Develop Reference

Android- Updating UI elements with threading

I have a textview which i want to change with a thread and do it again and again (Like a digital clock). But i'm having problems with setting time between 2 changes. Here, the code:
display1 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.textView1);
Thread timer2 = new Thread(){
#Override
public void run() {
synchronized (this){
runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
int i = 0;
display1.setText("" + i);
try {
sleep(2000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
display1.setText("" + (i+1));
}
});
}
}
};
timer2.start();
This sleep(2000); function makes textview invisible for the given time but i want it stand still till the next change. How can i do that?

But i'm having problems with setting time between 2 changes
Do NOT do sleep() on your UI thread. If you want to chain some actions with the delay, split your code into two runnables and the first one should set display1 and then post second runnable with the delay using postDelayed()
EDIT
want one of them to increase 3 per sec, and the other 5 per sec until they reach 1000 for instance
You can make your Runnable post itself until some criteria are met (i.e. time, counter value etc). Just at the end your Runnable check your conditions and if not met, call postDelayed(this, delay); and you are good.

You should use a Handler instead and dispatch your changes to the UI thread.
Handler mHandler = new Handler();
mHandler.post(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
// Code to be run right away
}
});
mHandler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
// Code to be run after 2 seconds
}
}, 2000);

Maybe split up what you need to do into separate methods. Here you have a UI method and a sleep method split up. Hope it helps
private void myMethod() {
new Thread() {
#Override
public void run() {
int i = 0;
doWorkOnUI(String.valueOf(i));
pause(2000);
doWorkOnUI(String.valueOf(i++));
}
}.start();
}
private void pause(int pauseTime) {
try {
Thread.sleep(pauseTime);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
private void doWorkOnUI(final String string) {
runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
display1.setText(string);
}
});
}

Android Timer Tasks

I'm trying to make a timer that will do a certain thing after a certain amount of time:
int delay = 1000;
int period = 1000;
Timer timer = new Timer();
timer.scheduleAtFixedRate(new TimerTask() {
public void run() {
//Does stuff
}
}, delay, period);
However, the app crashes after the wait period. This is Java code, so it might not be entirely compatible with Android (like while loops). Is there something I'm doing wrong?

Something like this should work, create a handler, and wait 1 second :) This is generally the best way of doing it, its the most tidy and also probably the best on memory too as its not really doing too much, plus as it's only doing it once it is the most simple solution.
Handler handler = new Handler();
handler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
// do your stuff
}
}, 1000);
If you would like something to run every one second then something like this would be best:
Thread thread = new Thread()
{
#Override
public void run() {
try {
while(true) {
sleep(1000);
}
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
};
thread.start();
If you want a GUI thread then something like this should work:
ActivityName.this.runOnUiThread(new Runnable()
{
public void run(){
try {
while(true) {
sleep(1000);
}
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});

If your app is crashing after the wait period, then your timer task is doing its job and executing your code on schedule. The problem must then be in your code where run() occurs (for example, you may be trying to update UI elements in a background thread).
If you post more code and your logcat, I can probably be more specific about the error you are getting, but your question was in regards to TimerTask.

Timer and also you can run your code on UI thread:
public void onCreate(Bundle icicle) {
super.onCreate(icicle);
setContentView(R.layout.main);
myTimer = new Timer();
myTimer.schedule(new TimerTask() {
#Override
public void run() {
timerMethod();
}
}, 0, 1000);
}
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(timerTick);
}
private Runnable timerTick = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
// This method runs in the same thread as the UI.
// Do something to the UI thread here
}
};

