Cannot refer to a non-final variable inside an inner class defined in a different method

Question

Edited: I need to change the values of several variables as they run several times thorugh a timer. I need to keep updating the values with every iteration through the timer

Answer 1

The main concern is whether a variable inside the anonymous class instance can be resolved at run-time. It is not a must to make a variable final as long as it is guaranteed that the variable is inside the run-time scope. For example, please see the two variables _statusMessage and _statusTextView inside updateStatus() method.

public class WorkerService extends Service {

Worker _worker;
ExecutorService _executorService;
ScheduledExecutorService _scheduledStopService;

TextView _statusTextView;


@Override
public void onCreate() {
    _worker = new Worker(this);
    _worker.monitorGpsInBackground();

    // To get a thread pool service containing merely one thread
    _executorService = Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor();

    // schedule something to run in the future
    _scheduledStopService = Executors.newSingleThreadScheduledExecutor();
}

@Override
public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {

    ServiceRunnable runnable = new ServiceRunnable(this, startId);
    _executorService.execute(runnable);

    // the return value tells what the OS should
    // do if this service is killed for resource reasons
    // 1. START_STICKY: the OS restarts the service when resources become
    // available by passing a null intent to onStartCommand
    // 2. START_REDELIVER_INTENT: the OS restarts the service when resources
    // become available by passing the last intent that was passed to the
    // service before it was killed to onStartCommand
    // 3. START_NOT_STICKY: just wait for next call to startService, no
    // auto-restart
    return Service.START_NOT_STICKY;
}

@Override
public void onDestroy() {
    _worker.stopGpsMonitoring();
}

@Override
public IBinder onBind(Intent intent) {
    return null;
}

class ServiceRunnable implements Runnable {

    WorkerService _theService;
    int _startId;
    String _statusMessage;

    public ServiceRunnable(WorkerService theService, int startId) {
        _theService = theService;
        _startId = startId;
    }

    @Override
    public void run() {

        _statusTextView = MyActivity.getActivityStatusView();

        // get most recently available location as a latitude /
        // longtitude
        Location location = _worker.getLocation();
        updateStatus("Starting");

        // convert lat/lng to a human-readable address
        String address = _worker.reverseGeocode(location);
        updateStatus("Reverse geocoding");

        // Write the location and address out to a file
        _worker.save(location, address, "ResponsiveUx.out");
        updateStatus("Done");

        DelayedStopRequest stopRequest = new DelayedStopRequest(_theService, _startId);

        // schedule a stopRequest after 10 seconds
        _theService._scheduledStopService.schedule(stopRequest, 10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
    }

    void updateStatus(String message) {
        _statusMessage = message;

        if (_statusTextView != null) {
            _statusTextView.post(new Runnable() {

                @Override
                public void run() {
                    _statusTextView.setText(_statusMessage);

                }

            });
        }
    }

}