Why SystemClock.sleep(x) prevents update of AppWidget?

Question

I have a problem updating my AppWidget from within a Service. The problem seems totally illogical to me, so I make a TestService to hunt the mistake down. Here is my testlayout I use:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="vertical" >
    <TextView android:id="@+id/testText"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Hello World"/>
</LinearLayout>

onStart(Intent, startid) is implemented as following:

@Override
public void onStart(Intent intent, int startId) {
    super.onStart(intent, startId);
    Log.d(TAG, "onStart Service with StartId: " + startId);
    mStartId = startId;

    int widgetId = AppWidgetManager.INVALID_APPWIDGET_ID;
    if (intent != null && intent.hasExtra(AppWidgetManager.EXTRA_APPWIDGET_ID)){
        widgetId = intent.getIntExtra(AppWidgetManager.EXTRA_APPWIDGET_ID,
                                      AppWidgetManager.INVALID_APPWIDGET_ID);
    }

    if (widgetId == AppWidgetManager.INVALID_APPWIDGET_ID){
        Log.d(TAG, "invalif AppWidgetId");
        stopSelf();
    }

    RemoteViews mRemoteViews = new RemoteViews(getPackageName(), R.layout.testlayout);
    mRemoteViews.setTextViewText(R.id.testText, "someText");
    AppWidgetManager.getInstance(this).updateAppWidget(widgetId, mRemoteViews);

    SystemClock.sleep(1000);
    mRemoteViews.setTextViewText(R.id.testText, "text after delay");
    AppWidgetManager.getInstance(this).updateAppWidget(widgetId, mRemoteViews);
}

In This implementation, the resulting Widget has always the Text: "someText", but it should be "text after delay" in my point of View. If I remove that Line SystemClock.sleep(1000) I get the "text after Delay". Why is this? (Tested on A Samsung Galaxy Nexus (4.1.1)

Answer 1

I have found, that it can be cosidered as a bug that occured on my phone (GalaxyNexus). A restart of the phone fixed it somehow. Like in the 'good old' Windows days, "have you tried to switch it on and off"