Handling static variables in Application class in android - java

I have an application with 100+ static variables and methods in its Application class will it affect the performance of the app? if so how to handle it?

As I see, your only question is if using static methods and variables inside your application class is wrong or not. As far as I know, it will not affect your application performance or anything else, but putting them inside application class is a wrong design. It's like you put all your code inside one single method and it will not be good.
So, I suggest you to put your static methods inside a Helper class and since they don't need to be instantiated, they need to be static, not a singleton. Also for your variables, for example for your Strings, I suggest to create another class and put them into it so your application maintenance be possible.

Related

Android - Static class method calls to server

Background -
I have an app that currently has a lot of methods in MainActivity to pull and upload data to firebase. It's quite a mess with the other app logic in there..
Problem -
I would like a separate class filled with server (firebase) access methods that can be called from any activity or fragment and run asynchronously. The class also needs access to context and be able to initialise and store variables.
PS. I'm using kotlin if that helps at all
Edit:
Have done more researching to find terms like "utility" and "static" classes which seems like an accurate way to go... If I create a static utility class with Async methods, will that achieve what I'm after? Also, can you initialise and hold variables in a static class?
Thanks :)
Solved
After more research and testing, I created an object that holds my methods and variables and just need to pass context into the relevant methods. Then just simply call objectname.methodname()

How to correctly implement communication between Java classes

I'm a beginner in Java programming and I'm currently working on an app with more complex class structure and a GUI. This might be a stupid questions, but it is very hard to google, so I'm asking here.
I have a main class, looking like this:
package app;
public class App {
private FirstClass fc;
private SecondClass sc;
public App () {
fc = new FirstClass ();
sc = new SecondClass ();
// ... code continues ...
}
}
Say the SecondClass is defined outside of this .java file (like GUI forms are). Is there a way for me to access the "fc" instance (or other member variables of the App instance) from the "sc" instance (without passing the "this" pointer)? Something like:
class SecondClass {
public void someMethod() {
getWhoeverCreatedThisInstance().fc.getSomeData();
// ... code continues ...
}
}
And if not, what am I doing wrong? Should I design this differently? Maybe setting the "fc" as static? But what if I want more of my app's classes to communicate with each other, should I make them all static? What would be the point of having something non-static then? I could pass the "this" pointer of "App" or "fc" instance in the constructor of "SecondClass", but that solution just seems non-elegant when the number of classes that need this behavior rises.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance!
My suggestion is to implement a callback system with interfaces. Each of your classes communicating with each other should implement these.
The classes should Register to the creating class.
Then they can call a method in the creating class which invokes the interface method of each registered class and passed the data this way.
This SO answer might help
https://stackoverflow.com/a/18279545
If you want to develop GUI applications, you should really get into the basic concepts. This can be very time-consuming, but it is necessary, otherwise you will encouter strange behaviour. I will just give you a basic understanding to answer your question.
You think of simple console applications, where you usually have a single thread and passing around objects is valid. With multiple threads, this is fatal, even with static variables. Each variable or object can be modified concurrently and the other thread may not be able to 'see' the changes in time. This is a complex matter, since there are also caches and separate stacks for each thread. In short, fc may not always be synchronized in App and sc, therefore reads and writes may be inconsistent.
What to do now? Learn the concepts of GUI programming. Often you do not even have to share objects for simple things. If a GUI control triggers an action, use a Listener, look here. If you want to access a database for example, then just make a new connection object for each request or button click, whatever. This is simple to start, add complexity later.
A simple variant to share objects is to use the synchronized keyword, which ensures that a method or a field is only accessed by one thread at a time. Here is an example. Also look at thread-safe data structures provided by Java (java.util.concurrent).
For advanced purposes you would have a separate thread and you would connect them with Sockets to pass messages or data.

Java servlet and class with static initializer

I have a class which my servlet instantiates on each page request. That class has a static initializer, a static variable and the rest contains non-static public or private members, a constructor, etc.
Is this safe? I don't want the static initializer to be called but only once throughout the lifecycle of my servlet.
Using Tomcat. I understand that each time the class is loaded by a Class Loader, the static initializer will be called. Should this be a concern for me (using tomcat) based on my requirement?
There are no problems, except if you modify the static variable since it'll be shared by all the requests. You will have concurrency issues if you do any decisions based on that variable.
Static initialization happens at class loading time, so that'll only happen once.
unless you maintain state in this second class you should not be worried about number of instantiations. A static initializer would serve just fine. There is no hard way to enforce "only once throughout the lifetime" behavior.
There are easy and plenty of hacks to turn your singleton to a multiton so I wouldnt worry about it. If you are a die hard fanatic for it use Spring or Pico else just dont maintain state in the second class only do stateless conversations with your servlet and all will be well.

Multiple classes extending Application

two classes extend Application
One class I've registered in the Manifest and am using as an Application is meant to be
Second class is my utilities class. It does lots of I/O and has a few helper methods. For I/O you need context (getAssets etc), so I reluctantly extended Application.
Note:
Everything is working as it should.
My Question:
Are there any drawbacks of using multiple Application classes? Is this even advised?
A few thoughts:
Like what would happen if I had onCreate and other callback methods defined in both the classes?
How do I register them both in the manifest even?
etc
PS: I know I can just use a field to store context in the second class.
I think this is not advised at all, because there is could only be one instance on Application (thus only one class).
I am very suspicious about what is really working. You're talking about utility class, so maybe you're using static methods that are working well. But you should use your debugger, and I'm almost certain that you'll discover that one of your classes is never instantiated.
By the way, the official documentation states that :
" There is normally no need to subclass Application. In most situations, static singletons can provide the same functionality in a more modular way. If your singleton needs a global context (for example to register broadcast receivers), the function to retrieve it can be given a Context which internally uses Context.getApplicationContext() when first constructing the singleton. "

Create a class that is accessible to the whole application

In android there is a mechanism of ensuring that only one instance of a class is available to the whole application. This can be done by deriving that class from Application.
Can some thing similar be done in servlets? I want to initialize a class when the application is deployed. This class should have only one instance. So that what all the servlets can access it.
I came to know that you can store your data in the servlet context's hashmap. But I don't want to do that. I want to write my own class with its functions. How should this be done?
I think what you're after is simply a singleton.
This is best implemented by defining an enum with a single instance. (Note that enums allow you to have member functions just as classes.)
public enum YourSingleton {
INSTANCE;
// Your methods...
}
and then you access it as
YourSingleton.INSTANCE
So, create whatever class you want with its own functions or whatever you like, and put that in the ServletContext at startup. You can use a ServletContextListener to initialize and remove it. What's limiting about that?
Use singleton pattern so the first call to instance method (say YourClass.getInstance()) will create the instance and it will be reused across the application.

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