NOTE: This answer has gotten so much attention, that I need to update it. Since the original answer was posted, the comment from @dzeikei has gotten almost as much attention as the original answer. So here are 2 possible solutions: 1. If your background thread has a reference to a Context object: Make sure that … Read more
If IncomingHandler class is not static, it will have a reference to your Service object. Handler objects for the same thread all share a common Looper object, which they post messages to and read from. As messages contain target Handler, as long as there are messages with target handler in the message queue, the handler … Read more
Here is a real life example where HandlerThread becomes handy. When you register for Camera preview frames, you receive them in onPreviewFrame() callback. The documentation explains that This callback is invoked on the event thread open(int) was called from. Usually, this means that the callback will be invoked on the main (UI) thread. Thus, the … Read more
If we look at the source code, we will see AsyncTask and Handler is purely written in Java. (There are some exceptions, though. But that is not an important point) So there is no magic in AsyncTask or Handler. These classes make our life easier as a developer. For example: If Program A calls method … Read more
From dispatchGesture doc, callback AccessibilityService.GestureResultCallback: The object to call back when the status of the gesture is known. If null, no status is reported. handler Handler: The handler on which to call back the callback object. If null, the object is called back on the service’s main thread. That basically means, if you don’t provide … Read more
As per android docs here An asynchronous task is defined by a computation that runs on a background thread and whose result is published on the UI thread. And loading data from URL with Handler is not a good thing. Instead use Executor or ThreadPoolExecutor to do heavy background tasks.