Develop Reference

Is FirebaseMessagingService an intent service?

I want to save all the messages received in the onMessageReceived of the service inside a SQLite db.
I was planning to open the db, insert the data and close the db. This would work well with an intent service as all the calls to the onMessageReceived would be queued and thus execute one by one.
However if the onMessageReceived gets called concurrently for multiple messages, it could cause issues of the Db being closed while another call is trying to write thus leading to issues.
Can anyone confirm what kind of behaviour i should expect.
If it is not an intent service, i might have to look at the DB singleton pattern and synchronization blocks

Currently, FirebaseMessagingService extends Service directly, so it is not an IntentService.
Source
Snapshot:

You can check LinkedBlockingDeque<> class which queues your requests and can be performed in background sequentially.
Check below sample class of mine -
public class Processor implements Runnable {
private final LinkedBlockingDeque<Task> mTaskQueue = new LinkedBlockingDeque<Task>();
private boolean mExecuteTask = true;
#Override
public void run() {
Process.setThreadPriority(Process.THREAD_PRIORITY_BACKGROUND);
// You can put some end condition if needed
while (mExecuteTask) {
Task task;
try {
// Waits if necessary until an element becomes available
task = (Task) mTaskQueue.take();
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
continue; // re-test the condition on the eclosing while
}
if (task != null) {
task.runnable.run();
}
}
}
// Call this method to put Runnable in Queue.
public synchronized void put(int id, Runnable runnable) {
try {
Task task = new Task();
task.runnable = runnable;
task.id = id; // someUniqueId to avoid duplication
// Check Id of tasks already present in Queue
mTaskQueue.addLast(task);
} catch (IllegalStateException ie) {
throw new Error(ie);
}
}
private static class Task {
public Runnable runnable;
// Unique Id of task
public int id;
}
}

Timer not working in app

I have written schedule task by using timer. It is working fine withing single activity.But when i am going to another activity it is not working.My intention is to send data to the server some particular time interval. I am giving the code snippet. I am sorry for the format.
private void login()
{
try {
EditText userNameET = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.userName);
EditText passwordET = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.password);
String userName = userNameET.getText().toString();
String password = passwordET.getText().toString();
boolean isLoginOK = isValidUser(userName, password);
String autoSynchStrVal = "";
String autoSyncFreqStr = "";
long autoSyncFreqInMiliSec = 3600000; // default 1 hrs
if (isLoginOK) {
//added by anirban
CommonUtils.IS_NEW_VERSION_AVAILABLE = isNewVersionAvailable();
CommonUtils.IS_NEW_Notification_AVAILABLE = isNewNotificationAvailable();
autoSynchStrVal = CommonUtils.getPolicyValue(appInstance, "IS_MOBI_AUTO_SYNCH_REQ", 0, 0);
if(autoSynchStrVal != null && !"".equals(autoSynchStrVal) && "1".equals(autoSynchStrVal)){
//boolean isAllTransactionsUploaded = false;
// boolean isAllTransactionsUploaded = VersionCheckingActivity.isAllTransactionsUploaded();
// boolean isMobiEligibleForAutoSync = UploadDownload.isMobiEligibleForAutoSync(appInstance ,isAllTransactionsUploaded);
// if(isMobiEligibleForAutoSync){
autoSyncFreqStr = CommonUtils.getPolicyValue(appInstance, "MOBI_AUTO_SYNCH_FREQUENCY", 0, 0);
if(autoSyncFreqStr != null && !"".equals(autoSyncFreqStr)){
autoSyncFreqInMiliSec = (long) (Double.valueOf(autoSyncFreqStr) * 60 * 60 * 1000); // in millisecond
}
/* boolean isMobiEligibleForAutoSync = false;
try {
isMobiEligibleForAutoSync = UploadDownload.isMobiEligibleForAutoSync(appInstance ,
VersionCheckingActivity.isAllTransactionsUploaded());
if(isMobiEligibleForAutoSync){
_doSynch();
}
} catch (UDBAccessException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} */
myTimer = new Timer();
myTimer.schedule(new TimerTask() {
#Override
public void run() {
ULoginActivity.this.runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
// here we are checking again for eligibility for auto synch
boolean isMobiEligibleForAutoSync = false;
try {
isMobiEligibleForAutoSync = UploadDownload.isMobiEligibleForAutoSync(appInstance ,
VersionCheckingActivity.isAllTransactionsUploaded());
Log.d("inside Run : ", "before Synch");
if(isMobiEligibleForAutoSync){
_doSynch();
Log.d("inside Run : ", "after Synch");
}
} catch (UDBAccessException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});
}
}, 1000, autoSyncFreqInMiliSec); //here interval is autoSyncFreqInMiliSec
}
endAction(RESULT_LOGIN_OK, null); // it will finish the activity
} else {
// showing login error
TextView login_msg = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.login_screen_msg);
login_msg.setTextAppearance(this, R.style.error_msg);
//login_msg.setTextColor(Color.RED);
login_msg.setText("Login failed.");
}
} catch (UDBAccessException e) {
UUIHandlers.showErrorMessage(this, e.getMessage());
}catch (Exception e) {
UUIHandlers.showErrorMessage(this, e.getMessage());
}
}

