I'm using AsyncTask to populate SQLite database. I'm downloading data from a certain webpage and putting it in SQLite tables. The thing is, I want to either download 100% of the data or none. So in case the AsyncTask is for some reason interrupted, I want to delete all the data that has been downloaded so far.
This is how I tried to do it:
#Override
protected void onCancelled() {
super.onCancelled();
dbHandler.deleteFromDatabase(razred);
Log.i("TAG", "AsyncTask cancelled");
}
I thought that "onCancelled" will execute if AsyncTask is interrupted in any way but it doesn't. What could I do to erase data that was made with AsyncTask in case it is cancelled in any way? (ex. activity paused, activity destroyed, internet connection interrupted etc.)
You're on the right track, but in your doInBackground() you also need to specifically call isCancelled() to check if it's cancelled and then return from doInBackground(). Then your code will work properly.
Refer to the AsyncTask documentation for "Cancelling a task"
Here's the quote from the documentation for easy reference:
A task can be cancelled at any time by invoking cancel(boolean). Invoking this method will cause subsequent calls to isCancelled() to return true. After invoking this method, onCancelled(Object), instead of onPostExecute(Object) will be invoked after doInBackground(Object[]) returns. To ensure that a task is cancelled as quickly as possible, you should always check the return value of isCancelled() periodically from doInBackground(Object[]), if possible (inside a loop for instance.)
EDIT: Per request, some sample code:
private class MyAsyncTask extends AsyncTask<Void,Void,Void> {
private SQLiteDatabase db;
#Override
protected void onPreExecute() {
// any kind of initialization or setup needed before the
// background thread kicks off. remember: this is still on
// on the main (UI) thread
// since youre doing DB I/O, Ill make believe Im initializing the DB here
db = DatabaseHelper.getInstance(MainActvity.this).getWritableDatabase();
}
/*
* The background thread to do your disk and network I/O. If you need
* to pass in any parameters, this is the first Void in the template
*/
#Override
protected Void doInBackground(Void... params) {
// other stuff you need to do in the background. Since you want an
// all-or-nothing type thing, we will use a transaction to manually
// control the db
db.beginTransaction();
try {
// do network I/O to retrieve what you need and then write to DB.
...
... // if theres a loop in here somewhere when reading the data, check !isCancelled() as part of the condition or as one of the first statements and then break
...
db.setTransactionSuccessful(); // assuming everything works, need to set
// this successful here at the end of the try
} catch (InterruptedException ie) { // or some other exception
cancel(true); // heres where you can call cancel() if youve been interrupted
} catch (IOException ioe) { // if your network connection has problems
cancel(true);
} finally {
db.endTransaction();
// other cleanup, like closing the HTTP connection...
// no need to close the DB if you implement it properly
}
return null; // if there was some return value, that would go here
}
#Override
protected void onCancelled(Void result) {
// depending on how you implement doInBackground(), you may not even need this,
// unless you have a lot of other "state" you need to reset aside from the DB transaction
}
#Override
protected void onPostExecute(Void result) {
// any other items to do on main (UI) thread after doInBackground() finishes
// remember, this only gets called if cancel() is not called!
}
}
Hope that helps!
I know this is not exactly what you've asked for, but I have to say you are doing it all wrong by using the AsyncTask.
There are many cases where your async task will be terminated without you being able to do anything. For such critical tasks as this one, use a Service.
With a Service you can till the system to restart your service in case it is terminated prematurely. You then can continue what you started, or start all over again (deleting all previous downloads...etc).
With an AsyncTask, if the system decided to terminate your async task prematurely, you are not notified nor the AsyncTask is restarted. It just dies in complete silence.
I think in the onpostexecute you could handle anything you wanted to.
private class ParseDownload extends AsyncTask<Summary, Void, Boolean> {
#Override
protected Boolean doInBackground(Summary... urls) {
for (Summary url : urls) {
url.dosomething();
if (isCanceled();) { return false;}
}
return true;
}
#Override
protected void onPostExecute(Boolean result) {
if (!result) {
// delete * from yourtable here...
// and mark the download incomplete etc.
