Where do I create and use ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor, TimerTask, or Handler?

Question

I need to make my RSS Feed reader check the feed every 10 minutes for new posts, and then parse them if there are new ones. I also need to update the UI about every minute.<

Answer 1

I prefer to use ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor. Generally, if I understand your requirements correctly, all these can be implemented in your activity, TimerTask and Handler are not needed, see sample code below:

public class MyActivity extends Activity {
  private ScheduledExecutorService scheduleTaskExecutor;

  public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    scheduleTaskExecutor= Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(5);

    // This schedule a task to run every 10 minutes:
    scheduleTaskExecutor.scheduleAtFixedRate(new Runnable() {
      public void run() {
        // Parsing RSS feed:
        myFeedParser.doSomething();

        // If you need update UI, simply do this:
        runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
          public void run() {
            // update your UI component here.
            myTextView.setText("refreshed");
          }
        });
      }
    }, 0, 10, TimeUnit.MINUTES);
  } // end of onCreate()
}

Remember to finish/close your runnable task properly in Activity.onDestroy(), hope that help.