To make it work when you leave the current activity, you have to run that code of snippet on the background service.
As you are executing on the current Activity it runs the code for the first time, but as you leave the activity the code wont be triggered itself unless it is registered to a background service.
Here and here you have examples on how to use them

If you want to execute something after some time, even when your activity is not currently in the foreground, you can use the AlarmManager.
Note: The Alarm Manager is intended for cases where you want to have your application code run at a specific time, even if your application is not currently running. For normal timing operations (ticks, timeouts, etc) it is easier and much more efficient to use Handler.
If you want to periodically send information to a server, I suggest you use a Service or an IntentService.
A Service is an application component representing either an application's desire to perform a longer-running operation while not interacting with the user or to supply functionality for other applications to use.
You can find a good example using a LocalService also here.

Finally got the solution .
Now from Async task( different thread), You are trying to insert data in the database which is locked by UI thread. This will throw an exception because the first write has a lock on the db.

If you hold your timer in a field of your activity (Activity subclass) it will probably go away once you launch another activity. Consider moving your timer to service (Service subclass). This will hold your timer going regardless of your activity flow.
Read this for reference about services:
https://developer.android.com/guide/components/services.html

Need help to understand memory leak in my Android app

My app runs fine until I interrupt the initialization process at the very first start after installation by exiting and launching the app several times as long as the initialization process has not yet been finished. The processing logic and the AsyncTask can handle this pretty well, so I don't get any inconsistencies, but I have a problem with the heap. It increasing more and more while I do this disturbing exits and launches at app setup, which will lead to OutOfMemory error. I already found a leak by analyzing the heap with MAT but I still have another leak which I can't isolate yet.
For background info: I store the application context, a list and a timestamp in a static class to be able to access it from classes anywhere in my application without using tedious passing references by constructor.
Anyway, there must be something wrong with this static class (ApplicationContext) since it causes a memory leak due to the list of zones. Zone objects are processed GeoJSON data. This is how this class looks like:
public class ApplicationContext extends Application {
private static Context context;
private static String timestamp;
private static List<Zone> zones = new ArrayList<Zone>();
public void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();
ApplicationContext.context = getApplicationContext();
}
public static Context getAppContext() {
return ApplicationContext.context;
}
public static List<Zone> getZones() {
return zones;
}
public static void setData(String timestamp, List<Zone> zones) {
ApplicationContext.timestamp = timestamp;
ApplicationContext.zones = zones;
}
public static String getTimestamp() {
return timestamp;
}
}
I already tried to store the zones like this
ApplicationContext.zones = new ArrayList(zones);
but it had no effect. I already tried to put the zones attribute into another static class since ApplicationContext is loaded before all other classes (due to an entry in AndroidManifest) which could lead to such behavior but this isn't the problem too.
setData is invoked in my "ProcessController" twice. Once in doUpdateFromStorage, and once in doUpdateFromUrl(String). This class looks like this:
public final class ProcessController {
private HttpClient httpClient = new HttpClient();
public final InitializationResult initializeData() {
String urlTimestamp;
try {
urlTimestamp = getTimestampDataFromUrl();
if (isModelEmpty()) {
if (storageFilesExist()) {
try {
String localTimestamp = getLocalTimestamp();
if (isStorageDataUpToDate(localTimestamp, urlTimestamp)) {
return doDataUpdateFromStorage();
}
else {
return doDataUpdateFromUrl(urlTimestamp);
}
}
catch (IOException e) {
return new InitializationResult(false, Errors.cannotReadTimestampFile());
}
}
else {
try {
createNewFiles();
return doDataUpdateFromUrl(urlTimestamp);
}
catch (IOException e) {
return new InitializationResult(false, Errors.fileCreationFailed());
}
}
}
else {
if (isApplicationContextDataUpToDate(urlTimestamp)) {
return new InitializationResult(true, "");
}
else {
return doDataUpdateFromUrl(urlTimestamp);
}
}
}
catch (IOException e1) {
return new InitializationResult(false, Errors.noTimestampConnection());
}
}
private String getTimestampDataFromUrl() throws IOException {
if (ProcessNotification.isCancelled()) {
throw new InterruptedIOException();
}
return httpClient.getDataFromUrl(FileType.TIMESTAMP);
}
private String getJsonDataFromUrl() throws IOException {
if (ProcessNotification.isCancelled()) {
throw new InterruptedIOException();
}
return httpClient.getDataFromUrl(FileType.JSONDATA);
}
private String getLocalTimestamp() throws IOException {
if (ProcessNotification.isCancelled()) {
throw new InterruptedIOException();
}
return PersistenceManager.getFileData(FileType.TIMESTAMP);
}
private List<Zone> getLocalJsonData() throws IOException, ParseException {
if (ProcessNotification.isCancelled()) {
throw new InterruptedIOException();
}
return JsonStringParser.parse(PersistenceManager.getFileData(FileType.JSONDATA));
}
private InitializationResult doDataUpdateFromStorage() throws InterruptedIOException {
if (ProcessNotification.isCancelled()) {
throw new InterruptedIOException();
}
try {
ApplicationContext.setData(getLocalTimestamp(), getLocalJsonData());
return new InitializationResult(true, "");
}
catch (IOException e) {
return new InitializationResult(false, Errors.cannotReadJsonFile());
}
catch (ParseException e) {
return new InitializationResult(false, Errors.parseError());
}
}
private InitializationResult doDataUpdateFromUrl(String urlTimestamp) throws InterruptedIOException {
