Develop Reference

android: why do we need Runnables in JobIntentService?

I am playing with JobIntentService, and the docs have this example:
#Override
protected void onHandleWork(Intent intent) {
...
toast("Executing");
...
}
#Override
public void onDestroy() {
super.onDestroy();
toast("All work complete");
}
final Handler mHandler = new Handler();
// Helper for showing tests
void toast(final CharSequence text) {
mHandler.post(new Runnable() {
#Override public void run() {
Toast.makeText(JsInvokerJobService.this, text, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
});
}
I am new to Android, and I don't understand why they wrap Toast.makeText in a Runnable and don't use it directly in the onHandleWork and onDestroy methods. The docs for Runnable don't really help. Is this specific to JobIntentService or not? What stuff should go into the onHandleWork method and what should be offloaded to a Runnable ?

I am new to Android, and I don't understand why they wrap
Toast.makeText in a Runnable
It is because JobIntentService runs on Background thread and the Toast can't be shown from it. The handler will post in the runloop queue of the ui thread your runnable and it will get executed on it

Why I am getting an exception while inserting in database using Room library? [duplicate]

What does the following exception mean; how can I fix it?
This is the code:
Toast toast = Toast.makeText(mContext, "Something", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT);
This is the exception:
java.lang.RuntimeException: Can't create handler inside thread that has not called Looper.prepare()
at android.os.Handler.<init>(Handler.java:121)
at android.widget.Toast.<init>(Toast.java:68)
at android.widget.Toast.makeText(Toast.java:231)

You need to call Toast.makeText(...) from the UI thread:
activity.runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
Toast.makeText(activity, "Hello", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
});
This is copy-pasted from another (duplicate) SO answer.

You're calling it from a worker thread. You need to call Toast.makeText() (and most other functions dealing with the UI) from within the main thread. You could use a handler, for example.
Look up Communicating with the UI Thread in the documentation. In a nutshell:
// Set this up in the UI thread.
mHandler = new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper()) {
#Override
public void handleMessage(Message message) {
// This is where you do your work in the UI thread.
// Your worker tells you in the message what to do.
}
};
void workerThread() {
// And this is how you call it from the worker thread:
Message message = mHandler.obtainMessage(command, parameter);
message.sendToTarget();
}
Other options:
You could use Activity.runOnUiThread(). Straightforward if you have an Activity:
#WorkerThread
void workerThread() {
myActivity.runOnUiThread(() -> {
// This is where your UI code goes.
}
}
You could also post to the main looper. This works great if all you have is a Context.
#WorkerThread
void workerThread() {
ContextCompat.getMainExecutor(context).execute(() -> {
// This is where your UI code goes.
}
}
Deprecated:
You could use an AsyncTask, that works well for most things running in the background. It has hooks that you can call to indicate the progress, and when it's done.
It's convenient, but can leak contexts if not used correctly. It's been officially deprecated, and you shouldn't use it anymore.

UPDATE - 2016
The best alternative is to use RxAndroid (specific bindings for RxJava) for the P in MVP to take charge fo data.
Start by returning Observable from your existing method.
private Observable<PojoObject> getObservableItems() {
return Observable.create(subscriber -> {
for (PojoObject pojoObject: pojoObjects) {
subscriber.onNext(pojoObject);
}
subscriber.onCompleted();
});
}
Use this Observable like this -
getObservableItems().
subscribeOn(Schedulers.io()).
observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread()).
subscribe(new Observer<PojoObject> () {
#Override
public void onCompleted() {
// Print Toast on completion
}
#Override
public void onError(Throwable e) {}
#Override
public void onNext(PojoObject pojoObject) {
// Show Progress
}
});
}
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I know I am a little late but here goes.
Android basically works on two thread types namely UI thread and background thread. According to android documentation -
Do not access the Android UI toolkit from outside the UI thread to fix this problem, Android offers several ways to access the UI thread from other threads. Here is a list of methods that can help:
Activity.runOnUiThread(Runnable)
View.post(Runnable)
View.postDelayed(Runnable, long)
Now there are various methods to solve this problem.
I will explain it by code sample:
runOnUiThread
new Thread()
{
public void run()
{
myactivity.this.runOnUiThread(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
//Do your UI operations like dialog opening or Toast here
}
});
}
}.start();
LOOPER
Class used to run a message loop for a thread. Threads by default do
not have a message loop associated with them; to create one, call
prepare() in the thread that is to run the loop, and then loop() to
have it process messages until the loop is stopped.
class LooperThread extends Thread {
public Handler mHandler;
public void run() {
Looper.prepare();
mHandler = new Handler() {
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
// process incoming messages here
}
};
Looper.loop();
}
}
AsyncTask
AsyncTask allows you to perform asynchronous work on your user
interface. It performs the blocking operations in a worker thread and
then publishes the results on the UI thread, without requiring you to
handle threads and/or handlers yourself.
public void onClick(View v) {
new CustomTask().execute((Void[])null);
}
private class CustomTask extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, Void> {
protected Void doInBackground(Void... param) {
//Do some work
return null;
}
protected void onPostExecute(Void param) {
//Print Toast or open dialog
}
}
Handler
A Handler allows you to send and process Message and Runnable objects
associated with a thread's MessageQueue.
Message msg = new Message();
new Thread()
{
public void run()
{
msg.arg1=1;
handler.sendMessage(msg);
}
}.start();
Handler handler = new Handler(new Handler.Callback() {
#Override
public boolean handleMessage(Message msg) {
if(msg.arg1==1)
{
//Print Toast or open dialog
}
return false;
}
});

