hi, Mark!

hello, Steve!

how can I help you today?

Let me paste in a question:

Is there a simple way to block access to system options (i.e. prevent expanding status bar)?

um, I think there's some stuff in the kiosk mode options added in Android 5.0

I have never experimented with them

what about prior to 5.0?

but IIRC pinned apps limit the user's ability to navigate elsewhere

and prior to 5.0, there's nothing, other than hacks or custom firmware

ok

Another question:

Can I start a started service from an IntentService subclass?

sure, at least prior to Android 8.0

on Android 8.0+, the standard "can I start things from the background" limits still apply

if the started service will be a foreground service, you can use startForegroundService() from the IntentService on 8.0+

ok. we're using 4.3

that's, um, old

yes

as in, "OMG think of all the security flaws"-type old

we need to find older devices since they're cheaper (we supply the devices for our application)

is there a more recent but still older version that we should aim for (e.g. 5.0)?

um, I can't really answer that

ok

I would phrase it more as "buy the newest thing that you can within budget"

sure

I mean, you can get a new ZTE Android 8.0 device for $80

admittedly, that's just coming onto the market now

getting Android One devices like that previously required more work

great, thanks

we're limited in what we can use since we need tablets with a specific form factor to fit in the coffee brewer we sell

but i'll discuss this with the powers that be

well, that ZTE is a phone

for tablets, buy Fire tablets by the carton, or something :-)

we're using Samsung T110/T113, but maybe that's a better choice

if you are a manufacturer, or even a distributor, distributing unmaintainable hardware has legal implications beyond customer satisfaction ones

ok

because of things like security flaws?

yes

ok

now, if you are using old hardware but are loading on some third-party OS (e.g., LineageOS) that is continuing to get updates, that may be OK

though I would expect that to be newer than 4.3

ok

regarding starting the service from the IntentService: should I use the application context rather than the context of the IntentService?

doesn't matter

ok

so, you may as well just use the IntentService itself -- saves you a method call

and ~20 characters of code :-)

so the service doesn't hold on to the context passed in when it's started (which could lead to a memory leak)?

no

very helpful

no more than Activity B holds onto a reference to Activity A when A starts B

ok

that sort of component-starting-a-component scenarios do not involve long-lived Context objects

(other than the life of whatever component is being created, of course)

ok

no more questions today

thank you so much, Mark!

you're very welcome!

have a great rest of the day!

you too!

hello, Janice!

how can I help you today?

Hi Mark

Working with Room. Have another best practices question.

I don't know if we know enough about Room to declare "best practices" :-)

but, I can try to help

One activity needs a list of all records in database. Another activity needs only a partial list. I know two ViewModels should be created (one for each ui component), but should there be two repositories?

probably not

What I was thinking. If I understand, the repository should be the sole API, yes?

sole API for accessing the backing store, yes

right now, that backing store is Room (or, it will be, if that's yet to be written)

Perfect. Exactly what I needed. Thank you!

tomorrow, that backing store might be something else

ideally, the UI layer, along with its ViewModels, neither knows nor cares about those pesky details

Bye Mark. thank you again.

you're welcome!