Android HandlerThread class - android

I'm using HandlerThread to handle threading in Android,
public class HandlerTest extends HandlerThread {
private static final int MESSAGE_TYPE0 = 0;
private static final String TAG = "TAG";
Handler mHandler;
public interface Listener {
void onHandlerTestDone(String str);
}
#SuppressLint("HandlerLeak")
#Override
protected void onLooperPrepared() {
Log.i(TAG, "OnLoopPrep");
mHandler = new Handler() {
#Override
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
if (msg.what == MESSAGE_TYPE0) {
#SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
String msgObj = (String) msg.obj;
handleRequest(msgObj);
}
}
};
}
private void handleRequest(final String token) {
final String str = token;
try {
this.sleep(5000, 0);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
handleMessage(token);
}
public void clearQueue() {
mHandler.removeMessages(MESSAGE_TYPE0);
}
}
I have two activities, Activity 1 calls Activity 2, then On activity 2 I do this
HandlerTest hlrtest;
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
hlrtest.start();// start looper
hlrtest.getLooper();
hlrtest.PrepMessage("test1"); //will be handled by the thread then
//the thread will go to sleep for 5 second
hlrtest.PrepMessage("test2"); //will be queued
hlrtest.PrepMessage("test3"); //will be queued
hlrtest.PrepMessage("test4"); //will be queued
//Now quit this activity and go back to Activity 1
#Override
public void onDestroy() {
super.onDestroy();
hlrtest.clearQueue();
hlrtest.quit();
}
}
As you can see I make the thread sleep for 5 seconds to simulate that it's getting busy for that amount of time. when I send 4 requests and then I go back to Activity 1 the thread will handle only the first request and the queue will get cleared and the thread will exit as onDestroy() will do that after going back to Activity 1.
If I don't call clearQueue() and quit() in the destroy I will end up with a zombie thread.
How can I send many requests to the thread and I want the thread to handle them all and then quit when the queue is empty?
please note that I don't want to use quitSafely() as it's only supported from sdk 18 and above

You could create another message type that signals the Handler to clean up and quit. Perhaps something like this (untested) code for handleMessage():
#Override
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
if (msg.what == MESSAGE_TYPE0) {
#SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
String msgObj = (String) msg.obj;
handleRequest(msgObj);
} else if (msg.what == MESSAGE_TYPE_FINISH) {
mHandler.clearQueue();
mHandler.quit();
}
};

Related

Android - Moveing an Activity inside of background thread

Every time I`m trying to finish an activity inside of a timer method, the activity comes back alive over and over again.
I running this activity:
public class PlayerNoAdmin extends ActionBarActivity {
Timer myTimer; boolean isAdmin;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_player_no_admin);
Intent oldIntent = getIntent();
if (oldIntent != null && oldIntent.hasExtra("THE_LIST")){
songs = oldIntent.getParcelableArrayListExtra("THE_LIST");
id = oldIntent.getIntExtra("ID",0);
listId = oldIntent.getIntExtra("LIST_ID",0);
isAdmin = oldIntent.getBooleanExtra("IS_ADMIN",false);
}
//update the list every k seconds
myTimer = new Timer();
myTimer.schedule(new TimerTask() {
#Override
public void run() {
TimerMethod();
}
}, 0, k_time2Update);
}
private void TimerMethod() {
//This method is called directly by the timer
//and runs in the same thread as the timer.
//We call the method that will work with the UI
//through the runOnUiThread method.
this.runOnUiThread(Timer_Tick);
}
private Runnable Timer_Tick = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
//Here check for update in the list every 30 seconds and send the new location
String url = getRunUrl();
new TaskMusicPlay().execute(url);
}
};
private class TaskMusicPlay extends AsyncTask<String, Void, String> {
#Override
protected String doInBackground(String... params) {
String jsonResult = null;
try {
String url = params[0];
TestMain client = new TestMain();
jsonResult = client.doGetRequest(url);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return jsonResult;
}
#Override
protected void onPostExecute(String aVoid) {
super.onPostExecute(aVoid);
checkIfNew(aVoid);
}
private void checkIfNew(String result) {
try {
JSONObject object = new JSONObject(result);
String temp = object.getJSONObject("info").getString("isAdmin");
isAdmin = (temp.equals("true"));
if (isAdmin) {
Intent intent = new Intent(getApplication(),YouTubePlayer.class);
intent.putExtra("THE_LIST", songs);
intent.putExtra("ID", id);
intent.putExtra("LIST_ID",listId);
intent.putExtra("IS_ADMIN",isAdmin);
startActivity(intent);
finish();
}
}
} catch (JSONException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
}
At the end, I succeeded to move to the YouTubePlayer activity, but every few seconds the app returns to the code of this activity (and then executes again the startActivity call and goes back to YouTubePlayer) and that's going on and on.
Your Timer is periodically calling the player to start over and over again.
You must make a cancel() call to the Timer if it is no longer needed so you prevent it from holding a reference for your activity and thus preventing from being removed from the backstack and GC.
http://developer.android.com/reference/java/util/Timer.html
And your Timer is not running on the same thread as it's code because the timer thread iis another Thread and the Code in the Timer is running on UI. You can check it out by adding some logs in the Timer's run method outside of the runOnUIThread() and inside of it.

