Question

I am using a AsyncTask (1) in another AsyncTask (2).
AsyncTask 1 fetches online user data, counts the number of entries in the response and for each entry, in onPostExecute displays a username and runs a new AsyncTask (2) to fetch a image from a server and load it into a ImageView. This all happens in onPostExecute.
This is working flawlessly, the user data is fetched and shown, and the images are shown one by one for each entry.

However, the itteration through the array and the updating of the TextView in AsyncTask 1’s onPostExecute happens so fast, it basically only shows the last user name in the array, the other ones are loaded, but impossible to detect with the human eye 🙂

Meanwhile, AsyncTask 2 is still fetching images from online, and showing profile images for the wrong users.
The problem I have here obviously, is these 2 need to be in sync.
So I thought I just wait for the output in AsyncTask 2 with the get() method, but now nothing is updated at all anymore, no TextView…this is unexpected behaviour for me.

So, the question is how to sync the 2 AsyncTasks?

bit of code to clarify, if it’s still needed

    //instantiate first AsyncTask
    new AsyncRequest().execute(bundle);

    private class AsyncRequest extends AsyncTask<Bundle, Void, String> {
    protected String doInBackground(Bundle... bundle) {
        String data = null;
        try {
            data = request(null, bundle[0]); //request the data
            return data;
        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        return data;
    }// end method

    protected void onPostExecute(String response) {
        JSONArray data = null;
        try {
            JSONObject response2 = Util.parseJson(response);
            data        = response2.optJSONArray("data");
            int amount  = data.length();
            TextView s1 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.some_id);
            s1.setText("" + amount); //displays number of items

            //display the data
            for(int i=0; i<amount; i++){
                String email        = "";
                String id           = "";
                JSONObject json_obj = data.getJSONObject(i);
                Log.d("JSONObject ", ""+json_obj);
                String name         = json_obj.getString("name");
                if (json_obj.has("email")){
                    email           = json_obj.getString("email");
                }
                if (json_obj.has("id")){
                    id          = json_obj.getString("id");
                }
                String picture  = "http://www.domain.com/"+id+"/picture";
                TextView s2     = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.name_placeholder);
                s2.setText(name);
                //here we do a new AsynTask for each entry and wait until the data is fetched
                new DownloadProfileImageTask().execute(picture, name).get(); 
            }
        } catch (JSONException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (ExecutionException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }// end method

Answer 1

It is not quite clear why you are calling setText of the single TextView with the name of multiple names. As you have mentioned, although you had setText of all the names, you only see a single name. May be you need to use a ListView or something like that.

Now regarding your question: probably you don’t need two AsyncTasks. You can do everything in a single AsyncTask. The code will be something like below:

//Create a Holder class as a data holder. 
//For simplicity, public attributes are used
class Holder{
  public String name;
  public String email;
  public String id;
  public BitmapDrawable imageDrawable;
}

//instantiate the AsyncTask
new AsyncRequest().execute(bundle);

private class AsyncRequest extends AsyncTask<Bundle, Holder, Integer> {
protected Integer doInBackground(Bundle... bundle) {
    int amount = 0;
    try {
        data = request(null, bundle[0]); //request the data

        JSONArray data = null;
        JSONObject response2 = Util.parseJson(response);
        data        = response2.optJSONArray("data");
        amount  = data.length();

        //display the data
        for(int i=0; i<amount; i++){
            Holder holder = new Holder();
            holder.email        = "";
            holder.id           = "";
            JSONObject json_obj = data.getJSONObject(i);
            Log.d("JSONObject ", ""+json_obj);
            holder.name         = json_obj.getString("name");
            if (json_obj.has("email")){
                holder.email           = json_obj.getString("email");
            }
            if (json_obj.has("id")){
                holder.id          = json_obj.getString("id");
            }
            String picture  = "http://www.domain.com/"+id+"/picture";

            //Fetch the image and create a Drawable from it - Synchronously
            holder.imageDrawable = getImageDrawable(picture, name);

            publishProgress(holder);

        }
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } 
    return amount;
}// end method

protected void onProgressUpdate(Holder... holder) {
    //Update the user name and image
    TextView s2     = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.name_placeholder);
    s2.setText(holder[0].name);

    ImageView imgView = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.imageViewId);
    imgView.setImageDrawable(holder[0].imageDrawable);

}

protected void onPostExecute(Integer amount) {
    TextView s1 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.some_id);
    s1.setText(amount.toString()); //displays number of items
}// end method