Question

How can this be done in android?

public final Timer timer = new Timer(10, new ActionListener() {

        @Override
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {  
          // Do task here       
        }
    });

I need to be able to call timer.start(); from the Activity that timer is in.

Answer 1

In most cases it is much better to use a Handler instead of Timer. Handler is capable of sending delayed messages. Benefits of using Handler are:

• it runs on the main (UI) thread -> can access Views (unlike the
  Timer, which cannot dircetly access Views)
• You can remove pending delayed messages if you want
• Less code

Example:

class MyActivity extends Activity {

    private static final int DISPLAY_DATA = 1;
    // this handler will receive a delayed message
    private Handler mHandler = new Handler() {
        @Override
        public void handleMessage(Message msg) {
            // Do task here
            if (msg.what == DISPLAY_DATA) displayData();
        }
 };

 @Override
 void onCreate(Bundle b) {
     //this will post a message to the mHandler, which mHandler will get
     //after 5 seconds
     mHandler.sendEmptyMessageDelayed(DISPLAY_DATA, 5000);
 }
}