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Async Worker Crashes App

I have written the following code within the main class for an async worker
private class Renderer extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, Void>{
#Override
protected Void doInBackground(Void... params) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "works... ", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
return null;
}
protected void onProgressUpdate(Integer... progress) {
}
protected void onPostExecute(Long result) {
}
}
But calling this crashes the app
public void render(View v)
{
new Renderer().execute();
}
Can some one tell me what's going wrong?

You can't do a Toast in doInBackground, you will get Can't create handler inside thread that has not called Looper.prepare().
If it's just for testing at this stage (which your code seems to imply), consider instead just writing some log output for now.
Alternatively put your Toast either onPreExecute or onPostExecute
More info: How to raise a toast in AsyncTask, I am prompted to used the Looper

You are showing toast in doInbackground which is not possible. Do it in onPostExecute
protected void onPostExecute(Long result) {
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "works... ", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
doInbackground is invoked on the background thread. You should update ui on the ui thread. You can alos display toast in onProgressUpdate.
More info at
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/AsyncTask.html
Check the topic under the section The 4 steps.

You can't access UI thread from background thread.

An AsyncTask is a helper around Threads and Handlers. It helps you to perform a background task and update the UI regularly.
Thus, the methods of AsyncTask run on different Threads:
doInBackground runs in a background Thread
onProgressUpdate and onPostExecute run on the UI Thread.
Now, you can only modify the UI in the UI Thread (=main Thread). This is why your code leads to a crash. Simply moving your Toast into onPostExecute will solve your problem.

runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "works... ", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}
});`
Try to do all ui work on main thread.

What is the proper use of threads in Android?

I have a Main activity with a few methods.
GetTopics: calls REST API and returns JSON results
BindTopics: displays the results from GetTopics on the screen
There are a few others with similar functionality, but I'm sure I can fit the solution to these across all methods.
Question: What is the proper way to run these in separate threads? Should both of them be in the same thread? Should I call BindTopics once GetTopics is complete?
Either way, doesn't the UI get built prior to the async threads are completed? If so, how do I update the UI?
Any help is appreciated.

The answer to all your questions is AsyncTask

I would load it in a progress dialog with an AsyncTask. You will need to declare the handler to update controls in the UI thread.
Example:
private Handler handler = new Handler();
final ProgressDialog pd = new ProgressDialog(this);
pd.setTitle("Getting topics..");
pd.setMessage("Please while topics are retrieved");
pd.setProgressStyle(ProgressDialog.STYLE_SPINNER);
pd.setIndeterminate(true);
new AsyncTask<Void, Void, Void>() {
#Override
protected Void doInBackground(Void... params) {
GetTopics();
return null;
}
#Override
protected void onPreExecute() {
pd.show();
super.onPreExecute();
}
#Override
protected void onPostExecute(Void result) {
BindTopics();
pd.dismiss();
handler.post(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
// update UI
// remove loading view
// load details of topics
}
});
super.onPostExecute(result);
}
}.execute();

You want to create your UI (with some sort of loading screen), then start an AsyncTask to download the data and display it.
There is a basic blog post about AsyncTasks here: http://android-developers.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/painless-threading.html
In the AsyncTasks doInBackground method you would call GetTopics. Then in the onPostExecute method you would call BindTopics and display the data. In the onPostExecute method you can check to see if the data downloaded properly before attempting to display it.

The main use of threads for me were when my app had to download large amount of data from ftp server. But while downloading I wanted that the user still can use my app. If I had written the download code in main thread, the user could not use the app and all buttons would not work. The main idea of thread is to divide time of CPU usage for each thread.
If you wish more then one task to be preformed simultaneously you have to use Threads.