}
}
}
Good Luck
Related
I am seeing some strange behaviour with onPause / onResume in my app and cannot work out what is happening.
I perform a database query (simple subclass of AsyncTask) in onResume and cancel it in onPause if it is still executing. I received a crash report that made me wonder if the task cancel was working or not so added an analytics event to record onPostExecute getting called after onPause had cancelled the task.
Over the last month I have seen 140 of these events for 4,100 page views.
#Override
protected void onResume() {
super.onResume();
mIsResumed = true;
if (mReverseCardsTask == null) {
mReverseCardsTask = new TcgCursorTask(this) {
#Override
protected Cursor doInBackground(Void... params) {
return mDb.reverseFetchCards();
}
#Override
protected void onPostExecute(Cursor cursor) {
if (mIsResumed) {
onReverseCardsCursor(cursor);
} else {
EasyTracker.getTracker().sendEvent("error", "on-post-execute", "called after paused", 1L);
}
}
};
mReverseCardsTask.execute();
}
}
#Override
protected void onPause() {
super.onPause();
mIsResumed = false;
if (mReverseCardsTask != null) {
mReverseCardsTask.cancel(false);
mReverseCardsTask = null;
}
}
I have a feeling I am missing something very simple here, but can't see it.
I just noticed I am not clearing mReverseCardsTask in onPostExecute, but that should not matter.
Just calling cancel() doesn't do anything. You actually have to put checks in the process to determine if it is to be canceled and do the job of canceling it.
The OS doesn't know what you may need to do to clean things up (like closing files or open network connections) before stopping.
OK. I have worked it out. I am not sure which API version it was fixed in, but if you look at the code for Gingerbread there is a clear race condition in the cancel() handling. The GUI thread code which processes the MESSAGE_POST_RESULT message from the background calls onPostExecute() regardless of whether or not the task was cancelled.
It turns out that the fix is quite simple. All I need to do is add my own check of isCancelled() before executing my onPostExecute() logic.
The Gingerbread code receives MESSAGE_POST_RESULT and calls finish(). Then finish() calls onPostExecute().
I have some asynctasks in my application that do network functions (download/upload files,http requests) in the background.While these actions are in progress I use ProgressDialog in order to display messages about the progress of the task. However some tasks may require more time to complete (for example downloading a file on a slow network) and this is something unwanted in the application.
How can I set a parameter to control the duration of each asynctask? I want the asynctask to complete at some point regardless of the completion of the job in the task. I have to make the asynctask call the onPostExecute method.
I read about this http://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/AsyncTask.html#get%28long,%20java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit%29
This was not very helpful because the UI would freeze and there was no actual control of the duration of the asynctask
This is a part of my code
public void downloadFiles(String address) {
String mainUrl =address;
//// I overrride the onPostExecute to get
/// results and call another asynctask
new Downloader(this){ //<--asynctask
#Override
protected void onPostExecute(String result){
super.onPostExecute(result);
TestResults=result;
//another method called that creates another asynctask
uploadFiles(mainUrl);
}
}.execute(mainUrl);
}
I also tried to use a Handler like this
But it didn't work either.
Is there a way to make the asynctask return results (which means to make asynctask call onPostExecute method) after a period of time ?
Using a while loop in the doInBackground method of asnctask is not the solution. I guess I need a timer from the mainUI to make the asynctask return results.
PS I have my application using fragments, that is why I call new Downloader(this) to pass the gui from the fragment.
Just tried this:
public void downloadFiles(String address) {
String mainUrl =address;
final Downloader tempObject =new Downloader(this){
#Override
protected void onPostExecute(String result){
super.onPostExecute(result);
downloadResults=result;
}
};
try {
tempObject.execute(mainUrl).get(3000L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (ExecutionException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (TimeoutException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
This would make the UI freeze for 3 seconds and then the task would be evoked.... Which is not what I want.
Also tried out this:
Handler handler = new Handler();
handler.postDelayed(new Runnable()
{
#Override
public void run() {
if ( tempObject.getStatus() == Downloader.Status.RUNNING )
tempObject.cancel(true);
}
}, 5000 );
This would cause the message of onProgressUpdate of asynctask to stop, however the asynctask keeps running....