Toast.makeText() can only be called from Main/UI thread. Looper.getMainLooper() helps you to achieve it:
JAVA
new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper()).post(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
// write your code here
}
});
KOTLIN
Handler(Looper.getMainLooper()).post {
// write your code here
}
An advantage of this method is that you can run UI code without Activity or Context.

Try this, when you see runtimeException due to Looper not prepared before handler.
Handler handler = new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper());
handler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
// Run your task here
}
}, 1000 );

I ran into the same problem, and here is how I fixed it:
private final class UIHandler extends Handler
{
public static final int DISPLAY_UI_TOAST = 0;
public static final int DISPLAY_UI_DIALOG = 1;
public UIHandler(Looper looper)
{
super(looper);
}
#Override
public void handleMessage(Message msg)
{
switch(msg.what)
{
case UIHandler.DISPLAY_UI_TOAST:
{
Context context = getApplicationContext();
Toast t = Toast.makeText(context, (String)msg.obj, Toast.LENGTH_LONG);
t.show();
}
case UIHandler.DISPLAY_UI_DIALOG:
//TBD
default:
break;
}
}
}
protected void handleUIRequest(String message)
{
Message msg = uiHandler.obtainMessage(UIHandler.DISPLAY_UI_TOAST);
msg.obj = message;
uiHandler.sendMessage(msg);
}
To create the UIHandler, you'll need to perform the following:
HandlerThread uiThread = new HandlerThread("UIHandler");
uiThread.start();
uiHandler = new UIHandler((HandlerThread) uiThread.getLooper());
Hope this helps.

Reason for an error:
Worker threads are meant for doing background tasks and you can't show anything on UI within a worker thread unless you call method like runOnUiThread. If you try to show anything on UI thread without calling runOnUiThread, there will be a java.lang.RuntimeException.
So, if you are in an activity but calling Toast.makeText() from worker thread, do this:
runOnUiThread(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
Toast toast = Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Something", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
});
The above code ensures that you are showing the Toast message in a UI thread since you are calling it inside runOnUiThread method. So no more java.lang.RuntimeException.

that's what i did.
new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper()).post(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
Toast(...);
}
});
Visual components are "locked" to changes from outside threads.
So, since the toast shows stuff on the main screen that is managed by the main thread, you need to run this code on that thread.
Hope that helps:)

I was getting this error until I did the following.
public void somethingHappened(final Context context)
{
Handler handler = new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper());
handler.post(
new Runnable()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
Toast.makeText(context, "Something happened.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
}
);
}
And made this into a singleton class:
public enum Toaster {
INSTANCE;
private final Handler handler = new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper());
public void postMessage(final String message) {
handler.post(
new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
Toast.makeText(ApplicationHolder.INSTANCE.getCustomApplication(), message, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT)
.show();
}
}
);
}
}

runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
Toast.makeText(mContext, "Message", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
});