if (ProcessNotification.isCancelled()) {
throw new InterruptedIOException();
}
String jsonData;
List<Zone> zones;
try {
jsonData = getJsonDataFromUrl();
zones = JsonStringParser.parse(jsonData);
try {
PersistenceManager.persist(jsonData, FileType.JSONDATA);
PersistenceManager.persist(urlTimestamp, FileType.TIMESTAMP);
ApplicationContext.setData(urlTimestamp, zones);
return new InitializationResult(true, "");
}
catch (IOException e) {
return new InitializationResult(false, Errors.filePersistError());
}
}
catch (IOException e) {
return new InitializationResult(false, Errors.noJsonConnection());
}
catch (ParseException e) {
return new InitializationResult(false, Errors.parseError());
}
}
private boolean isModelEmpty() {
if (ApplicationContext.getZones() == null || ApplicationContext.getZones().isEmpty()) {
return true;
}
return false;
}
private boolean isApplicationContextDataUpToDate(String urlTimestamp) {
if (ApplicationContext.getTimestamp() == null) {
return false;
}
String localTimestamp = ApplicationContext.getTimestamp();
if (!localTimestamp.equals(urlTimestamp)) {
return false;
}
return true;
}
private boolean isStorageDataUpToDate(String localTimestamp, String urlTimestamp) {
if (localTimestamp.equals(urlTimestamp)) {
return true;
}
return false;
}
private boolean storageFilesExist() {
return PersistenceManager.filesExist();
}
private void createNewFiles() throws IOException {
PersistenceManager.createNewFiles();
}
}
Maybe it's another helpful information, that this ProcessController is invoked by my MainActivity's AsyncTask at the app setup:
public class InitializationTask extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, InitializationResult> {
private ProcessController processController = new ProcessController();
private ProgressDialog progressDialog;
private MainActivity mainActivity;
private final String TAG = this.getClass().getSimpleName();
public InitializationTask(MainActivity mainActivity) {
this.mainActivity = mainActivity;
}
#Override
protected void onPreExecute() {
super.onPreExecute();
ProcessNotification.setCancelled(false);
progressDialog = new ProgressDialog(mainActivity);
progressDialog.setMessage("Processing.\nPlease wait...");
progressDialog.setIndeterminate(true); //means that the "loading amount" is not measured.
progressDialog.setCancelable(true);
progressDialog.show();
};
#Override
protected InitializationResult doInBackground(Void... params) {
return processController.initializeData();
}
#Override
protected void onPostExecute(InitializationResult result) {
super.onPostExecute(result);
progressDialog.dismiss();
if (result.isValid()) {
mainActivity.finalizeSetup();
}
else {
AlertDialog.Builder dialog = new AlertDialog.Builder(mainActivity);
dialog.setTitle("Error on initialization");
dialog.setMessage(result.getReason());
dialog.setPositiveButton("Ok",
new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
#Override
public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) {
dialog.cancel();
mainActivity.finish();
}
});
dialog.show();
}
processController = null;
}
#Override
protected void onCancelled() {
super.onCancelled();
Log.i(TAG, "onCancelled executed");
Log.i(TAG, "set CancelNotification status to cancelled.");
ProcessNotification.setCancelled(true);
progressDialog.dismiss();
try {
Log.i(TAG, "clearing files");
PersistenceManager.clearFiles();
Log.i(TAG, "files cleared");
}
catch (IOException e) {
Log.e(TAG, "not able to clear files.");
}
processController = null;
mainActivity.finish();
}
}
Here is the body of the JSONParser. (UPDATE: I set the method none static but the problem persists.) I omit the object creations from the JSON objects since I don't think that this is the error:
public class JsonStringParser {
private static String TAG = JsonStringParser.class.getSimpleName();
public static synchronized List<Zone> parse(String jsonString) throws ParseException, InterruptedIOException {
JSONParser jsonParser = new JSONParser();
Log.i(TAG, "start parsing JSON String with length " + ((jsonString != null) ? jsonString.length() : "null"));
List<Zone> zones = new ArrayList<Zone>();
//does a lot of JSON parsing here
Log.i(TAG, "finished parsing JSON String");
jsonParser = null;
return zones;
}
}
Here is the heap dump which shows the problem:
This is the details list which shows that this problem has something to do with the arraylist.
Any ideas what's wrong here? Btw: I don't know what's the other leak since there is no details information.
Maybe important: This diagram show the status when I don't start and stop the application over and over again. It's a diagram of a clean start. But when I start and stop several times it could lead to problems due to lack of space.
Here is a diagram of a real crash. I started and stopped the app while initialization several times:
[UPDATE]
I narrowed it down a bit by not storing the Android context into my ApplicationContext class and making PersistenceManager non-static. The problem hasn't changed, so I'm absolutely sure that it is not related to the fact that I store the Android context globally. It's still "Problem Suspect 1" of the graph above. So I have to do something with this huge list, but what? I already tried to serialize it, but unseralizing this list takes much longer than 20secs, so this is not an option.
Now I tried something different. I kicked out the whole ApplicationContext so I don't have any static references anymore. I tried to hold the ArrayList of Zone objects in MainActivity. Although I refactored at least the parts I need to make the application run, so I didn't even pass the Array or the Activity to all classes where I need it, I still have the same problem in a different manner, so my guess is that the Zone objects itself are somehow the problem. Or I cannot read the heap dump properly. See the new graphs below. This is the result of a simple app start without interference.
[UPDATE]
I came to the conclusion that there is no memory leak, because "the memory is accumulated in one instance" doesn't sound like a leak. The problem is that starting and stopping over and over again starts new AsyncTasks, as seen on one graph, so the solution would be to not start new AsyncTask. I found a possible solution on SO but it doesn't work for me yet.