Android update UI from Thread (Handler maybe not an option?)

This is a common question, and I have read up on the various ways of handling it, but each on seems to fall short for what I am trying to do, which is essentially be a good OO-Citizen.
I have an Activity that invokes a CommunicationManager, which basically polls a TCP socket for data. When the CommunicationManager receives data, it throws a custom event (containing the string it just fetched), which is handled by the Activity. I am doing this, A) because other classes will depend on that data, not just the Activity, and B) because the polling is asynchronous, and should fire an event when it receives results.
My problem lies in that I need to surface those results into a TextView on the UI. I have the polling mechanism all set up, it fires every 1000ms, and invokes the event handler on the Activity. However, the UI never updates.
Assumedly this is a thread issue and the UI thread is not the one getting the change to the TextView, but how do I do this?? I have tried using a Handler, but am not sure where to put it, and when I did get it compiling it never updated the UI.
This seems relatively trivial if everything was done within the Activity, but adding in this other class (CommunicationManager) and the event is making it very confusing for me.
Here is what I have so far:
ACTIVITY (polling is invoked by clicking a button on the UI):
public void onClick(View v) {
if (v.getId() == R.id.testUDPBtn) {
statusText.setText("");
commMgr = new CommunicationManager();
commMgr.addEventListener(this);
MediaPositionPollThread poller = new MediaPositionPollThread(commMgr);
poller.startPolling();
}
}
#Override
public void handleMediaPositionFoundEvent(MediaPositionFoundEvent e) {
statusText.append(e.userData);
}
THREAD:
class MediaPositionPollThread extends Thread {
private CommunicationManager commManager;
private static final String TAG = "MediaPositionPollThread";
private boolean isPolling = false;
public MediaPositionPollThread(CommunicationManager cm) {
commManager = cm;
}
public void startPolling() {
isPolling = true;
this.run();
}
public void stopPolling() {
isPolling = false;
}
#Override
public void run() {
while (isPolling) {
try {
commManager.getCurrentMediaPosition();
Thread.sleep(1000);
}
catch (InterruptedException e) {
Log.d(TAG, "EXCEPTION: " + e.getMessage());
}
}
}
}
COMMUNUCATION MANAGER:
public void getCurrentMediaPosition() {
PrintWriter outStream;
BufferedReader inStream;
String resultString = "";
try {
outStream = new PrintWriter(tcpSocket.getOutputStream(), true);
outStream.println("GET?current_pts");
inStream = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(tcpSocket.getInputStream()));
resultString = inStream.readLine();
fireEventWithData(resultString);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public synchronized void addEventListener(MediaPositionFoundEventListener listener) {
_listeners.add(listener);
}
public synchronized void removeEventListener(MediaPositionFoundEventListener listener) {
_listeners.remove(listener);
}
private synchronized void fireEventWithData(String outputString) {
MediaPositionFoundEvent evt = new MediaPositionFoundEvent(this);
evt.userData = outputString;
Iterator<MediaPositionFoundEventListener> i = _listeners.iterator();
while(i.hasNext()) {
((MediaPositionFoundEventListener) i.next()).handleMediaPositionFoundEvent(evt);
}
}
So I have the Activity making a thread that gets executed every second, calling CommunicationManager >> getCurrentMediaPosition, which in turn fires the MediaPositionFoundEvent, which is handled by the Activity and updates the TextView (statusText) on the screen.
Everything works except the screen not updating. I have tried runOnUiThread, and a Handler, but am obviously not getting it right.
Thanks in advance for any insight or solutions!
In your Activity class, add a private Handler _handler,
Initialize it in your onCreate Activity method,
and change your handleMediaPositionFoundEvent method to
#Override public void handleMediaPositionFoundEvent(MediaPositionFoundEvent e) {
_handler.post(new Runnable(){
public void run(){
statusText.append(e.userData);
});
}
}
It looks like your blocking the UI thread with your custom Thread. Please update this method to call start() vs run().
public void startPolling() {
isPolling = true;
this.start();
}