Wonderful Kotlin solution:
runOnUiThread {
// Add your ui thread code here
}

first call Looper.prepare() and then call Toast.makeText().show() last call Looper.loop() like:
Looper.prepare() // to be able to make toast
Toast.makeText(context, "not connected", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show()
Looper.loop()

This is because Toast.makeText() is calling from a worker thread. It should be call from main UI thread like this
runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
Toast toast = Toast.makeText(mContext, "Something", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT);
}
});

The answer by ChicoBird worked for me. The only change I made was in the creation of the UIHandler where I had to do
HandlerThread uiThread = new HandlerThread("UIHandler");
Eclipse refused to accept anything else. Makes sense I suppose.
Also the uiHandler is clearly a class global defined somewhere. I still don't claim to understand how Android is doing this and what is going on but I am glad it works. Now I will proceed to study it and see if I can understand what Android is doing and why one has to go through all these hoops and loops. Thanks for the help ChicoBird.

For Rxjava and RxAndroid User:
public static void shortToast(String msg) {
Observable.just(msg)
.observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread())
.subscribe(message -> {
Toast.makeText(App.getInstance(), message, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
});
}

Coroutine will do it perfectly
CoroutineScope(Job() + Dispatchers.Main).launch {
Toast.makeText(context, "yourmessage",Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show()}

I was running into the same issue when my callbacks would try to show a dialog.
I solved it with dedicated methods in the Activity - at the Activity instance member level - that use runOnUiThread(..)
public void showAuthProgressDialog() {
runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
mAuthProgressDialog = DialogUtil.getVisibleProgressDialog(SignInActivity.this, "Loading ...");
}
});
}
public void dismissAuthProgressDialog() {
runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
if (mAuthProgressDialog == null || ! mAuthProgressDialog.isShowing()) {
return;
}
mAuthProgressDialog.dismiss();
}
});
}

Java 8
new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper()).post(() -> {
// Work in the UI thread
});
Kotlin
Handler(Looper.getMainLooper()).post{
// Work in the UI thread
}
GL

Handler handler2;
HandlerThread handlerThread=new HandlerThread("second_thread");
handlerThread.start();
handler2=new Handler(handlerThread.getLooper());
Now handler2 will use a different Thread to handle the messages than the main Thread.

To display a dialog or a toaster in a thread, the most concise way is to use the Activity object.
For example:
new Thread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
myActivity.runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
myActivity.this.processingWaitDialog = new ProgressDialog(myActivity.this.getContext());
myActivity.this.processingWaitDialog.setProgressStyle(ProgressDialog.STYLE_SPINNER);
myActivity.this.processingWaitDialog.setMessage("abc");
myActivity.this.processingWaitDialog.setIndeterminate(true);
myActivity.this.processingWaitDialog.show();
}
});
expenseClassify.serverPost(
new AsyncOperationCallback() {
public void operationCompleted(Object sender) {
myActivity.runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
if (myActivity.this.processingWaitDialog != null
&& myActivity.this.processingWaitDialog.isShowing()) {
myActivity.this.processingWaitDialog.dismiss();
myActivity.this.processingWaitDialog = null;
}
}
}); // .runOnUiThread(new Runnable()
...

Using lambda:
activity.runOnUiThread(() -> Toast.makeText(activity, "Hello", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show());

Toast, AlertDialogs needs to run on UI thread, you can use Asynctask to use them properly in android development.but some cases we need to customize the time outs, so we use Threads, but in threads we cannot use Toast,Alertdialogs like we using in AsyncTask.So we need separate Handler for popup those.
public void onSigned() {
Thread thread = new Thread(){
#Override
public void run() {
try{
sleep(3000);
Message message = new Message();
message.what = 2;
handler.sendMessage(message);
} catch (Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
};
thread.start();
}
in Above example i want to sleep my thread in 3sec and after i want to show a Toast message,for that in your mainthread implement handler.
handler = new Handler() {
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
switch(msg.what){
case 1:
Toast.makeText(getActivity(),"cool",Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
break;
}
super.handleMessage(msg);
}
};
I used switch case here, because if you need to show different message in same way, you can use switch case within Handler class...hope this will help you

This usually happens when something on the main thread is called from any background thread. Lets look at an example , for instance.
private class MyTask extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, Void> {
#Override
protected Void doInBackground(Void... voids) {
textView.setText("Any Text");
return null;
}
}
In the above example , we are setting text on the textview which is in the main UI thread from doInBackground() method , which operates only on a worker thread.

