android - Showing variable changes - java

Ok - I know there has got to be a simple solution to this but for the life of me I can't figure it out.
Programming a very basic android activity to simply iterate through 0-99. I have a textview that I want to display the count. What happens is that it simply stays blank until the end and then shows the ending count (99).
Not sure if a textview is the right way to display or what the answer is. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

Try using code like this in onCreate (where number is defined as a field):
textView.post(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
number++;
textView.setText("counting: " + number);
if (number < 100) {
textView.postDelayed(this, 50);
}
}
});
Edit: code was edited as View classes have post and postDelayed, which propagates call to Handler instance they have internally.
You need to read a bit about Handler class.
Warning: this code leaks Activity for the time of approximatelly 5 seconds and should not be used directly in production code. You need to remove Runnable from the message queue at the appropriate time (maybe in onDestroy, but it depends on your needs).
View.removeCallbacks for anti-memory-leak.

My guess is that your onCreate() has code like this:
for (int i=0;i<100;i++) {
tv.setText(String.valueOf(i));
Thread.sleep(100); // or something to delay for a bit
}
That will give you the output that you are describing.
As with many GUI frameworks, Android's UI is event-driven. Calling setText() does not update the screen. Rather, it puts a message on a queue, asking for the screen to be updated. That queue is processed by the main application thread... the same thread that is calling onCreate() in the first place. Hence, what you are doing is queuing up 100 setText() calls, none of which will be processed until your loop is complete. Applying the 100 of them takes very little time, giving the visual result of only seeing the last change.

User a timer scheduled at a fixed rate. Increment a counter every second. Set the text on the UI thread. cancel the timer when required.
public class MainActivity extends Activity {
TextView _tv;
Timer _t;
int _count=0;
/** Called when the activity is first created. */
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
_tv = (TextView) findViewById( R.id.textView1 );
_t = new Timer();
_tv.setText(""+_count);
_t.scheduleAtFixedRate( new TimerTask() {
#Override
public void run() {
_count++;
runOnUiThread(new Runnable() //run on ui thread
{
public void run()
{
_tv.setText(""+_count);
if(_count==99)
{
_t.cancel();
}
}
});
}
}, 1000, 1000 );
}
#Override
protected void onDestroy() {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
super.onDestroy();
_t.cancel();
}
}

Use a countdown timer, in below code, onTick() will get called every second, here you can display/update your number each second.
set interval according to your need. Its in mili seconds.
public class TimerActivity extends Activity {
private final long startTime = 100 * 1000;
private final long interval = 1 * 1000;
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_timer);
countDownTimer = new MyCountDownTimer(startTime, interval);
countDownTimer.start();
public class MyCountDownTimer extends CountDownTimer {
public MyCountDownTimer(long startTime, long interval) {
super(startTime, interval);
}
#Override
public void onFinish() {
text.setText("Time's up!");
}
#Override
public void onTick(long millisUntilFinished) {
text.setText(100 - millisUntilFinished/1000);
}
}
}

Related

Replacing CountDownTimer with Handler and Runnable for better performance

I've got game based on CountDownTimer, which is continuously repeating countdowns. This countDown is counting time for user to react on some action related to number, if user reacts onFinish() is called by some clickListener or by itself if the time was up. Depending of succesCondition(), method success or fail is called and those methods are defining if game is still running.
OnCreate
loop = gameLoop(time).start();
MainActivity
public CountDownTimer gameLoop(int time){
return new CountDownTimer(time, time+100) {
#Override
public void onTick(long millisUntilFinished) {
}
#Override
public void onFinish() {
if (!Conditions.succesCondition(number)) {
success();
} else {
fail();
}
}
};
}
public void success() {
loop.cancel();
scoreCount++;
animation.start();
}
public void fail(){
loop.cancel();
}
However this timer runs on Main thread and that provides well known issue skipped xx frames, your app might be doing too much work on its main thread and I found that this is common issue for CountDownTimer and replacing it with Handler is a solution.
I can't put this timer in AsyncTask because it performs mainly UI related tasks (TextViews, TextSwitcher, some progressBar etc. in success() method. I didn't put that in code in those methods for more clean view of the main problem. I'm trying to reconstruct CountDownTimer- like concept with handler and runnable to replace my Timer, but I'm actually stuck with nothing. As you can see I'm using only onFinish method, onTick is not necessary.
I suggest using a combination of java.util.Timer, java.util.TimerTask and Activity.runOnUiThread(). First create a Timer and call one of its schedule...()methods. Any action that needs to be done on the main (ui) thread can be wrapped in runOnUiThread(() -> { ...}). Be sure to call cancel() on TimerTask and Timer if those objects are no longer needed. Cancelling the Timer cancels the TimerTask as well.
Here is how this may look like:
public class TimerTaskActivity extends Activity {
Timer timer;
TimerTask timerTask;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.timertask);
...
}
#Override
protected void onStart() {
super.onStart();
timer = new Timer();
timerTask = new TimerTask() {
#Override
public void run() {
runOnUiThread(() -> {
....
});
}
};
timer.scheduleAtFixedRate(timerTask, 2000, 2000);
}
#Override
protected void onPause() {
super.onPause();
timer.cancel();
}
}
You may handle this situation using AsyncTask as well overriding the onProgressUpdate method.
Here's an example about how you can achieve the behaviour to interact with your main thread from AsyncTask. The example shows the update of a download which can be easily transformed to your specific problem of timer.
Update
In my case almost all code would be in onProgressUpdate, would it
still make any sense?
No, your code will not be in onProgressUpdate. The onProgressUpdate method will only be updating your timer in your UI. As far as I could understand, the success and the fail will be triggered based on user action as well. Then those actions are triggered, you can stop the AsyncTask to update your timer as well. You just need to AsyncTask to update the timer value time to time.
You will get a callback in your Activity when the AsyncTask finishes. See the mNotificationHelper.completed(); function in the above example. When you are notified in your Activity when the timer finishes, you might then execute the following task there.
public void completed() {
if (!Conditions.succesCondition(number)) {
success();
} else {
fail();
}
}
OK. I finally figured out how to handle it with handler (hehe):
public void startGameAction() {
//My game actions
handler = new Handler();
runnable = () -> {
if (!Conditions.succesCondition(number)) {
success();
} else {
fail();
}
};
handler.postDelayed(runnable,time);
}
public void success(){
handler.removeCallbacks(runnable);
handler = null;
scoreCount++;
//other stuff
startGameAction();
}
private void fail() {
handler.removeCallbacks(runnable);
//other stuff
}
onCreate only startGame call, handler and runnable defined as class fields
startGameAction();