The difference between Handler.dispatchMessage(msg) and Handler.sendMessage(msg)

When I use Handler.dispatchMessage(msg), the handleMessage(Message msg) will be run on new thread but when I use Handler.sendMessage(msg), the handleMessage(Message msg) will be run on main thread. Who can tell me the difference between them?
Thanks!
Demo:
public class MainActivity extends Activity
{
private String TAG = "MainActivity";
private Handler mHandler = new Handler()
{
#Override
public void handleMessage(Message msg)
{
Log.i(TAG, "Handler:" + Thread.currentThread().getId() + " & arg1=" + msg.arg1);
super.handleMessage(msg);
}
};
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.main);
Log.i(TAG, "Main:" + Thread.currentThread().getId());
testMethod();
}
private void testMethod()
{
Thread thread = new Thread()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
Log.i(TAG, "Thread:" + Thread.currentThread().getId());
Message msg = mHandler.obtainMessage();
msg.arg1 = 1;
mHandler.dispatchMessage(msg);
Message msg2 = mHandler.obtainMessage();
msg2.arg1 = 2;
mHandler.sendMessage(msg2);
}
};
thread.start();
}
}
Output:
04-19 11:32:10.452: INFO/MainActivity(774): Main:1
04-19 11:32:10.488: INFO/MainActivity(774): Thread:8
04-19 11:32:10.492: INFO/MainActivity(774): Handler:8 & arg1=1
04-19 11:32:10.635: INFO/MainActivity(774): Handler:1 & arg1=2
mHandler.dispatchMessage(msg) is like directly calling handleMessage(Message msg) and I don't know when that would be useful. The point of Handlers is the ability to send messages to other threads. That's what you do with sendMessage.
Edit: as you can see it just calls handleMessage() for you.
/**
* Handle system messages here.
*/
public void dispatchMessage(Message msg) {
if (msg.callback != null) {
// callback = the Runnable you can post "instead of" Messages.
msg.callback.run();
} else {
if (mCallback != null) {
if (mCallback.handleMessage(msg)) {
return;
}
}
handleMessage(msg);
}
}
If You Call the Handler.dispatchMessage() in the Main Thread Then The Message is processed in Main Thread.
If You Call The Handler.dispatchMessage() in the Worker Thread Then The Message is Processed in Worker Thread.
When You Call Handler.sendMessage(msg) The Message is Processed in the Thread Which Created The Handler.
The messages sent with Handler.sendMessage() will be handled on the thread you created in testMethod().
The messages sent with Handler.dispatchMessage() are handled on the main thread.