Any ideas ?
The methodology of the Handler function needs something additional to work. The solution to the problem lies here
AsyncTask may be canceled, however the doInbackground method is still running. Actually the task is set to value "cancel", but the doInbackgroung will still be running until it finishes. To solve this we must periodically check within a loop in doInbackground to see whether the task was set to cancel. Although this is not exactly what I wanted to do, this seems to be the only solution.
In doInBackground we have to check for the status of the task to see whether it was cancelled or not. So actually ,someone could just have the timer inside the doInbackground and make life easier without using the handler class.
I find it disappointing that one can not just terminate the execution of a synctask at will..... If anyone has a better idea, please let me know.
I created an async task to call my server to get data from DB.
I need to process the result returned from http server call.
From my activity i calling the async task in many places. so i cant use member variable to access the result. is there any way to do?
public Result CallServer(String params)
{
try
{
new MainAynscTask().execute(params);
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
ex.printStackTrace();
}
return aResultM;//Need to get back the result
}
private class MainAynscTask extends AsyncTask<String, Void, Result> {
#Override
protected Result doInBackground(String... ParamsP) {
//calling server codes
return aResultL;
}
#Override
protected void onPostExecute(Result result) {
super.onPostExecute(result);
//how i will pass this result where i called this task?
}
Try to call the get() method of AsyncTask after you call the execute() method. This works for me
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/AsyncTask.html#get()
public Result CallServer(String params)
{
try
{
MainAynscTask task = new MainAynscTask();
task.execute(params);
Result aResultM = task.get(); //Add this
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
ex.printStackTrace();
}
return aResultM;//Need to get back the result
}
...
...
There are two ways i can suggest -
onPostExecute(Result) in AsyncTask. See http://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/AsyncTask.html#onPostExecute(Result)
Send a broadcast with the result as an extra.
AsyncTask is an asynchronous task so it does NOT make sense to return the result to the caller. Rather handle the result in onPostExecute() like setting the value to TextView etc. Or send a broadcast so that some other listener can handle the result.
Here's how I got around this:
1) Create an interface class that defines a signature for a method to execute on completion:
public interface AsyncIfc {
public void onComplete();
}
2) Set a property on your AsyncTask class to hold the delegate method:
public AsyncIfc completionCode;
3) Trigger the delegate from onPostExecute() in the AsyncTask:
completionCode.onComplete();
4) From your calling logic, set the delegate property to an anonymous method:
task.completionCode = new AsyncIfc() {
#Override
public void onComplete() {
// Any logic you want to happen after execution
}
};
When an asynchronous task is executed, the task goes through 4 steps:
onPreExecute(), invoked on the UI thread before the task is executed. This step is normally used to setup the task, for instance by showing a progress bar in the user interface.
doInBackground(Params...), invoked on the background thread immediately after onPreExecute() finishes executing. This step is used to perform background computation that can take a long time. The parameters of the asynchronous task are passed to this step. The result of the computation must be returned by this step and will be passed back to the last step. This step can also use publishProgress(Progress...) to publish one or more units of progress. These values are published on the UI thread, in the onProgressUpdate(Progress...) step.
onProgressUpdate(Progress...), invoked on the UI thread after a call to publishProgress(Progress...). The timing of the execution is undefined. This method is used to display any form of progress in the user interface while the background computation is still executing. For instance, it can be used to animate a progress bar or show logs in a text field.
onPostExecute(Result), invoked on the UI thread after the background computation finishes. The result of the background computation is passed to this step as a parameter.
Use a handler
In your activity
Handler mHandler = new Handler() {
#Override public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
String s=(String)msg.obj;
tv.setText(s);
}
};
//result is soap object in this case.
protected void onPostExecute(SoapObject result) {
pd.dismiss();
if(result != null) {
Message msg=new Message();
msg.obj=result.getProperty(0).toString();
mHandler.sendMessage(msg);
}
Just wondered what's happened with IceCream Sandwich...
I had a simple AsyncTask reading data from a server. When the Disconnect button was clicked, then lServerTask.cancel(true); was called which was successfully calling onCancelled(), setting m_Running = false; thus breaking out of the while loop in protected void doInBackground(Void...params).
