Implementation
Memory Efficiency
In Java threads are GC roots, that is they are kept in the runtime and does not get collected. So if an Activity starts a thread and does not stop it this is considered a bug. As it can leak memory.
In this example the thread will never be stopped.
public class MainActivity extends Activity {
private MyThread mThread;
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
doIt();
}
private void doIt() {
mThread = new MyThread();
mThread.start();
}
private static class MyThread extends Thread {
@Override
public void run() {
while (true) {
doReallyHeavyStuff();
}
}
}
}
Threads should only be used for short lived computations. The above mentioned behaviour also applies to AsyncTask.
Memory Efficiency
This will introduce a variable to check if the thread operation should still be performed.
public class MainActivity extends Activity {
private MyThread mThread;
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
doIt();
}
private void doIt() {
mThread = new MyThread();
mThread.start();
}
private static class MyThread extends Thread {
private boolean mRunning = false;
@Override
public void run() {
mRunning = true;
while (mRunning) {
doReallyHeavyStuff();
}
}
public void close() {
mRunning = false;
}
}
@Override
protected void onDestroy() {
super.onDestroy();
mThread.close();
}
}
Memory Efficiency
If there is a need to persist data across configuaration changes (due to orientation change, font size change) it is better to use a retained fragment.
This example is taken from the samples demo:
/**
* This example shows how you can use a Fragment to easily propagate state
* (such as threads) across activity instances when an activity needs to be
* restarted due to, for example, a configuration change. This is a lot
* easier than using the raw Activity.onRetainNonConfiguratinInstance() API.
*/
public class FragmentRetainInstance extends Activity {
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
// First time init, create the UI.
if (savedInstanceState == null) {
getFragmentManager().beginTransaction().add(android.R.id.content,
new UiFragment()).commit();
}
}
/**
* This is a fragment showing UI that will be updated from work done
* in the retained fragment.
*/
public static class UiFragment extends Fragment {
RetainedFragment mWorkFragment;
@Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
Bundle savedInstanceState) {
View v = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_retain_instance, container, false);
// Watch for button clicks.
Button button = (Button)v.findViewById(R.id.restart);
button.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
public void onClick(View v) {
mWorkFragment.restart();
}
});
return v;
}
@Override
public void onActivityCreated(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onActivityCreated(savedInstanceState);
FragmentManager fm = getFragmentManager();
// Check to see if we have retained the worker fragment.
mWorkFragment = (RetainedFragment)fm.findFragmentByTag("work");
// If not retained (or first time running), we need to create it.
if (mWorkFragment == null) {
mWorkFragment = new RetainedFragment();
// Tell it who it is working with.
mWorkFragment.setTargetFragment(this, 0);
fm.beginTransaction().add(mWorkFragment, "work").commit();
}
}
}
/**
* This is the Fragment implementation that will be retained across
* activity instances. It represents some ongoing work, here a thread
* we have that sits around incrementing a progress indicator.
*/
public static class RetainedFragment extends Fragment {
ProgressBar mProgressBar;
int mPosition;
boolean mReady = false;
boolean mQuiting = false;
/**
* This is the thread that will do our work. It sits in a loop running
* the progress up until it has reached the top, then stops and waits.
*/
final Thread mThread = new Thread() {
@Override
public void run() {
// We'll figure the real value out later.
int max = 10000;
// This thread runs almost forever.
while (true) {
// Update our shared state with the UI.
synchronized (this) {
// Our thread is stopped if the UI is not ready
// or it has completed its work.
while (!mReady || mPosition >= max) {
if (mQuiting) {
return;
}
try {
wait();
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
}
}
// Now update the progress. Note it is important that
// we touch the progress bar with the lock held, so it
// doesn't disappear on us.
mPosition++;
max = mProgressBar.getMax();
mProgressBar.setProgress(mPosition);
}
// Normally we would be doing some work, but put a kludge
// here to pretend like we are.
synchronized (this) {
try {
wait(50);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
}
}
}
}
};
/**
* Fragment initialization. We way we want to be retained and
* start our thread.
*/
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
// Tell the framework to try to keep this fragment around
// during a configuration change.
setRetainInstance(true);
// Start up the worker thread.
mThread.start();
}
/**
* This is called when the Fragment's Activity is ready to go, after
* its content view has been installed; it is called both after
* the initial fragment creation and after the fragment is re-attached
* to a new activity.
*/
@Override
public void onActivityCreated(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onActivityCreated(savedInstanceState);
// Retrieve the progress bar from the target's view hierarchy.
mProgressBar = (ProgressBar)getTargetFragment().getView().findViewById(
R.id.progress_horizontal);
// We are ready for our thread to go.
synchronized (mThread) {
mReady = true;
mThread.notify();
}
}
/**
* This is called when the fragment is going away. It is NOT called
* when the fragment is being propagated between activity instances.
*/
@Override
public void onDestroy() {
// Make the thread go away.
synchronized (mThread) {
mReady = false;
mQuiting = true;
mThread.notify();
}
super.onDestroy();
}
/**
* This is called right before the fragment is detached from its
* current activity instance.
*/
@Override
public void onDetach() {
// This fragment is being detached from its activity. We need
// to make sure its thread is not going to touch any activity
// state after returning from this function.
synchronized (mThread) {
mProgressBar = null;
mReady = false;
mThread.notify();
}
super.onDetach();
}
/**
* API for our UI to restart the progress thread.
*/
public void restart() {
synchronized (mThread) {
mPosition = 0;
mThread.notify();
}
}
}
}