Updating UI using a Handler freezes my app

I am trying to make a clock, using a TextView :)
Someone here told me that I couldn't use normal threads to change the UI, but Handler or AsyncTask. I managed to get it working a few days ago, but was not a consistent thread.
Now what I want is a consistent thread that is always changing the text of my Textview. I tried using this, but didn't work, any help?
private void startClock() {
new Handler().postDelayed(new Runnable(){
#Override
public void run() {
while (true) {
final long millis = System.currentTimeMillis() - MainActivity.startedAt;
clock.setText("" + millis);
runOnUiThread (new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
clock.setText("" + millis);
}
});
try {
Thread.sleep(1000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
}, 2000);
}

you should get rid of:
while(true) {
....
sleep(1000);
...
}
because this get your thread stuck forever. your program should work like this:
private Handler mHandler = new Handler();
#Override
public void onResume() {
super.onResume();
mHandler.removeCallbacks(mUpdateClockTask);
mHandler.postDelayed(mUpdateCLockTask, 100);
}
#Override
public void onPause() {
super.onPause();
mHandler.removeCallbacks(mUpdateClockTask);
}
private Runnable mUpdateClockTask = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
updateClock();
mHandler.postDelayed(mUpdateClockTask, 2000);
}
};
and inside updateClock() you do all your UI updates.

Look here for an example https://stackoverflow.com/a/11140429/808940
Also note that you have a duplicate line in your code:
clock.setText(""+millis);
It appears both in the runOnUiThread and in the main handler, it should only appear in the runOnUiThread runnable

Handler.postdelayed

I am using handler.postDelayed method to create some delay for some animation stuff.
With that i am playing some song as well using Mediaplayer. User can exit this action class by clicking next. But on next screen the same song is continuing even though i called stop method in the next button's onclicklistener.
Is it due to the timedelay that is added which gets executed after the next activity is loaded. Any idea?
handler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
mp = MediaPlayer.create(getApplicationContext(), R.raw.num2);
mp.start();
imageView1.setImageResource(R.drawable.countcat2);
}
}, 2000);

Did you add a Log to see if run() gets called? I would assume that your handler gets unregistered; after all, postDelayed will wait until the looper kicks in again.
I assume your animation is faster than those 2000ms? You wouldn't be able to have your handler called anyway after your activity is gone, it's accessing imageView1 which I presume is destroyed in onDestroy.
You could consider adding a flag that will force the operation to be called immediately in onDestroy, and/or you could use a Timer. In case of the timer, be sure to not use something like imageView1 after it has been destroyed.

Use threads. And then stop it with an interruption:
Public Thread getThread(final Handler handle, int delay)
{
return new Thread()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
try
{
synchronized(this)
{
Thread.sleep(delay);
handle.post(new Runnable()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
"the code to be exec."
}
});
}
}
catch(Exception e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
};
};
}
Or you can use use the postDelayed function
Public Thread getThread(final Handler handle, int delay)
{
return new Thread()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
try
{
synchronized(this)
{
handle.postDelayed(new Runnable()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
"the code to be exec."
}
}, delay);
}
}
catch(Exception e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
};
};
}
you will find that there's a little difference between this two methods. To interrupt it, do something like this:
Thread t = getThread(handle, delay);
t.start();
if(t != null)
{
if (t.isAlive())
{
t.interrupt();
}
}
Hope I have helped.

How to run a Runnable thread in Android at defined intervals?

I developed an application to display some text at defined intervals in the Android emulator screen. I am using the Handler class. Here is a snippet from my code:
handler = new Handler();
Runnable r = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
tv.append("Hello World");
}
};
handler.postDelayed(r, 1000);
When I run this application the text is displayed only once. Why?

The simple fix to your example is :
handler = new Handler();
final Runnable r = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
tv.append("Hello World");
handler.postDelayed(this, 1000);
}
};
handler.postDelayed(r, 1000);
Or we can use normal thread for example (with original Runner) :
Thread thread = new Thread() {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
while(true) {
sleep(1000);
handler.post(this);
}
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
};
thread.start();
You may consider your runnable object just as a command that can be sent to the message queue for execution, and handler as just a helper object used to send that command.
More details are here http://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/Handler.html

new Handler().postDelayed(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
// do something...
}
}, 100);

I think can improve first solution of Alex2k8 for update correct each second
1.Original code:
public void run() {
tv.append("Hello World");
handler.postDelayed(this, 1000);
}
2.Analysis
In above cost, assume tv.append("Hello Word") cost T milliseconds, after display 500 times delayed time is 500*T milliseconds
It will increase delayed when run long time
3. Solution
To avoid that Just change order of postDelayed(), to avoid delayed:
public void run() {
handler.postDelayed(this, 1000);
tv.append("Hello World");
}