Update a textView in real time (using a for)

So I have an android app where I want to decrement a value and display it in a textview. I start from 1000 and decrement it by 1 from 1 to 1 seconds. This acts as a score that decreases in time if you stay more on the level. This is my code:
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.game);
timeText = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.textView5);
runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
for(time=1000;time>=0;time--){
try {
TimeUnit.SECONDS.sleep(1);
timeText.setText(String.valueOf(time));
System.out.println(time);
}
catch(Exception e)
{
System.out.println("Error on delay");
}
}}
});
}
My error is that whenever I enter this activity, the screen turns black. The console is printing the values from second to second and if i comment the "for" the textView displays properly the value 1000 (if i declare int time = 1000 of course). I am really not sure what the problem is here. Does somebody know what i'm doing wrong?
You can't just loop on the UI thread like that. Inside Android there's a message loop on the UI thread. When it needs to draw, it sends a message to that message loop. Until you process that message the changes won't appear on screen. And to process a message, your code must finish and return to the message loop.
If you want to do this, you can't use a for loop on the UI thread. You need to send individual messages to a Handler for each draw you want to make.
You are pausing the UI in that for loop.
To achieve what you want, either use a Handler
new Handler().postDelayed(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
//update textview here
}
},1000);
OR
use a Timer
new Timer().scheduleAtFixedRate(new TimerTask() {
#Override
public void run() {
//update
}
},1000,0);
I don't know much about handlers but you don't need a for loop in timer.
In your case:
long time=1000;
new Timer().scheduleAtFixedRate(new TimerTask() {
#Override
public void run() {
runOnUiThread(new Runnable(){
timeText.setText(String.valueOf(time))
time--;
});
}
},1000,0).start();
Good luck

android - set intent extra from inside runnable

I'm still new to android development. I've been at this problem for some time but am still unable to figure out what to do on my own. In an Activity I set up a series of Runnables containing CountDownTimers. One executes after the next, but depending on which CountDownTimer is active, I need to pass a different Intent.extra to a fragment. I've tried setting my extra from inside Runnable, inside Run, and inside of the CountDownTimer onTick, and onFinish.
I fear I have way too much going on in my original Activity to post it, but here is the problem in essence.
public class MatchUpActivity extends Activity implements OpponentFragment.OnFragmentInteractionListener{
List mTotalDrafts;
Bundle mBundle;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_match_up);
mBundle = new Bundle();
mDraftUsernames = extras.getStringArrayList("DRAFT_LIST");
for (int i = 0; i < totalDrafts; i++) {
Handler delayhandler = new Handler();
delayhandler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
//bundle.put("extra", totalDrafts.get(0))
public void run() {
//bundle.put("extra", totalDrafts.get(0))
getTimer();
}
}, mTodaysDraftTime + (i * singleDraftDuration) - Calendar.getInstance().getTimeInMillis());
}
}
CountDownTimer
private void getTimer() {
new CountDownTimer(singleDraftDuration, 1000) {
public void onTick(long millisUntilFinished) {
//bundle.put("extra", totalDrafts.get(0))
}
public void onFinish() {
//bundle.put("extra", totalDrafts.get(0))
list.remove(0)
}
}.start();
}
}
I am able to remove items from my list in onFinish, but after I do so I need to send the next element in the list as an extra.
I hope this is enough code to get my question across. I tried to change some things from my original code for simplicity. If there is something I am missing or a better way to do this, please, anybody let me know.
Define the Bundle as global variable in your Activity and not in a Method implementation.

