Troubleshooting a delay in my function

Question

I have a delay happening where my pushGreentText does not show up in my EditText until after the last brace of firstrollSP leaves scope. pushGreenText is a custom function on the UI thread I wrote that adds a text to my EditText in XML that overlays a SurfaceView. I would like to see the green text show up right away instead of waiting for the entire moveWholeAITurn sequence. Is there a way to accomplish that? I tried threading firstrollSP but there is still a delay and I thought about maybe threading pushGreenText but I'm not sure that is the answer yet.

Thank you...

        static synchronized public void firstRollSP( ) throws InterruptedException
        {
            //Roll for Player and announce
            mGame.mDice.setDie1( mGame.mDiceFirstRoll.getDie1( ) );

            mGame.mDice.setRolled( true );

            MainActivity.activity.pushTextGreen( Strings.get_First_roll_X_Die1( ) );

            //Roll for two and announce
            Thread one = new Thread( )
            {
                public void run( )
                {
                    try
                    {
                        Thread.sleep( 2000 );

                        mGame.mDice.setDie2( mGame.mDiceFirstRoll.getDie2( ) );

                        while( mGame.mDice.getDie1( ) == mGame.mDice.getDie2( ) )
                            mGame.mDice.setDie2( (mRng.nextInt( 6 ) + 1) );

                    }
                    catch( InterruptedException e )
                    {
                        Log.d( "ACtionUP", "Interupted e" );
                    }
                }
            };

            one.start( );

            one.join( );

            MainActivity.activity.pushTextGreen( "Android first roll is " + Integer.toString( mGame.mDice.getDie2() ) );

            if( H.initWonFirstRoll( ) )
            {
                MainActivity.activity.pushTextGreen("Player won first roll.");

                Thread tInitWon = new Thread( )
                {
                    public void run( )
                    {
                        try
                        {
                            Thread.sleep( 2000 );

                            mGame.isFirstRoll = false;

                            mGame.isTurn = true;

                            mGameAI.isFirstRoll = false;

                            mGameAI.isTurn = false;

                            mGame.mDice.sort( );

                            mGame.mDice.setRolled( true );

                            mGame.mDice.setDiceAnimationComplete( true );

                            mGame.mOppDice.init( );

                            mGame.mPossibleIndexes.calcPossibleTriangles( );

                        }
                        catch( Exception e )
                        {
                            Log.d( "ACtionUP", "Interupted e" );
                        }
                    }
                };

                tInitWon.start( );

                tInitWon.join( );
            }
            else
            {
                MainActivity.activity.pushTextGreen("Android won first roll.");

                Thread tDroidWon = new Thread( )
                {
                    public void run( )
                    {
                        try
                        {
                            Thread.sleep( 2000 );

                            mGame.isFirstRoll = false;

                            mGame.isTurn = false;

                            mGameAI.isFirstRoll = false;

                            mGameAI.isTurn = true;

                            mGameAI.mDice.init( );

                            mGame.mOppDice.init( );

                            mGame.mDice.sort( );

                            mGameAI.mDice.setDie1( mGame.mDice.getDie1() );

                            mGameAI.mDice.setDie2( mGame.mDice.getDie2() );

                            mGame.mOppDice.setDie1( mGame.mDice.getDie1() );

                            mGame.mOppDice.setDie2( mGame.mDice.getDie2() );

                            Thread.sleep( 2000 );

                            mGameAI.mPossibleIndexes.calcPossibleTrianglesAI( );

                        }
                        catch( InterruptedException e )
                        {
                            Log.d( "ACtionUP", "Interupted e" );
                        }
                    }
                };

                tDroidWon.start( );

                tDroidWon.join( );

                if( mGameAI.mPossibleIndexes.anyPossibles( ) )
                {
                    moveWholeTurnAI( );
                }
                else
                {
                    H.endTurnAI( );
                }
            }
        }

Answer 1

Because the UI thread is an event loop. It will not update the screen until it returns to the main looper and handles the draw event- until whatever function of yours it calls exits.

You should never call thread.join on the main thread. Your app will freeze if you do, it may crash if it trips a watchdog timer. You need to refactor it to not require joins on the UI thread.

In addition, I see a lot of MainActivity.activity. That's a huge code smell- if you're holding the activity in a static variable you will have memory leaks and you are almost certain to have problems if your app is relaunched. Its something you should never do.