First of all, I have to agree with Emile:
The "..tedious passing references by constructor" is what helps avoid
issues like this. Honestly, using statics in this way is certainly one
way to create memory leaks like this, especially with a static
reference to your context.
This also applies to all those other static methods in your code. static methods are not really different from global functions. You are building a big spaghetti plate full of static methods there. Especially when they start sharing some state it will sooner or later crash or create obscure results which you wouldn't get with a proper design, especially in the presence of a highly multi-threadable platform as Android.
What also catched my eye is, please note that the onCancelled method of the AsyncTask will not be called before doInBackground has finished. So your global cancelation flag (ProcessNotification.isCancelled()) is more or less worthless (if only used in the shown code passages).
Also from the memory images you posted, the zones list contains "only" 31 items. How much is it supposed to hold? By how much does it increase? If it actually increases, the culprint might be in the JsonStringParser.parse method, which is again static. If it holds a list of items in some cache and the control logic is not working correctly (for example in the presence of multiple threads accessing it at the same time), it might add items to that cache each time it is called.
Guess 1: As the parsing method is static, this data is not (necessarily) cleaned when the application is shut down. statics are initialized once and for the purpose of this case never de-initialized until the (physical vm-)process is stopped. Android does not guarantee that the process is killed however, even if the application is stopped (see for example a wonderful explanation here). Therefore you might accumulate some data in some static part of your (maybe parsing) code.
Guess 2: Since you are re-starting your application several times, you have the background thread running several times in parallel (assumption: each time you restart the application a new thread is spawned. Note that your code shows no guards against this.) This the first parsing is still running, another one is started since the global zones variables still holds no values. The global function parse might not be thread-safe and put several data multiple times into the list which is eventually returned, yielding a bigger and bigger list. Again this is generally avoided by not having static methods (and be aware of multi-threading).
(The code is not complete, therefore guesses, there might even be other things lurking there.)

