ProgressDialog : how to prevent Leaked Window

Question

I'm using ProgressDialog to prevent the user from interacting while the device is downloading stuff from internet.

everything was working fine until my client managed to produce this bug :

"07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821): Activity android.pixelrain.framework.PixelRainActivity has leaked window com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView@463f3e50 that was originally added here
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821): android.view.WindowLeaked: Activity android.pixelrain.framework.PixelRainActivity has leaked window com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView@463f3e50 that was originally added here
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.view.ViewRoot.<init>(ViewRoot.java:251)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.view.WindowManagerImpl.addView(WindowManagerImpl.java:148)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.view.WindowManagerImpl.addView(WindowManagerImpl.java:91)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.view.Window$LocalWindowManager.addView(Window.java:424)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.app.Dialog.show(Dialog.java:241)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.app.ProgressDialog.show(ProgressDialog.java:107)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.app.ProgressDialog.show(ProgressDialog.java:90)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.pixelrain.HTTPHelper.DraftHelper.getDraft(DraftHelper.java:70)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.pixelrain.online.OnlineRetriver.getDraft(OnlineRetriver.java:312)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.pixelrain.HTTPHelper.DraftButtonGL.loadDraft(DraftButtonGL.java:72)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.pixelrain.HTTPHelper.DraftButtonGL.isTouched(DraftButtonGL.java:89)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.pixelrain.opengl.views.game.QuickStartGL.touchEnded(QuickStartGL.java:160)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.pixelrain.game.GameHandler.onTouchEvent(GameHandler.java:277)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.pixelrain.opengl.GLSurfaceViewChipmunk.onTouchEvent(GLSurfaceViewChipmunk.java:27)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.view.View.dispatchTouchEvent(View.java:3765)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:944)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:944)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.view.ViewGroup.dispatchTouchEvent(ViewGroup.java:944)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView.superDispatchTouchEvent(PhoneWindow.java:1701)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow.superDispatchTouchEvent(PhoneWindow.java:1116)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.app.Activity.dispatchTouchEvent(Activity.java:2093)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView.dispatchTouchEvent(PhoneWindow.java:1685)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.view.ViewRoot.handleMessage(ViewRoot.java:1802)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:144)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4937)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:521)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:868)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:626)
07-06 17:10:50.363: ERROR/WindowManager(8821):     at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)"

and I have no idea how to fix this.

any ideas what causes this and how to solve it ?

The log traces back the error to this line :

    progressDialog = ProgressDialog.show(PixelRainActivity.staticThis, "",PixelRainActivity.staticThis.getResources().getString( R.string.draftProgressMessage), true);

would it solve the problem if I changed it to this :

this.runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                progressDialog = ProgressDialog.show(PixelRainActivity.staticThis, "",PixelRainActivity.staticThis.getResources().getString( R.string.draftProgressMessage), true);
            }
        });

Answer 1

The leak comes probably from your PixelRainActivity.staticThis attribute. If you’re keeping a reference to an activity, even after that this activity has been destroyed, you have a memory leak.

The easiest way to fix is to use the application’s Context instead. Change your staticThis = this line in the method onCreate() to staticThis = this.getApplicationContext() and it should work (and change the type of staticThis to Context if this is not already the case)