AsyncTaskLoader basic example. (Android)

Question

I am using a Loader in my application and based on the result I get from the query I perform on COntacts using this Loader I perform some calculations and store them back in a Sqlite DB. I want this operation to be Asynchronous, however I am confused between using an Async task, as I have lot of different data types to return or should I use a simple handler or an AsyncTaskLoader, I want it to be simple as I am new to Loaders. I tried to search around for examples of AsyncTaskLoader but it seems rocket science, a basic and simple functional example of any of the three in the context of my scenario would be a lot helpful.

Answer 1

If you wish to use AsyncTaskLoader, here's a nice sample for you.

EDIT: I've decided to make a simpler solution (based on this repo):

public abstract class AsyncTaskLoaderEx<T> extends AsyncTaskLoader<T> {
    private static final AtomicInteger sCurrentUniqueId = new AtomicInteger(0);
    private T mData;
    public boolean hasResult = false;

    public static int getNewUniqueLoaderId() {
        return sCurrentUniqueId.getAndIncrement();
    }

    public AsyncTaskLoaderEx(final Context context) {
        super(context);
        onContentChanged();
    }

    @Override
    protected void onStartLoading() {
        if (takeContentChanged())
            forceLoad();
        //this part should be removed from support library 27.1.0 :
        //else if (hasResult)
        //    deliverResult(mData);
    }

    @Override
    public void deliverResult(final T data) {
        mData = data;
        hasResult = true;
        super.deliverResult(data);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onReset() {
        super.onReset();
        onStopLoading();
        if (hasResult) {
            onReleaseResources(mData);
            mData = null;
            hasResult = false;
        }
    }

    protected void onReleaseResources(T data) {
        //nothing to do.
    }

    public T getResult() {
        return mData;
    }
}

Usage:

in your activity:

        getSupportLoaderManager().initLoader(TASK_ID, TASK_BUNDLE, new LoaderManager.LoaderCallbacks<Bitmap>() {
            @Override
            public Loader<Bitmap> onCreateLoader(final int id, final Bundle args) {
                return new ImageLoadingTask(MainActivity.this);
            }

            @Override
            public void onLoadFinished(final Loader<Bitmap> loader, final Bitmap result) {
                if (result == null)
                    return;
                //TODO use result
            }

            @Override
            public void onLoaderReset(final Loader<Bitmap> loader) {
            }
        });

inner static class , or a normal class:

private static class ImageLoadingTask extends AsyncTaskLoaderEx<Bitmap> {

    public ImageLoadingTask (Context context) {
        super(context);
    }

    @Override
    public Bitmap loadInBackground() {
        //TODO load and return bitmap
    }
}

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Update: starting from support library 27.1.0, things changed a bit (link here) :

In version 27.1.0, onStartLoading() is called every time the Activity is started. Since you call deliverResult() in onStartLoading(), you trigger onLoadFinished(). This is Working as Intended.

You should remove your call to deliverResult() from onStartLoading() as it is not needed (Loaders already deliver results computed in loadInBackground() without any additional work needed on your part).

I've updated the code above for this change.

---

EDIT: Updated, kotlin version can be found here.