Inside your AsyncTask, you own a reference on a Context : MainActivity. When you start several AsyncTask, they are gonna be queued by an ExecutorService. So all the AsyncTask, if they are long running, will be "alive" (not garbage collected). And each of them will keep a reference on an Activity. Consequently, all you activities are gonna be kept alive as well.
This is a real memory leak as Android will want to garbage collect an Activity that is not displayed any more. And your AsyncTasks will prevent that. All the activities are kept in memory.
I encourage you to try RoboSpice Motivations to learn more about this problem. In this app we explain why you should not use AsyncTasks for long running operations. There are still a few work around that enable you to use them, but they are difficult to implement.
One way to get rid of this problem is to use WeakReference to point to your Activities inside your AsyncTask class. If you use them carefully, you can then avoid your activities not to be garbage collected.
Actually, RoboSpice is a library that allows to execute Network requests inside a service. This approach is quite interesting has it will create a context (a service) that is not linked to your activities. Thus, your request can take as long as they want and don't interfere with the garbage collection behavior of Android.
There are two modules of RoboSpice that you can use to deal with REST request. One for Spring Android and the other one for Google Http Java Client. Both libs will ease JSON parsing.

I assume you fixed the reference to MainActivity, but I'd like to mention another problem ...
You state that the parsing takes 20sec. And if you "interrupt" the app, this processing does not go away.
From the code you show here it seems 99% of that 20sec is spent inside JsonStringParser.parse().
If I look at your comment "does a lot of JSON parsing here", I assume your app makes a call into JSONParser.something() that stays away for 20sec. Even though JsonStringParser is static, each call to JsonStringParser.parse() creates a new copy of JSONParser() and my guess is that uses a lot of memory.
A background process that takes 20sec is a really big task, and in what I have seen with JSON parsers, in this time a lot of objects get created and destroyed and a lot of cycles get consumed.
So I think your root cause here is that you start a second (or third or fourth) copy of JSONParser.something(), because each of them will execute independently and try to allocate many chunks of memory, and stay running even longer than 20sec because they will have to share the CPU cycles. The combined memory allocation of multiple JSONParser objects is what kills your system.
To summarize:
Do not start another JsonStringParser.parse() until the first one
is killed or completed.
This means you must find a way to stop JsonStringParser.parse()
when you "interrupt" the app, or reuse the running copy when you
restart the app.

THink i see how it might be possible, my eyes have gone crossed eyed looking though.
Check that your not loading the data from your local storage, adding more data to it and then saving it back to local disk.
Something around the following methods in combination with other parts of your program.
If the following was called, and then you call getDatafromURL for some reason, then i believe you'd continually grow your data set.
That would be my starting point at least. Loading, appending and saving.
ApplicationContext.setData(getLocalTimestamp(), getLocalJsonData());
private List<Zone> getLocalJsonData() throws IOException, ParseException {
if (ProcessNotification.isCancelled()) {
throw new InterruptedIOException();
}
return JsonStringParser.parse(PersistenceManager.getFileData(FileType.JSONDATA));
}
Otherwise i think the problem lies in either your Parsing code, or perhaps one of the static classes your using to save the data.

MY FINAL SOLUTION
I found a solution on my own now. It runs stable and doesn't produce memory leaks when I start and stop the application a lot of times. Another advantage with this solution is that I was able to kick out all this ProcessNotification.isCancelled() parts.
The key is to hold a reference to my InitializationTask in my ApplicationContext. With this approach I can resume the running AsyncTask in a new MainActivity when I start a new one. This means that I never start more than one AsyncTask but I attach every new MainActivity instance to the currently running task. The old Activity will be detached. This looks like this:
new methods in ApplicationContext:
public static void register(InitializationTask initializationTask) {
ApplicationContext.initializationTask = initializationTask;
}
public static void unregisterInitializationTask() {
initializationTask = null;
}
public static InitializationTask getInitializationTask() {
return initializationTask;
}
MainActivity
(I have to put the progressDialog in here, otherwise it wouldn't be shown if I stop and start a new Activity):
#Override
protected void onStart() {
super.onStart();
progressDialog = new ProgressDialog(this);
progressDialog.setMessage("Processing.\nPlease wait...");
progressDialog.setIndeterminate(true); // means that the "loading amount" is not measured.
progressDialog.setCancelable(true);
progressDialog.show();
if (ApplicationContext.getInitializationTask() == null) {
initializationTask = new InitializationTask();
initializationTask.attach(this);
ApplicationContext.register(initializationTask);
initializationTask.execute((Void[]) null);
}
else {
initializationTask = ApplicationContext.getInitializationTask();
initializationTask.attach(this);
}
}
MainActivity's "onPause" contains initializationTask.detach(); and progressDialog.dismiss();. finalizeSetup(); dismisses the dialog too.
InitializationTask contains two more methods:
public void attach(MainActivity mainActivity) {
this.mainActivity = mainActivity;
}
public void detach() {
mainActivity = null;
}
onPostExecute of the task invokes ApplicationContext.unregisterInitializationTask();.