I had the same problem and I fixed it simply by putting the Toast in onPostExecute() override function of the Asynctask<> and it worked.

You need to create toast on UI thread. Find the example below.
runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
Toast.makeText(activity, "YOUR_MESSAGE", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
});
For displaying Toast message please refer to this article

Here is the solution for Kotlin using Coroutine:
Extend your class with CoroutineScope by MainScope():
class BootstrapActivity : CoroutineScope by MainScope() {}
Then simply do this:
launch {
// whatever you want to do in the main thread
}
Don't forget to add the dependencies for coroutine:
org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-core:${Versions.kotlinCoroutines}
org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-android:${Versions.kotlinCoroutines}

Create Handler outside the Thread
final Handler handler = new Handler();
new Thread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
try{
handler.post(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
showAlertDialog(p.getProviderName(), Token, p.getProviderId(), Amount);
}
});
}
}
catch (Exception e){
Log.d("ProvidersNullExp", e.getMessage());
}
}
}).start();

Recently, I encounter this problem - It was happening because I was trying to call a function that was to do some UI stuff from the constructor. Removing the initialization from the constructor solved the problem for me.

I got the same problem and this code is working fine for me now.
As an example this is my code to do a task in the background and UI thread.
Observe how the looper is used:
new Thread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
Looper.prepare();
// your Background Task here
runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
// update your UI here
Looper.loop();
}
});
}
}).start();

i use the following code to show message from non main thread "context",
#FunctionalInterface
public interface IShowMessage {
Context getContext();
default void showMessage(String message) {
final Thread mThread = new Thread() {
#Override
public void run() {
try {
Looper.prepare();
Toast.makeText(getContext(), message, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
Looper.loop();
} catch (Exception error) {
error.printStackTrace();
Log.e("IShowMessage", error.getMessage());
}
}
};
mThread.start();
}
}
then use as the following:
class myClass implements IShowMessage{
showMessage("your message!");
#Override
public Context getContext() {
return getApplicationContext();
}
}

How to pause the thread for some time and then show the UI once user interacts, continue the thread execution

I have started the Thread, In that thread i am trying to connect to the server, After receiving the response, I have to update the UI with event listeners(implemented through Interface). Here After receiving the response i need to show the popup Dialog once user clicks OK, need to continue the thread and complete the other process.
class ConnectionThread extends Thread {
ConnectionThread() {
this.setName("ConnectionThread");
}
#Override
public void run() {
// Need to pause the thread for sometime, Need to do the functionality here.
((Activity)mContext).runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
// custom dialog
showAlertDialog();
// start the thread functionality again from that position.
}
});
}
I have tried with wait() concept and also join, which are not helped as expected. Any help appreciated.

you can use countdownlatch
class ConnectionThread extends Thread {
CountDownLatch countDownLatch = new CountDownLatch(1);
public ConnectionThread() {
this.setName("ConnectionThread");
}
#Override
public void run() {
try {
sleep(2000);
runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
//update ui then
countDownLatch.countDown();
}
});
countDownLatch.await();
//start process again
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

How to update UI from background thread in a fragment

I have an app that has a Fragment with a ListView. I ping IP addresses on the network and when I get a response I add the IP address to a list. Once I've finished pinging the IP addresses, I put this list of IP addresses that replied to my ping into a ListView.
What I want to do is update this ListView as I'm pinging rather than doing after I've pinged all the IP addresses. To ping the IP addresses I'm using an AsyncTask which then calls a Runnable Thread. How do I tell the Fragment to update the UI from that Runnable class when I find an IP address?
The rough layout of my classes is below.
public class FinderFragment extends ListFragment {
private void CallFind(){
new Find().execute();
}
private class Find extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, Void> {
#Override
protected Void doInBackground(Void... voids) {
SearchNetwork searchNetwork = new SearchNetwork(ipAddress);
try {
searchNetwork.StartFind();
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
#Override
protected void onPostExecute(Void aVoid) {
super.onPostExecute(aVoid);
UpdateDeviceList();
}
}
}
public class SearchNetwork {
public void StartFind() throws InterruptedException {
Thread t[] = new Thread[20];
for(int i=0; i<02; i++){
t[i] = new Thread(new FindDevices(i*5));
t[i].start();
}
for(Thread thread : t){
thread.join();
}
}
class FindDevices implements Runnable{
#Override
public void run() {
//Ping the IP addresses here
//I want to update UI from here
}
}

