Android AsyncTask example and explanation

Question

I want to use an AsyncTask in my app, but I am having trouble finding a code snippet with a simple explanation of how things work. I just want something to help me get back up to speed quickly without having to wade through the documentation or lots of Q&As again.

Answer 1

AsyncTask is one of the easiest ways to implement parallelism in Android without having to deal with more complex methods like Threads. Though it offers a basic level of parallelism with the UI thread, it should not be used for longer operations (of, say, not more than 2 seconds).

AsyncTask has four methods

• onPreExecute()
• doInBackground()
• onProgressUpdate()
• onPostExecute()

where doInBackground() is the most important as it is where background computations are performed.

Code:

Here is a skeletal code outline with explanations:

public class AsyncTaskTestActivity extends Activity {

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);  

        // This starts the AsyncTask
        // Doesn't need to be in onCreate()
        new MyTask().execute("my string parameter");
    }

    // Here is the AsyncTask class:
    //
    // AsyncTask<Params, Progress, Result>.
    //    Params – the type (Object/primitive) you pass to the AsyncTask from .execute() 
    //    Progress – the type that gets passed to onProgressUpdate()
    //    Result – the type returns from doInBackground()
    // Any of them can be String, Integer, Void, etc. 

    private class MyTask extends AsyncTask<String, Integer, String> {

        // Runs in UI before background thread is called
        @Override
        protected void onPreExecute() {
            super.onPreExecute();

            // Do something like display a progress bar
        }

        // This is run in a background thread
        @Override
        protected String doInBackground(String... params) {
            // get the string from params, which is an array
            String myString = params[0];

            // Do something that takes a long time, for example:
            for (int i = 0; i <= 100; i++) {

                // Do things

                // Call this to update your progress
                publishProgress(i);
            }

            return "this string is passed to onPostExecute";
        }

        // This is called from background thread but runs in UI
        @Override
        protected void onProgressUpdate(Integer... values) {
            super.onProgressUpdate(values);

            // Do things like update the progress bar
        }

        // This runs in UI when background thread finishes
        @Override
        protected void onPostExecute(String result) {
            super.onPostExecute(result);

            // Do things like hide the progress bar or change a TextView
        }
    }
}

Flow Diagram:

Here is a diagram to help explain where all the parameters and types are going:

Other helpful links:

• What arguments are passed into AsyncTask<arg1, arg2, arg3>?
• Slidenerd Android AsyncTask Tutorial: Android Tutorial For Beginners
• Understanding AsyncTask – Once and Forever
• Dealing with AsyncTask and Screen Orientation
• How to pass multiple parameters to AsynkTask
• how to pass in two different data types to AsyncTask, Android