Synchronized blocking in multi-threaded app

Below you see some code that works fine - but only once. It is suppsed to block until the runOnUIThread is finished. And it does, when it runs the first time it is called. But when called the second time, it runs through to the end, then the runOnUIThread starts running. It could be, that after the methos was run the first time, the thread that caled it still has the lock, and when it calls the method the second time, it runs through. Is this right? And what can I do to fix that? Or is it a timing problem, the second time the caller gets the lock first?
static Integer syn = 0;
#Override
public String getTanFromUser(long accid, String prompt) {
// make parameters final
final long accid_int = accid;
final String prompt_int = prompt;
Runnable tanDialog = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
synchronized(syn) {
tanInputData = getTANWithExecutionStop(TransferFormActivity.this);
syn.notify() ;
}
}
};
synchronized(syn) {
runOnUiThread(tanDialog);
try {syn.wait();}
catch (InterruptedException e) {}
}
return tanInputData;
}
Background: The thread that calls this method is an asynctask inside a bound service that is doing transactions with a bank in the background. At unregular intervalls the bank send requests for user verification (captche, controll questions, requests for pin, etc.) and the service must display some dialogs vis a weak-referenced callback to the activities in the foreground. Since the service is doing several nested while-loops, it is easier to show the dialogs synchroniously than stopping an restarting the service (savind/restoring the state data would be too complex).

You could try if using a Callable inside a FutureTask instead of a Runnable works better. That combination is as far as I understand meant to provide return values from threads.
public String getTanFromUser(long accid, String prompt) {
// make parameters final
final long accid_int = accid;
final String prompt_int = prompt;
Callable<String> tanDialog = new Callable<String>() {
public String call() throws Exception {
return getTANWithExecutionStop(TransferFormActivity.this);
}
};
FutureTask<String> task = new FutureTask<String>(tanDialog);
runOnUiThread(task);
String result = null;
try {
result = task.get();
}
catch (InterruptedException e) { /* whatever */ }
catch (ExecutionException e) { /* whatever */ }
return result;
}
A Callable is like a Runnable but has a return value.
A FutureTask does the synchronization and waits for the result. Similar to your wait() / notify(). FutureTask also implements Runnable so it can be used for runOnUiThread.

