleasant.</p>
  
  <p>Tried my luck with broadcasts but I had some bad experiences. So tossed them away.</p>
  
  <p>Is there any other way around this problem?
  My problem could be solved if there's a way to update the notification with building it again.</p>
  
  <p>I'm using 4.1.1 build, API 16 in which setlatesteventinfo seems to be deprecated. </p>
  
  <p>I am still open to go back to the idea of updating a running notification.
  Or a different workaround.
  Any help will be appreciated.</p>
  
  <p>EDIT:</p>
  
  <p>Using notifications is a way to implement this app in which there would be no need for the resultreceiver and ibinder interfaces. </p>
  
  <p>I can't find the setlatesteventinfo in the API level 16. I'm trying to use the v4 support library. In my implementation, I build a new notification for every iteration of a loop. But I've not figured out a way to keep the sound alert for the first time only and not for the rest. Has anybody succeeded in properly updating a notification?</p>