Make sure that my code is thread safe

I am doing an Android service that gives content to other apps that can register as callback.
I am not 100% sure about how the Android Handler class works, so can someone confirm me that this code is thread safe?
public class MyService extends Service {
private static final String MESSAGE = "message";
private final RemoteCallbackList<IMyCallback> readerCallbacks = new RemoteCallbackList<IMyCallback>();
private static final int REPORT_MSG = 1;
private Thread readerThread;
#Override
public void onCreate() {
readerThread = new Thread(readerRunnable);
readerThread.setDaemon(true);
readerThread.start();
}
private Runnable readerRunnable = new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
while (!Thread.interrupted()) {
// Blocking call
byte[] message = JniCommunicator.readMessage();
if (message == null || message.length == 0) {
continue;
}
Bundle b = new Bundle();
b.putByteArray(MESSAGE, message);
Message m = readHandler.obtainMessage(REPORT_MSG);
m.setData(b);
readHandler.sendMessage(m);
}
}
};
private final Handler readHandler = new Handler() {
#Override
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
switch (msg.what) {
case REPORT_MSG:
byte[] message = msg.getData().getByteArray(MESSAGE);
// Broadcast the new message to all clients
final int N = readerCallbacks.beginBroadcast();
for (int i = 0; i < N; i++) {
try {
readerCallbacks.getBroadcastItem(i).newMessage(message);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
// The RemoteCallbackList will take care of removing
// the dead object for us.
}
}
readerCallbacks.finishBroadcast();
break;
}
}
};
#Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
return mBinder;
}
private final IService.Stub mBinder = new IService.Stub() {
public void registerCallback(IMyCallback cb) {
if (cb != null)
readerCallbacks.register(cb);
}
public void unregisterCallback(IMyCallback cb) {
if (cb != null)
readerCallbacks.unregister(cb);
}
};
}
In particular, if someone calls unregisterCallback() while the Handler is in the for loop, will it crash?
From my understanding, the Handler run in the same thread, so it is thread safe, but I am not sure.
Thanks
Handlers are thread safe, that is their entire purpose.
I'll agree that the documentation on the thread safety of handlers isn't the best but it would be very ironic if a class designed to communicate between thread weren't thread safe.
About the remote callbacks, they are also designed to be thread safe, you should read the documentation on this, it states clearly:
Performs locking of the underlying list of interfaces to deal with multithreaded incoming calls, and a thread-safe way to iterate over a snapshot of the list without holding its lock
All you have to make sure is that all variables multiple thread access are thread safe (which they are in your case) and that they aren't being changed (yours are final so no worries there either)

What is the proper way to update activity based on Network responses?