Restful API service

I'm looking to make a service which I can use to make calls to a web-based REST API.
Basically I want to start a service on app init then I want to be able to ask that service to request a url and return the results. In the meantime I want to be able to display a progress window or something similar.
I've created a service currently which uses IDL, I've read somewhere that you only really need this for cross app communication, so think these needs stripping out but unsure how to do callbacks without it. Also when I hit the post(Config.getURL("login"), values) the app seems to pause for a while (seems weird - thought the idea behind a service was that it runs on a different thread!)
Currently I have a service with post and get http methods inside, a couple of AIDL files (for two way communication), a ServiceManager which deals with starting, stopping, binding etc to the service and I'm dynamically creating a Handler with specific code for the callbacks as needed.
I don't want anyone to give me a complete code base to work on, but some pointers would be greatly appreciated.
Code in (mostly) full:
public class RestfulAPIService extends Service {
final RemoteCallbackList<IRemoteServiceCallback> mCallbacks = new RemoteCallbackList<IRemoteServiceCallback>();
public void onStart(Intent intent, int startId) {
super.onStart(intent, startId);
}
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
return binder;
}
public void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();
}
public void onDestroy() {
super.onDestroy();
mCallbacks.kill();
}
private final IRestfulService.Stub binder = new IRestfulService.Stub() {
public void doLogin(String username, String password) {
Message msg = new Message();
Bundle data = new Bundle();
HashMap<String, String> values = new HashMap<String, String>();
values.put("username", username);
values.put("password", password);
String result = post(Config.getURL("login"), values);
data.putString("response", result);
msg.setData(data);
msg.what = Config.ACTION_LOGIN;
mHandler.sendMessage(msg);
}
public void registerCallback(IRemoteServiceCallback cb) {
if (cb != null)
mCallbacks.register(cb);
}
};
private final Handler mHandler = new Handler() {
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
// Broadcast to all clients the new value.
final int N = mCallbacks.beginBroadcast();
for (int i = 0; i < N; i++) {
try {
switch (msg.what) {
case Config.ACTION_LOGIN:
mCallbacks.getBroadcastItem(i).userLogIn( msg.getData().getString("response"));
break;
default:
super.handleMessage(msg);
return;
}
} catch (RemoteException e) {
}
}
mCallbacks.finishBroadcast();
}
public String post(String url, HashMap<String, String> namePairs) {...}
public String get(String url) {...}
};
A couple of AIDL files:
package com.something.android
oneway interface IRemoteServiceCallback {
void userLogIn(String result);
}
and
package com.something.android
import com.something.android.IRemoteServiceCallback;
interface IRestfulService {
void doLogin(in String username, in String password);
void registerCallback(IRemoteServiceCallback cb);
}
and the service manager:
public class ServiceManager {
final RemoteCallbackList<IRemoteServiceCallback> mCallbacks = new RemoteCallbackList<IRemoteServiceCallback>();
public IRestfulService restfulService;
private RestfulServiceConnection conn;
private boolean started = false;
private Context context;
public ServiceManager(Context context) {
this.context = context;
}
public void startService() {
if (started) {
Toast.makeText(context, "Service already started", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
} else {
Intent i = new Intent();
i.setClassName("com.something.android", "com.something.android.RestfulAPIService");
context.startService(i);
started = true;
}
}
public void stopService() {
if (!started) {
Toast.makeText(context, "Service not yet started", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
} else {
Intent i = new Intent();
i.setClassName("com.something.android", "com.something.android.RestfulAPIService");
context.stopService(i);
started = false;
}
}
public void bindService() {
if (conn == null) {
conn = new RestfulServiceConnection();
Intent i = new Intent();
i.setClassName("com.something.android", "com.something.android.RestfulAPIService");
context.bindService(i, conn, Context.BIND_AUTO_CREATE);
} else {
Toast.makeText(context, "Cannot bind - service already bound", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
}
protected void destroy() {
releaseService();
}
private void releaseService() {
if (conn != null) {
context.unbindService(conn);
conn = null;
Log.d(LOG_TAG, "unbindService()");
} else {
Toast.makeText(context, "Cannot unbind - service not bound", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
}
class RestfulServiceConnection implements ServiceConnection {
public void onServiceConnected(ComponentName className, IBinder boundService) {
restfulService = IRestfulService.Stub.asInterface((IBinder) boundService);
try {
restfulService.registerCallback(mCallback);
} catch (RemoteException e) {}
}
public void onServiceDisconnected(ComponentName className) {
restfulService = null;
}
};
private IRemoteServiceCallback mCallback = new IRemoteServiceCallback.Stub() {
public void userLogIn(String result) throws RemoteException {
mHandler.sendMessage(mHandler.obtainMessage(Config.ACTION_LOGIN, result));
}
};
private Handler mHandler;
public void setHandler(Handler handler) {
mHandler = handler;
}
}
Service init and bind:
// this I'm calling on app onCreate
servicemanager = new ServiceManager(this);
servicemanager.startService();
servicemanager.bindService();
application = (ApplicationState)this.getApplication();
application.setServiceManager(servicemanager);
service function call:
// this lot i'm calling as required - in this example for login
progressDialog = new ProgressDialog(Login.this);
progressDialog.setMessage("Logging you in...");
progressDialog.show();
application = (ApplicationState) getApplication();
servicemanager = application.getServiceManager();
servicemanager.setHandler(mHandler);
try {
servicemanager.restfulService.doLogin(args[0], args[1]);
} catch (RemoteException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
...later in the same file...
Handler mHandler = new Handler() {
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
switch (msg.what) {
case Config.ACTION_LOGIN:
if (progressDialog.isShowing()) {
progressDialog.dismiss();
}
try {
...process login results...
}
} catch (JSONException e) {
Log.e("JSON", "There was an error parsing the JSON", e);
}
break;
default:
super.handleMessage(msg);
}
}
};

If your service is going to be part of you application then you are making it way more complex than it needs to be. Since you have a simple use case of getting some data from a RESTful Web Service, you should look into ResultReceiver and IntentService.
This Service + ResultReceiver pattern works by starting or binding to the service with startService() when you want to do some action. You can specify the operation to perform and pass in your ResultReceiver (the activity) through the extras in the Intent.
In the service you implement onHandleIntent to do the operation that is specified in the Intent. When the operation is completed you use the passed in ResultReceiver to send a message back to the Activity at which point onReceiveResult will be called.
So for example, you want to pull some data from your Web Service.
You create the intent and call startService.
The operation in the service starts and it sends the activity a message saying it started
The activity processes the message and shows a progress.
The service finishes the operation and sends some data back to your activity.
Your activity processes the data and puts in in a list view
The service sends you a message saying that it is done, and it kills itself.
The activity gets the finish message and hides the progress dialog.
I know you mentioned you didn't want a code base but the open source Google I/O 2010 app uses a service in this way I am describing.
Updated to add sample code:
The activity.
public class HomeActivity extends Activity implements MyResultReceiver.Receiver {
public MyResultReceiver mReceiver;
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
mReceiver = new MyResultReceiver(new Handler());
mReceiver.setReceiver(this);
...
final Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SYNC, null, this, QueryService.class);
intent.putExtra("receiver", mReceiver);
intent.putExtra("command", "query");
startService(intent);
}
public void onPause() {
mReceiver.setReceiver(null); // clear receiver so no leaks.
}
public void onReceiveResult(int resultCode, Bundle resultData) {
switch (resultCode) {
case RUNNING:
//show progress
break;
case FINISHED:
List results = resultData.getParcelableList("results");
// do something interesting
// hide progress
break;
case ERROR:
// handle the error;
break;
}
}
The Service:
public class QueryService extends IntentService {
protected void onHandleIntent(Intent intent) {
final ResultReceiver receiver = intent.getParcelableExtra("receiver");
String command = intent.getStringExtra("command");
Bundle b = new Bundle();
if(command.equals("query") {
receiver.send(STATUS_RUNNING, Bundle.EMPTY);
try {
// get some data or something
b.putParcelableArrayList("results", results);
receiver.send(STATUS_FINISHED, b)
} catch(Exception e) {
b.putString(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, e.toString());
receiver.send(STATUS_ERROR, b);
}
}
}
}
ResultReceiver extension - edited about to implement MyResultReceiver.Receiver
public class MyResultReceiver implements ResultReceiver {
private Receiver mReceiver;
public MyResultReceiver(Handler handler) {
super(handler);
}
public void setReceiver(Receiver receiver) {
mReceiver = receiver;
}
public interface Receiver {
public void onReceiveResult(int resultCode, Bundle resultData);
}
#Override
protected void onReceiveResult(int resultCode, Bundle resultData) {
if (mReceiver != null) {
mReceiver.onReceiveResult(resultCode, resultData);
}
}
}