With my Galaxy Nexus, I click the disconnect button, but the task does not quit. And is still connected to the server. Does anyone have any ideas?
Many Thanks
Mark
Code FYI -
// automatically done on worker thread (separate from UI thread)
protected Void doInBackground(Void...params)
{
while(m_Running)
{
try
{
lRDS.readSocket();
}
catch (IOException e)
{
lRDS.disconnectFromServer();
publishProgress(e.toString());
return null;
}
lDataBuffer = lRDS.getDataBuffer();
publishProgress(lDataBuffer);
}
return null;
}
#Override
protected void onCancelled()
{
m_Running = false;
connectRDSButton.setEnabled(true);
disconnectRDSButton.setEnabled(false);
}
and from the UI side:
private class disconnectRDSButtonHandler implements View.OnClickListener
{
public void onClick(View v)
{
editRobotData.setText("Disconnect...");
if (lRobotDataServerTask.cancel(true) == true)
{
editRobotData.setText("Disconnected...");
}
}
}
Okay it seems I've found the issue. I needed to check isCancelled() in the while loop of the doInBackground() method and then call the onCancelled() method from there. Not sure why I didn't see this as a problem on android 2.2 on HTC desire.
protected Void doInBackground(Void...params)
{
while(m_Running)
{
if (isCancelled () == true)
{
onCancelled();
}
Hope this helps someone.
Mark
There are two approaches to cancel an AsyncTask:
Checking isCancelled inside your doInBackground method to try to terminate as soon as possible.
Calling cancel(true), then AsyncTask's background thread will be interrupted. For this to work, you'll need to strategically place Thread.sleep calls in your doInBackground method, and when you catch the InterruptedException, you return.
Of these two approaches, the latter is the most unreliable by far, since any call to a method catching an InterruptedException other than yours will screw the cancellation. For instance, if you call a method such as SystemClock.sleep that swallows the exception, you'll never hit your catch clause.
In both cases, long operations in between isCancelled checks or Thread.sleep calls will run to completion.
Now about your question, you were using the second approach, but there were not any Thread.sleep call, so it wont work unless some of the methods you are calling catched the Interrupted exception and throwed the IOException. Probably changes in implementation from a version to another make the difference.
The documentation at http://developer.android.com/reference/android/database/sqlite/SQLiteOpenHelper.html#getWritableDatabase%28%29 states:
Database upgrade may take a long time,
you should not call this method
[getWritableDatabase] from the
application main thread, including
from ContentProvider.onCreate().
This begs the question: for best practice, where should getWritableDatabase be called from?
My feeling is that, perhaps, it should be called once upon application launch with a callback to mark the database as ready. Is this correct?
For small and agile databases I imagine this isn't much of an issue.
Otherwise, I'd use an always-wonderful AsyncTask, called from onCreate.
It can be called from anywhere, but it should not be called from the UI thread because you don't know how long the process will take (especially with the different file systems in use). Even if you know the database should be small, you don't know about the file system (can it perform more than one job at a time? are there are thousand other jobs waiting in line already?). You can use an AsyncTask or a Thread to call getWriteableDatabase.
It seems that the intended use of the open helper framework, is to open the db on activity start, and close it when the Activity is destroyed.
In an AsyncTask from within onCreate()...
new StartupTask().execute();
The AsyncTask Thread.sleep() below is just to give enough time to show the dialog so that you can see it work. Obviously take that out when you're done playing. ;)
private class StartupTask extends AsyncTask
{
private ProgressDialog progressDialog;
#Override
protected Object doInBackground(final Object... objects)
{
openHelperRef.getWritableDatabase();
try
{
Thread.sleep(5000);
}
catch (InterruptedException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
return null;
}
#Override
protected void onPreExecute()
{
super.onPreExecute();
runOnUiThread(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
progressDialog = ProgressDialog.show(
MyActivity.this, "Title",
"Opening/Upgrading the database, please wait", true);
}
});
}
#Override
protected void onPostExecute(Object object)
{
super.onPostExecute(object);
progressDialog.dismiss();
}
}
in onDestroy()...
openHelper.close();