I am implementing an application which is kind of VOIP application. So my application is kind of network application. Now I want to implement two part in my application, one is GUI part and one is network part. My GUI part will just contain activities and handling of user interaction. My Network part should handle all network related activities like handling incoming network data and sending data to network based on GUI interaction. Now whenever there is any incoming data, I want to update some activity whose reference is not there in Network module. So what could be the best way to update activity from some other class? In my case some other class is my Network class. So in short I would like to ask that what should be the architecture in such scenario? i.e. Network part should run in separate thread and from there it should update GUI?
Depending on the type/size of data you need to send to the activity, you can use one of a number of options.
Use one of the methods described here.
Use a BroadcastReceiver: register it in the Activity and then fire off matching Intents in the Service that handles the networking code.
Make your Activity bind to your Service and then pass in a Handler that you send Messages to.
I have written apps like this, and I prefer the Handler method. In fact I have written an Abstract Activity class to do all the hard work and simply extend it in any activity that want to be notified of a change.
To Use the following code, just get your Activity to extend UpdatableActivity and override the dataUpdated() method. This method is called when your Service notifies the handler that data has been updated. In the Service code put your code to do an update in the update() method (Or modify to call your existing code). This allows an activity to call this.updateService() to force an update. The service can call the sendMessageToUI() method to notify all interested activities that the data has been updated.
Here is what the abstract activity looks like:
public abstract class UpdatableActivity extends Activity {
public static final String TAG = "UpdatableActivity (Abstract)";
private final Messenger mMessenger = new Messenger(new IncomingHandler());
private Messenger mService = null;
private boolean mIsBound;
protected class IncomingHandler extends Handler {
#Override
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
if (Constants.LOG_DEBUG) Log.d(TAG, "Service has notified us of an update: ");
switch (msg.arg1) {
case UpdateService.MSG_DATA_UPDATED:
dataUpdated();
break;
default: super.handleMessage(msg);
}
}
}
private ServiceConnection mConnection = new ServiceConnection() {
public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName className, IBinder service) {
mService = new Messenger(service);
try {
Message msg = Message.obtain(null, UpdateService.MSG_REGISTER_CLIENT);
msg.replyTo = mMessenger;
mService.send(msg);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
// In this case the service has crashed before we could even do anything with it
}
}
public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName className) {
// This is called when the connection with the service has been unexpectedly disconnected - process crashed.
mService = null;
}
};
/**Override this method in you acctivity to handle the update */
public abstract void dataUpdated();
void doBindService() {
if (Constants.LOG_DEBUG) Log.d(TAG, "Binding to service...");
bindService(new Intent(this, UpdateService.class), mConnection, Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE);
mIsBound = true;
}
void doUnbindService() {
if (mIsBound) {
// If we have received the service, and hence registered with it, then now is the time to unregister.
if (mService != null) {
try {
Message msg = Message.obtain(null, UpdateService.MSG_UNREGISTER_CLIENT);
msg.replyTo = mMessenger;
mService.send(msg);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
// There is nothing special we need to do if the service has crashed.
}
}
// Detach our existing connection.
unbindService(mConnection);
mIsBound = false;
}
}
public void updateService() {
if (Constants.LOG_DEBUG) Log.d(TAG,"Updating Service...");
if (mIsBound) {
if (mService != null) {
try {
Message msg = Message.obtain(null, UpdateService.MSG_SET_INT_VALUE, UpdateService.MSG_DO_UPDATE, 0);
msg.replyTo = mMessenger;
mService.send(msg);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
if (Constants.LOG_ERROR) Log.e(TAG,Log.getStackTraceString(e));
}
}
} else {
if (Constants.LOG_DEBUG) Log.d(TAG, "Fail - service not bound!");
}
}
pu
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
this.doBindService();
}
#Override
protected void onDestroy() {
super.onDestroy();
try {
doUnbindService();
} catch (Throwable t) {
if (Constants.LOG_ERROR) Log.e(TAG, "Failed to unbind from the service", t);
}
}
}
And here is what the Service looks Like:
public class UpdateService extends Service {
public static final String TAG = "UpdateService";
public static final int MSG_DATA_UPDATED = 0;
public static final int MSG_REGISTER_CLIENT = 1;
public static final int MSG_UNREGISTER_CLIENT = 2;
public static final int MSG_DO_UPDATE = 3;
public static final int MSG_SET_INT_VALUE = 4;
private static boolean isRunning = false;
private Handler handler = new IncomingHandler();
private final Messenger mMessenger = new Messenger(handler);
private ArrayList<Messenger> mClients = new ArrayList<Messenger>(); // Keeps track of all current registered clients.
#Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
return mMessenger.getBinder();
}
class IncomingHandler extends Handler { // Handler of incoming messages from clients.
#Override
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
switch (msg.what) {
case MSG_REGISTER_CLIENT:
mClients.add(msg.replyTo);
break;
case MSG_UNREGISTER_CLIENT:
mClients.remove(msg.replyTo);
break;
case MSG_SET_INT_VALUE:
switch (msg.arg1) {
case MSG_DO_UPDATE:
if (Constants.LOG_DEBUG) Log.d(TAG,"UI has asked to update");
update();
break;
}
break;
default:
super.handleMessage(msg);
}
}
}
private void sendMessageToUI() {
if (Constants.LOG_DEBUG) Log.d(TAG, "Notifying "+mClients.size()+" UI clients that an update was completed");
for (int i=mClients.size()-1; i>=0; i--) {
try {
// Send data as an Integer
mClients.get(i).send(Message.obtain(null, MSG_SET_INT_VALUE, MSG_DATA_UPDATED, 0));
} catch (RemoteException e) {
// The client is dead. Remove it from the list; we are going through the list from back to front so this is safe to do inside the loop.
mClients.remove(i);
}
}
}
public static boolean isRunning()
{
return isRunning;
}
#Override
public void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();
isRunning = true;
if (Constants.LOG_DEBUG) Log.d(TAG, "Service Started");
update();
}
#Override
public void onDestroy() {
if (Constants.LOG_DEBUG) Log.d(TAG, "Service Destroyed");
isRunning = false;
}
private void update() {
/**Your code to do an update goes here */
}
}
Yes, personally i think that the network and UI should be in separate threads. The way I tend to communicate between the two, which is probably not the recommended proper way, but it works for me, is to create a global variable in your application class. hope this helps a little
I would directly post to the main UI thread,
Handler mHandler = new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper());
mHandler.post(new Runnable() {...});

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