For repeating task you can use
new Timer().scheduleAtFixedRate(task, runAfterADelayForFirstTime, repeaingTimeInterval);
call it like
new Timer().scheduleAtFixedRate(new TimerTask() {
#Override
public void run() {
}
},500,1000);
The above code will run first time after half second(500) and repeat itself after each second(1000)
Where
task being the method to be executed
after the time to initial execution
(interval the time for repeating the execution)
Secondly
And you can also use CountDownTimer if you want to execute a Task number of times.
new CountDownTimer(40000, 1000) { //40000 milli seconds is total time, 1000 milli seconds is time interval
public void onTick(long millisUntilFinished) {
}
public void onFinish() {
}
}.start();
//Above codes run 40 times after each second
And you can also do it with runnable. create a runnable method like
Runnable runnable = new Runnable()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
}
};
And call it in both these ways
new Handler().postDelayed(runnable, 500 );//where 500 is delayMillis // to work on mainThread
OR
new Thread(runnable).start();//to work in Background

I believe for this typical case, i.e. to run something with a fixed interval, Timer is more appropriate. Here is a simple example:
myTimer = new Timer();
myTimer.schedule(new TimerTask() {
#Override
public void run() {
// If you want to modify a view in your Activity
MyActivity.this.runOnUiThread(new Runnable()
public void run(){
tv.append("Hello World");
});
}
}, 1000, 1000); // initial delay 1 second, interval 1 second
Using Timer has few advantages:
Initial delay and the interval can be easily specified in the schedule function arguments
The timer can be stopped by simply calling myTimer.cancel()
If you want to have only one thread running, remember to call myTimer.cancel() before scheduling a new one (if myTimer is not null)

Handler handler=new Handler();
Runnable r = new Runnable(){
public void run() {
tv.append("Hello World");
handler.postDelayed(r, 1000);
}
};
handler.post(r);

Kotlin
private lateinit var runnable: Runnable
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
val handler = Handler()
runnable = Runnable {
// do your work
handler.postDelayed(runnable, 2000)
}
handler.postDelayed(runnable, 2000)
}
Java
Runnable runnable;
Handler handler;
#Override
protected void onCreate(#Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
handler = new Handler();
runnable = new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
// do your work
handler.postDelayed(this, 1000);
}
};
handler.postDelayed(runnable, 1000);
}

If I understand correctly the documentation of Handler.post() method:
Causes the Runnable r to be added to the message queue. The runnable will be run on the thread to which this handler is attached.
So examples provided by #alex2k8, even though are working correctly, are not the same.
In case, where Handler.post() is used, no new threads are created. You just post Runnable to the thread with Handler to be executed by EDT.
After that, EDT only executes Runnable.run(), nothing else.
Remember:
Runnable != Thread.

Kotlin with Coroutines
In Kotlin, using coroutines you can do the following:
CoroutineScope(Dispatchers.Main).launch { // Main, because UI is changed
ticker(delayMillis = 1000, initialDelayMillis = 1000).consumeEach {
tv.append("Hello World")
}
}
Try it out here!

An interesting example is you can continuously see a counter/stop-watch running in separate thread. Also showing GPS-Location. While main activity User Interface Thread is already there.
Excerpt:
try {
cnt++; scnt++;
now=System.currentTimeMillis();
r=rand.nextInt(6); r++;
loc=lm.getLastKnownLocation(best);
if(loc!=null) {
lat=loc.getLatitude();
lng=loc.getLongitude();
}
Thread.sleep(100);
handler.sendMessage(handler.obtainMessage());
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
Toast.makeText(this, "Error="+e.toString(), Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
To look at code see here:
Thread example displaying GPS Location and Current Time runnable alongside main-activity's User Interface Thread

now in Kotlin you can run threads this way:
class SimpleRunnable: Runnable {
public override fun run() {
println("${Thread.currentThread()} has run.")
}
}
fun main(args: Array<String>) {
val thread = SimpleThread()
thread.start() // Will output: Thread[Thread-0,5,main] has run.
val runnable = SimpleRunnable()
val thread1 = Thread(runnable)
thread1.start() // Will output: Thread[Thread-1,5,main] has run
}