How to repeat a task after a fixed amount of time in android?

I want to repeatedly call a method after every 5-seconds and whenever I wish to to stop the repeated call of the method I may stop or restart the repeated call of the method.
Here is some sample code that whats really I want to implement. Please help me in this respect I would be very thankful to you.
private int m_interval = 5000; // 5 seconds by default, can be changed later
private Handler m_handler;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle bundle)
{
...
m_handler = new Handler();
}
Runnable m_statusChecker = new Runnable()
{
#Override
public void run() {
updateStatus(); //this function can change value of m_interval.
m_handler.postDelayed(m_statusChecker, m_interval);
}
};
public void startRepeatingTask()
{
m_statusChecker.run();
}
public void stopRepeatingTask()
{
m_handler.removeCallbacks(m_statusChecker);
}
Set repeated task using this:
//Declare the timer
Timer t = new Timer();
//Set the schedule function and rate
t.scheduleAtFixedRate(new TimerTask() {
#Override
public void run() {
//Called each time when 1000 milliseconds (1 second) (the period parameter)
}
},
//Set how long before to start calling the TimerTask (in milliseconds)
0,
//Set the amount of time between each execution (in milliseconds)
1000);
and if you wanted to cancel the task simply call t.cancel() here t is your Timer object
and you can also check comment placed below your answer they have given brief information about that.
Use a Handler in the onCreate() method. Its postDelayed() method causes the Runnable to be added to the message queue and to be run after the specified amount of time elapses (that is 0 in given example). Then this will queue itself after fixed rate of time (1000 milliseconds in this example).
Refer this code :
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.main);
android.os.Handler customHandler = new android.os.Handler();
customHandler.postDelayed(updateTimerThread, 0);
}
private Runnable updateTimerThread = new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
//write here whaterver you want to repeat
customHandler.postDelayed(this, 1000);
}
};
use TimerTask to call after specific time interval
Timer timer = new Timer();
timer.schedule(new UpdateTimeTask(),1, TimeInterval);
and
class UpdateTimeTask extends TimerTask {
public void run()
{
// do stufff
}
}
Do it in Android's way with the help of Handler.
Declare a Handler which does not leak Memory
/**
* Instances of static inner classes do not hold an implicit
* reference to their outer class.
*/
private static class NonLeakyHandler extends Handler {
private final WeakReference<FlashActivity> mActivity;
public NonLeakyHandler(FlashActivity activity) {
mActivity = new WeakReference<FlashActivity>(activity);
}
#Override
public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
FlashActivity activity = mActivity.get();
if (activity != null) {
// ...
}
}
}
Declare a runnable which handle your task
private Runnable repeatativeTaskRunnable = new Runnable() {
public void run() {
new Handler(getMainLooper()).post(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
//DO YOUR THINGS
}
};
Initialize handler object in your Activity/Fragment
//Task Handler
private Handler taskHandler = new NonLeakyHandler(FlashActivity.this);
Repeat task after fix time interval
taskHandler.postDelayed(repeatativeTaskRunnable , DELAY_MILLIS);
Stop repetition
taskHandler .removeCallbacks(repeatativeTaskRunnable );
You have to put this code inside the activity you want to call every 5 seconds
final Runnable tarea = new Runnable() { public void run() {
hola_mundo();//the operation that you want to perform }};
ScheduledExecutorService timer = Executors.newSingleThreadScheduledExecutor();
timer.scheduleAtFixedRate(tarea, 5, 5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

Base Activity with runnable

Intro: I have made a Base Activity to extend my other activities to. I have overriden several methods with runnables in the function bodies, for example:
#Override
protected void onStop(){
new Handler().postDelayed(new Runnable()
{
#Override
public void run()
{
BaseActivity.super.onStop();
}
}, Fade.fadeDuration);
}
However, I get a SuperNotCalledException when I try to run the app. If I take the super.onStop() out of the runnable, I get no exception whatsoever.
Question: How do I call the super.onStop from a runnable in a base activity without causing a SuperNotCalledException?
Additional info: I am trying to add a fadeoutanimation which only fades out certain views. This takes about 700ms so I need to delay the onStop for 700ms as well. The problem is that this is a hassle to code in every activity. I want to make a base activity so I don't have to worry about the fading in every single activity.
If you are trying to simply delay execution of the super.onStop I would use a CountDownLatch.
Maybe something like this :
private void CountDownLatch latch;
private void long latchWait = 10L; // seconds
private void TimeUnit latchWaitUnit = SECONDS;
#Override
protected void onStop(){
try{
this.latch.await(this.latchWait, this.latchWaitUnit);
catch(InterruptedException e){
// Handle
}finally{
super.onStop();
}
}
public void startLatch(long wait){
this.latch = new CountDownLatch(1);
this.latchWait = wait;
}
public void releaseLatch(){
this.latch.countDown()
}
I did not test this code.

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