Android code optimization - AsyncTask

Question

I have finished my first Android App, but I am getting lots of skipped frame messages from Choreographer. So, I started reading and got the impression that I should put as less calculations/works as possible in main thread, rather should use AsyncTask.

To understand the thumb rule, can anybody please validate my code whether I should move any methods in AsyncTask?

public class EditEntry extends Activity implements DatePickerFragment.TheListener{
 public static int EDIT_BOOK_ID;
 EditText edit_datepurchased;
 @Override
 protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
 super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
 setContentView(R.layout.activity_edit_entry);
 Intent eintent = getIntent();
 EDIT_BOOK_ID = Integer.parseInt(eintent.getStringExtra("passid"));
 populateData(EDIT_BOOK_ID);
 }
 /**
 * Set up the {@link android.app.ActionBar}.
 */
 @TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB)
 private void setupActionBar() {
 if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {
 getActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
 }
 }
 @Override
 public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
 getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.edit_entry, menu);
 return true;
 }
 @Override
 public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
 switch (item.getItemId()) {
 case R.id.editsave:
 editSave();
 return true;
 case android.R.id.home:
 String currlist = Integer.toString(EDIT_BOOK_ID);
 Intent editIntent = new Intent();
 editIntent.putExtra("bookid", currlist);
 setResult(RESULT_OK, editIntent);
 finish();
 return true;
 }
 return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
 }
 //populateData get the data from database and populate all the fields in the page
 public void populateData(int runid){
 mylibmandbhandler db = new mylibmandbhandler(this);
 mylibman cn = new mylibman();
 cn = db.getNextBook(runid,2); // Method in mylibmandbhandler class to fetch data
 String temp;
 EditText mEditText = new EditText(this);
 mEditText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.bookname); // TEXT
 mEditText.setText(cn.getBookname());
 mEditText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.pages); //NUMBER
 temp = Integer.toString(cn.getPages());
 mEditText.setText(temp.equals("-1")?"":temp);
 CheckBox mCheckBox = (CheckBox) findViewById(R.id.inlibrary); //CHECKBOX
 if(cn.getInlibrary()==1){
 mCheckBox.setChecked(true);
 }else{
 mCheckBox.setChecked(false);
 }
 ....................
 ....................
 // I HAVE AROUND 25 fields (mostly EditText)
 ....................
 ....................
 db.close();
 }
 // editSave update the database based on changed values
 public void editSave() {
 AlertDialog.Builder editDialog = new AlertDialog.Builder(EditEntry.this);
 editDialog.setTitle("Confirm Edit...");
 editDialog.setMessage("Are you sure you want save changes?");
 final mylibmandbhandler db = new mylibmandbhandler(this);
 editDialog.setNegativeButton("NO", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
 public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) {
 dialog.cancel();
 }
 });
 editDialog.setPositiveButton("YES", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
 public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog,int which) {
 String[] dataarr = new String[17];
 EditText xEditText;
 String aTemp;
 int cnt = 0;
 xEditText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.bookname);
 dataarr[cnt++] = xEditText.getText().toString();
 xEditText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.pages);
 aTemp = xEditText.getText().toString();
 try {
 Integer.parseInt(aTemp); // IF NUMBER
 dataarr[cnt++] = aTemp;
 } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
 dataarr[cnt++] = "-1";
 }
 .....................
 .....................
 // Get All 25 fields data
 .....................
 .....................
 db.updateRecord(new mylibman(dataarr),EDIT_BOOK_ID); // Method in mylibmandbhandler class to update database
 Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Changes saved for Book#"+EDIT_BOOK_ID, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
 //RETURN TO MAIN ACTIVITY PAGE AND RELOAD THE EDITED RECORD
 String currlist = Integer.toString(EDIT_BOOK_ID);
 Intent editIntent = new Intent();
 editIntent.putExtra("bookid", currlist);
 setResult(RESULT_OK, editIntent); 
 finish();
 }
 });
 db.close();
 editDialog.show();
 }
 //SHOW DATE DIALOG
 public void showdate(View v) {
 edit_datepurchased = (EditText) findViewById(v.getId());
 DialogFragment newFragment = new DatePickerFragment();
 Bundle bundle = new Bundle();
 bundle.putString("dateAsText",edit_datepurchased.getText().toString());
 newFragment.setArguments(bundle); 
 newFragment.show(getFragmentManager(), "datePicker");
 }
 //@Override
 public void returnDate(String date) {
 edit_datepurchased.setText(date);
 }
}

• Simon Forsberg: Possibly related: stackoverflow.com/questions/15963969/… . Are you running on an emulator or a real device? If you are running on a real device, does it respond quickly? If it does respond quickly I wouldn't worry too much. If it doesn't let me know and I can provide a more detailed answer.
• abdfahim: thanks, I didn't try on a real device so far .. I'll let you know after I try .. thanks again :)

Answer 1

Both the methods editSave() and populateData() require access to a database to function. They both should be modified to use AsyncTask in order to reduce the footprint that your code has on the 'main thread'.

I presume the database is local to the device because otherwise you would be getting the notorious NetworkOnMainThreadException... but regardless, for the same reason that NetworkOnMainThread has been designated as a critical problem, database access should be treated the same way. Any time you have IO or other non-CPU bound activities, you really should be using the AsyncTask, and there's a good example on StackOverflow too.

• Chillie: Because populateData() is not a class ( or at least it doesn't seem to be to me), would AsyncTask need to be added to getNextBook?