Try this....
getActivity().runOnUiThread(new Runnable(){
#Override
public void run(){
// Do whatever you want
}
});

use Handler, runOnUiThread or View.post
android.os.Handler handler = new android.os.Handler();
handler.post(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
//update here
}
});

You should use AsyncTask instead of raw threads! There is a method onPostExecute() which runs on the main UI thread and that's the point where you can update your UI ...
But you have to keep in mind, that you have to cancel the AsyncTask (threads as well) if the fragment gets destroyed, otherwise your task will continue to run and will try to change the UI of the fragment, but the fragment doesn't exist anymore which will lead to exceptions like IllegalStateException: Fragment not attached to Activity or View Not Attached Exceptions

We can use Handler, runOnUiThread, postDelayed and AsyncTask.
AsyncTask is good option other than rest as it extends the handler class.
When you have to code in thread use the doInBackground() method like this:
class myAsyncTask extends AsyncTask(Void,Void,Void){
public doInBackground(){
// do your code here
}
}
And call it on the UI thread like this:
new MyAsyncTask().execute();

if you want to auto update every x sec you can use this:
Runnable runnable = new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
while(refreshing){
handler.post(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
//do your stuff here
}
});
try{
Thread.sleep(30000);
}catch(InterruptedException e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
};
new Thread(runnable).start();

Try
publishProgress()
and catch it in the overidden method
#Override
protected void onProgressUpdate(Void... values) {
super.onProgressUpdate(values);
}

In run(), how can I call a method without my app crashing (Java/Android)?

I'm trying to make a simple little program that will increment a number once a second. In this case, I'm implementing a thread that should loop once per second and add 1 to "potato" each time it loops. This works fine until it gets back to the display method potatoDisp(). For some reason this causes my app to crash. Removing potatoDisp() from run() fixes the problem, but the display is not updated as "potato" increases.
public int potato = 0;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
potatoDisp();
start();
}
public void potatoDisp() {
TextView text = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.textView1);
text.setText("You currently have " + potato + " potatoes");
}
public void start() {
Thread thread = new Thread(this);
thread.start();
}
#Override
public void run() {
while (true) {
try {
Thread.sleep(1000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
return;
}
potato++;
potatoDisp();
}
}
I'm doing this for an Android app, if that helps. I've tried searching for an answer but I'm pretty lost when it comes to the proper way to work threads.

You need a runnable / handler like this:
private Runnable potatoRun = new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run () {
potatoDisp();
}
};
then change
potatoDisp();
to:
runOnUiThread(potatoRun);
You can't update the views when you're not on the UI thread.

You are probably getting an exception for updating the UI in the background. Since, potatoDisp(); is called from a background Thread but that function updates the UI it will give you problems. You need to call it with runOnUiThread().
#Override
public void run() {
while (true) {
try
{
Thread.sleep(1000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
return;
}
potato++;
runOnUiThread(new Runnable()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
potatoDisp();
}
});
}
}
Something like this should work.

The issue is that you are trying to update the UI (calling text.setText(...)) on a thread other than the main UI thread.
While I would suggest using a TimerTask instead of calling Thread.sleep(...), there are two main ways to edit your current code to work as expected.
-- Use a Handler
Define a Handler class that will accept messages and update your UI as needed. For example:
private final String POTATO_COUNT = "num_potatoes";
Handler handler = new Handler() {
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
int numPotatoes = msg.getData.getInt(POTATO_COUNT);
mText.setText("You currently have " + numPotatoes + " potatoes");
}
}
Then in your code where you want to call your handler to update your text view, whether or not you are on the main UI thread, do the following:
Bundle bundle = new Bundle();
bundle.putInt(POTATO_COUNT, potato);
Message msg = new Message();
msg.setData(bundle);
handler.sendMessage(msg);
-- Call runOnUiThread(...)
#Override
public void run() {
while (true) {
try {
Thread.sleep(1000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
return;
}
potato++;
runOnUiThread(new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
potatoDisp();
}
}
}
}

I think you should be using Async Task to update the UI from a thread: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/os/AsyncTask.html