AsyncTaskLoader vs AsyncTask
AndroidAndroid AsynctaskAndroid LoadermanagerAndroid Problem Overview
Since Honeycomb
and the v4 Compatibility Library
it is possible to use AsyncTaskLoader
. From what I understand, the AsyncTaskLoader
can survive through config changes like screen flips.
Is it recommended to use AsyncTaskLoader
instead of AsyncTask
? Does LoaderManager
get in the picture too?
But I haven't found any good example(s) about how to correctly use the AsyncTaskLoader
. The docs also provide no examples. Can anyone provide some good examples.
Android Solutions
Solution 1 - Android
You can have a look at the compatibility library's source code to get more info. What a FragmentActivity
does is:
- keep a list of
LoaderManager
's - make sure they don't get destroyed when you flip your phone (or another configuration change occurs) by saving instances using
onRetainNonConfigurationInstance()
- kick the right loader when you call
initLoader()
in your Activity
You need to use the LoaderManager
to interface with the loaders, and provide the needed callbacks to create your loader(s) and populate your views with the data they return.
Generally it should be easier than managing AsyncTask
's yourself. However, AsyncTaskLoader
is not exactly well documented, so you should study the example in the docs and/or model your code after CursorLoader
.
Solution 2 - Android
When compare AsyncTaskLoader vs. AsyncTask, as you may know when you rotate your device screen, it may destroy and re-create your activity, to make it clear let image rotate your device while networking transaction is going on:
AsyncTask will be re-executed as background thread again, and previous background thread processing was just be redundant and zombie.
AsyncTaskLoader will be just re-used basing on Loader ID that registered in Loader Manager before, so avoid re-executing network transaction.
In summary, AsyncTaskLoader prevent duplication of background threads and eliminate duplication of zombie activities.
Solution 3 - Android
AsyncTaskLoader performs the same function as the AsyncTask, but a bit better. It can handle Activity configuration changes more easily, and it behaves within the life cycles of Fragments and Activities. The nice thing is that the AsyncTaskLoader can be used in any situation that the AsyncTask is being used. Anytime data needs to be loaded into memory for the Activity/Fragment to handle, The AsyncTaskLoader can do the job better.
There are a few issues with using AsyncTasks, though:
- Configuration changes can mess things up
- Pausing an activity doesn’t pause the AsyncTask
- A fair amount of boilerplate code (which means more possible errors)
Solution 4 - Android
Some differences other than described in other answers:
When using AsyncTaskLoader over AsyncTask:
-
AsyncTaskLoader gives us liberty to load old cached data until new data is returned by
forceLoad()
-
We can set delays to AsyncTaskLoader by
setUpdateThrottle()
which can prevent consecutive updates to client (Activity/Fragment) -
AsyncTaskLoader can be shared to multiple fragments if they have common parent activity and if it was started from
getActivity().getSupportLoaderManager()
-
AsyncTaskLoader is destroyed by
LoaderManger
when its linked activity is no more available. while we need to manually destroy AsyncTasks if its caller activity destroys. This saves our time from writing all the clearing stuff. AsyncTaskLoader plays well with their respective lifecycles.
So, AsyncTaskLoader is way better than AsyncTask.