ProgressDialog not shown when AsyncTask.get() called [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Closed 11 years ago.
Possible Duplicate:
AsyncTask block UI threat and show progressbar with delay
I want to show a progressDialog while retrieving JSON from any server. So I had used AsyncTask as a solution (not sure any different way out).
Everything is fine, the ProgressDialog works properly until I call .get() method using AsyncTask instance. I suppose it's blocking UI somehow. Here is my AsyncTask:
public class myAsync extends AsyncTask<String, String, List> {
String message; // for dialog message
ProgressDialog progress;
Intent myIntent;
Context ctx;
public myAsync(String message, Context ctx) {
this.message = message;
this.ctx = ctx;
progress = new ProgressDialog(ctx);
}
#Override
protected void onPreExecute() {
progress.setMessage(message);
progress.setIndeterminate(true);
progress.setCancelable(false);
progress.show();
}
#Override
protected List doInBackground(String... params) {
//returns any list after the task
return anyList;
}
#Override
protected void onPostExecute(List result) {
if(progress.isShowing())
progress.dismiss();
}
}
And here is myActivity which is calls AsyncTask:
myAsync asyncTask = new myAsync("Loading...", this);
asyncTask.execute("Any string", "Other string");
asyncTask.get(); // If I comment out this line, ProgressDialog works
After execute, when I tried to log the result from doInBackground and onPostExecute both there is no problem. But if I want to get with .get() the result ProgressDialog is not shown or shown so little time (maybe 0.2 seconds)
What's the problem?

Yes, get() waits if necessary for the computation to complete, and then retrieves its result. This means, that you are blocking your UI thread, waiting for the result.
Solution: Don't call get
Usually, you will call a function (callback) in the postExecute.

Calling .get() changes your AsyncTask into an effective "SyncTask" as it causes the current thread (which would be the UI thread) to wait until the AsyncTask has finished its processing. Since you are now blocking the UI thread the call to the ProgressDialog's .show() method never gets a chance to allow the dialog to draw itself the screen.
Removing the call will allow it to run properly in the background.
If you need to do processing after the task has completed I suggest you either put it inside the onPostExecute method itself or use a callback to the Activity from onPostExecute.

If I understand your question correctly, you need to update the progress of your AsyncTask in a ProgressDialog and this isn't currently working. So a couple of things to note: I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve with .get() but I'll assume you want to display the progress.
I've modified your program below to update the UI thread with your AsyncTask's progress. Everytime you need to update the progress, update that prog variable in the doInBackground method.
public class myAsync extends AsyncTask<String, Integer, List> {
String message; // for dialog message
ProgressDialog progress;
Intent myIntent;
Context ctx;
public myAsync(String message, Context ctx) {
this.message = message;
this.ctx = ctx;
progress = new ProgressDialog(ctx);
}
#Override
protected void onPreExecute() {
// Runs on the UI thread
progress.setMessage(message);
progress.setIndeterminate(true);
progress.setCancelable(false);
progress.show();
}
#Override
protected List doInBackground(String... params) {
// Runs in the background thread
// publish your progress here!!
int prog = 5; // This number will represent your "progress"
publishProgress(prog);
return anyList;
}
protected void onProgressUpdate(Integer... progress) {
// Runs in the UI thread
// This method will fire (on the UI thread) EVERYTIME publishProgress
// is called.
Log.d(TAG, "Progress is: " +progress);
}
#Override
protected void onPostExecute(List result) {
// Runs in the UI thread
for (int i=0; i<result.size(); i++) {
Log.d(TAG, "List item: " + result.get(i));
}
if(progress.isShowing())
progress.dismiss();
}
}

Try using runOnUiThread like this:
runOnUiThread(new Runnable(){
public void run() {
dialog.show();
}});
Running something on a AsyncTask means that its running away from the UIthread so usually you cant run ui operations from inside Async methods without handlers and stuff which I usually stay away from. I also handle such a solution by creating a progressDialog as a variable in my class above my oncreate so its visible to the whole class. I then call the progressdialog right before my asynctask and then since its visible to the whole class I call .dissmiss() in the onPostExecute

Progress Dialog on open activity

I have a problem with progress dialog on opening an activity (called activity 2 in example).
The activity 2 has a lot of code to execute in this OnCreate event.
final ProgressDialog myProgressDialog = ProgressDialog.show(MyApp.this,getString(R.string.lstAppWait), getString(R.string.lstAppLoading), true);
new Thread() {
public void run() {
runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
showApps();
}
});
myProgressDialog.dismiss();
}
}.start();
The showApps function launch activity 2.
If I execute this code on my button click event on activity 1, I see the progress, but she doesn't move and afeter I have a black screen during 2 or 3 seconds the time for android to show the activity.
If I execute this code in the OnCreate of Activity2 and if I replace the showApps by the code on OnCreate, Activity1 freeze 2 seconds, I don't see the progress dialog, and freeze again 2 seconds on activity 2 before seeing the result.