Developing Android REST client applications has been an awesome resource for me. The speaker does not show any code, he just goes over design considerations and techniques in putting together a rock solid Rest Api in android. If your a podcast kinda person or not, I'd recommend giving this one at least one listen but, personally I've listened to it like 4 or five times thus far and I'm probably going to listen to it again.
Developing Android REST client applications
Author: Virgil Dobjanschi
Description:
This session will present architectural considerations for developing RESTful applications on the Android platform. It focuses on design patterns, platform integration and performance issues specific to the Android platform.
And there are so many considerations I really hadn't made in the first version of my api that I've had to refactor

Also when I hit
the post(Config.getURL("login"),
values) the app seems to pause for a
while (seems weird - thought the idea
behind a service was that it runs on a
different thread!)
No you have to create a thread yourself, a Local service runs in the UI thread by default.

I know #Martyn does not want full code, but I think this annotation its good for this question:
10 Open Source Android Apps which every Android developer must look into
Foursquared for Android is open-source, and have an interesting code pattern interacting with the foursquare REST API.

I would highly recommend the REST client Retrofit.
I have found this well written blog post extremely helpful, it also contains simple example code.
The author uses Retrofit to make the network calls and Otto to implement a data bus pattern:
http://www.mdswanson.com/blog/2014/04/07/durable-android-rest-clients.html

Just wanted to point you all in the direction of an standalone class I rolled that incorporates all of the functionality.
http://github.com/StlTenny/RestService
It executes the request as non-blocking, and returns the results in an easy to implement handler. Even comes with an example implementation.

Lets say I want to start the service on an event - onItemClicked() of a button. The Receiver mechanism would not work in that case because :-
a) I passed the Receiver to the service (as in Intent extra) from onItemClicked()
b) Activity moves to the background. In onPause() I set the receiver reference within the ResultReceiver to null to avoid leaking the Activity.
c) Activity gets destroyed.
d) Activity gets created again. However at this point the Service will not be able to make a callback to the Activity as that receiver reference is lost.
The mechanism of a limited broadcast or a PendingIntent seems to be more usefull in such scenarios- refer to Notify activity from service

Note that the solution from Robby Pond is somehow lacking: in this way you only allow todo one api call at a time since the IntentService only handles one intent at a time. Often you want to perform parallel api calls. If you want todo this you have to extend Service instead of IntentService and create your own thread.

Also when I hit the post(Config.getURL("login"), values) the app seems to pause for a while (seems weird - thought the idea behind a service was that it runs on a different thread!)
In this case its better to use asynctask, which runs on a different thread and return result back to the ui thread on completion.

Robby provides a great answer, though I can see you still looking for more information. I implemented REST api calls the easy BUT wrong way. It wasn't until watching this Google I/O video that I understood where I went wrong. It's not as simple as putting together an AsyncTask with a HttpUrlConnection get/put call.

There is another approach here which basically helps you to forget about the whole management of the requests. It is based on an async queue method and a callable/callback based response.
The main advantage is that by using this method you'll be able to make the whole process (request, get and parse response, sabe to db) completely transparent for you. Once you get the response code the work is already done. After that you just need to make a call to your db and you are done.
It helps as well with the problematic of what happens when your activity is not active.
What will happen here is that you'll have all your data saved in your local database but the response won't be processed by your activity, that's the ideal way.