Question

I am trying to show a alertdialog but i keep getting this error

01-24 21:52:45.640: E/AndroidRuntime(31119): FATAL EXCEPTION: UpdateThread
01-24 21:52:45.640: E/AndroidRuntime(31119): java.lang.RuntimeException: Can't create handler inside thread that has not called Looper.prepare()
01-24 21:52:45.640: E/AndroidRuntime(31119):    at android.os.Handler.<init>(Handler.java:121)
01-24 21:52:45.640: E/AndroidRuntime(31119):    at android.app.Dialog.<init>(Dialog.java:100)
01-24 21:52:45.640: E/AndroidRuntime(31119):    at android.app.AlertDialog.<init>(AlertDialog.java:96)
01-24 21:52:45.640: E/AndroidRuntime(31119):    at android.app.AlertDialog$Builder.create(AlertDialog.java:891)

It is pointing to this line

 @Override
 protected Dialog onCreateDialog(int id) {
  switch (id) {
  case 1:
      isGameRunning = false;
      gameStarted = false;
      mEngine.stop();
      AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(this);
      builder.setTitle("How To Play");
      builder.setIcon(R.drawable.ic_launcher);



      final AlertDialog alert = builder.create(); //this line

      builder.setPositiveButton("Thanks", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
        public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int id) {
            alert.dismiss();
            isGameRunning = true;
            mEngine.start();
            gameStarted = true;

        }
        });
      return alert;
  default:
      return null;
  }       

}

Answer 1

It seems like, for some reason, the method onCreateDialog is called from the UpdateThread of AndEngine (While it should be called from the UI Thread).

Remember that when you show a dialog, you call showDialog(int id) rather than onCreateDialog(int id). After you call showDialog, Android will call onCreateDialog on the UI thread when possible.

In fact, I looked in showDialog info now and it is deprecated, it looks like there is a whole new way of creating dialogs. Read more here.