I had the same issue and using an AsyncTask is working for me.
There are 3 important methods to override in AsyncTask.
doInBackground : this is where the meat of your background
processing will occur.
onPreExecute : show your ProgressDialog here ( showDialog )
onPostExecute : hide your ProgressDialog here ( removeDialog or dismissDialog
)
If you make your AsyncTask subclass as an inner class of your activity, then you can call the framework methods showDialog, dismissDialog, and removeDialog from within your AsyncActivity.
Here's a sample implementation of AsyncTask:
class LoginProgressTask extends AsyncTask<String, Integer, Boolean> {
#Override
protected Boolean doInBackground(String... params) {
try {
Thread.sleep(4000); // Do your real work here
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return Boolean.TRUE; // Return your real result here
}
#Override
protected void onPreExecute() {
showDialog(AUTHORIZING_DIALOG);
}
#Override
protected void onPostExecute(Boolean result) {
// result is the value returned from doInBackground
removeDialog(AUTHORIZING_DIALOG);
Intent i = new Intent(HelloAndroid.this, LandingActivity.class);
startActivity(i);
}
}

AFAIK you cannot preload any activity with progress dialog displayed. Are you testing on a real device or in emulator?
I've seen workarounds that opened an activity with a ViewFlipper having a progress animation in the center, and in the next View, it was loaded an activity, but it's not something is recommended and hard to implement to work as you wish.

GeeXor
I would suggest you to avoid performing lots of operations in Activity 2's OnCreate.Writing lots of operations in OnCreate is a reason for the black screen between activities.So perform those operations asynchronously using AsyncTask or in a Thread (or write them in onStart if they are unavoidable).
The other suggestion is to start another progressDialog in activity 2's onCreate which will run until all of your data is loaded & user will know that something is happening in background.

this is what i would do. create a handler on the ui thread, start the background processing thread and then show the progressdialog. when the background thread has finished it's work get it to post a runnable on the ui thread via the handler to dismiss the dialog.

Android ASync task ProgressDialog isn't showing until background thread finishes

I've got an Android activity which grabs an RSS feed from a URL, and uses the SAX parser to stick each item from the XML into an array. This all works fine but, as expected, takes a bit of time, so I want to use AsyncActivity to do it in the background. My code is as follows:
class AddTask extends AsyncTask<Void, Item, Void> {
protected void onPreExecute() {
pDialog = ProgressDialog.show(MyActivity.this,"Please wait...", "Retrieving data ...", true);
}
protected Void doInBackground(Void... unused) {
items = parser.getItems();
for (Item it : items) {
publishProgress(it);
}
return(null);
}
protected void onProgressUpdate(Item... item) {
adapter.add(item[0]);
}
protected void onPostExecute(Void unused) {
pDialog.dismiss();
}
}
Which I call in onCreate() with
new AddTask().execute();
The line items = parser.getItems() works fine - items being the arraylist containing each item from the XML. The problem I'm facing is that on starting the activity, the ProgressDialog which i create in onPreExecute() isn't displayed until after the doInBackground() method has finished. i.e. I get a black screen, a long pause, then a completely populated list with the items in. Why is this happening? Why isn't the UI drawing, the ProgressDialog showing, the parser getting the items and incrementally adding them to the list, then the ProgressDialog dismissing?

I suspect something is blocking your UI thread after you execute the task. For example, I have seen folks do things like this:
MyTask myTask = new MyTask();
TaskParams params = new TaskParams();
myTask.execute(params);
myTask.get(5000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
The get invocation here is going to block the UI thread (which presumably is spinning off the task here...) which will prevent any UI related stuff in your task's onPreExecute() method until the task actually completes. Whoops! Hope this helps.

This works for me
#Override
protected void onPreExecute() {
dialog = new ProgressDialog(viewContacts.this);
dialog.setMessage(getString(R.string.please_wait_while_loading));
dialog.setIndeterminate(true);
dialog.setCancelable(false);
dialog.show();
}

It is because you used AsyncTask.get() that blocks the UI thread "Waits if necessary for the computation to complete, and then retrieves its result.".
The right way to do it is to pass Activity instance to your AsyncTask by constructor, and finish whatever you want to do in AsyncTask.onPostExecution().

If you subclass the AsyncTask in your actual Activity, you can use the onPostExecute method to assign the result of the background work to a member of your calling class.
The result is passed as a parameter in this method, if specified as the third generic type.
This way, your UI Thread won't be blocked as mentioned above. You have to take care of any subsequent usage of the result outside the subclass though, as the background thread could still be running and your member wouldn't have the new value.