WorkingWithThreads

Since AndroidAnnotations 1.0

Get rid of AsyncTasks!!

@Background

The @Background annotation indicates that a method will run in a thread other than the ui thread.

Usage example:

void myMethod() {
    someBackgroundWork("hello", 42);
}

@Background
void someBackgroundWork(String aParam, long anotherParam) {
    [...]
}

The method is executed on a separate thread, but this doesn't necessarily mean that a new thread will be started, because we use a shared cached thread pool executor (which can be replaced) to prevent creating too much threads.

This also means that two @Background methods may run in parallel

Id

Since AndroidAnnotations 3.0

If you want to cancel a background task, you can use the id field. Every task could then be cancelled by BackgroundExecutor.cancelAll("id");:

void myMethod() {
    someCancellableBackground("hello", 42);
    [...]
    boolean mayInterruptIfRunning = true;
    BackgroundExecutor.cancelAll("cancellable_task", mayInterruptIfRunning);
}

@Background(id="cancellable_task")
void someCancellableBackground(String aParam, long anotherParam) {
    [...]
}

Serial

Since AndroidAnnotations 3.0

By default, @Background method are processed in parallel. If you want them to be executed sequentially, you can use the serial field. All background tasks with the same serial will be executed sequentially:

void myMethod() {
    for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
        someSequentialBackgroundMethod(i);
}

@Background(serial = "test")
void someSequentialBackgroundMethod(int i) {
    SystemClock.sleep(new Random().nextInt(2000)+1000);
    Log.d("AA", "value : " + i);
}

Delay

Since AndroidAnnotations 3.0

If you need to add a delay before a background method is run, you can use the delay parameter:

@Background(delay=2000)
void doInBackgroundAfterTwoSeconds() {
}

@UiThread

The @UiThread annotation indicates that a method will run in the ui thread.

Usage example:

void myMethod() {
    doInUiThread("hello", 42);
}

@UiThread
void doInUiThread(String aParam, long anotherParam) {
    [...]
}

No more AsyncTask<Param, Progress, Result>!!

Delay

If you need to add a delay before a method is run on the UI Thread, you can use the delay parameter:

@UiThread(delay=2000)
void doInUiThreadAfterTwoSeconds() {
}