Can somebody explain how to use ASyncTask with Android?

Question

I\'ve been doing a bunch of research and looking over the documentation for ASyncTask in Android, but I just can\'t seem to wrap my head around it. I simply want to run some

Answer 1

Let me try my hand at this. All the info I am parsing is from the link shared by Karakuri in the comments to the question.

The angle brackets' contents, in order, are called "parameters", "progress", and "result". Parameters is the type of parameters (using varargs) that will be fed to "doInBackground". They will be receive by that method in an array. You will use these parameters as your data to work on in the background thread.

"Progress" is the types of values fed into the onProgressUpdate. When you override this method, you will take in data of this type, format it, and use it in the progress display. From my reading, it is up to you to publish your progress in doInBackground to be consumed by onProgressUpdate.

"Result" is the data type of the result of the operation. This will be the return type of doInBackground, as well as the parameter type of onPostExecute. For parameters that include the "..." (called varargs), you can put in as many arguments as you want. They must be separated by commas, and must all be of the type specified before the "...". The items will be passed to the function in an array. So, to answer your questions:

1. You'll change the first parameter in the angle brackets from void when your background task needs to receive data to work on. The type will be the type of data you'd like to pass in. You'll change the second parameter when you wish to keep track of the progress. The type will be whatever type you'd like to use for keeping track, and you will need to do all the tracking yourself in "doInBackground". You'll change the third parameter when your background task needs to return data. The type will be the type of data you wish to return. The data will be supplied to "onPostExecute". This is important because AsyncTask.execute() has no return value, so you must use any necessary data in that method to get it out to the class that called AsyncTask.execute().
2. onPreExecute appears to always be type void. doInBackground will be of the type of result, the 3rd argument in your angle brackets. onProgressUpdate appears to always be void. onPostExecute appears to be always void.
3. The parameter of doInBackground will be a type label followed by the three dot and a name. The type for the label must be the same as the first parameter in the angle brackets. The name is anything you want. That name will then be assigned to an array of the type named in the type label, and passed in for you to use in the body of doInBackground.

Some thoughts: if you are a beginner, leave "progress" void for now, and don't override onProgressUpdate. It is very important in production code, but a lot of extra hard work for beginner learning projects. onPreExecute is also likely more trouble than it is worth at your level. Just remember they exist, and when you need them, you will likely know. Also, good work on not avoiding the subject of multithreading just because it is difficult.