Question

I’m trying to start a an activity only after some data is ready in the Service
I’m trying this with a timer task which constantly polls the service for the data readness

public class SplashTask extends TimerTask {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        Log.i(MY_DEBUG_TAG, "Internet is accessible, Running some Spalsh screen Tasks ");
        if(mBoundService.isDataReady()) {
            Log.e(MY_DEBUG_TAG, "Data is ready in service..");
            startActivityForResult(new Intent(SplashDroid.this, FunWithDataActivity.class), 3);
        } else {
            Log.e(MY_DEBUG_TAG, "Data not ready in service..");
        }
        Log.i(MY_DEBUG_TAG, "Spalsh Tasks fnished..");
    }
}

Issue is that when data is ready and FunWithDataActivity about to start, i’m getting the following error

07-27 14:53:40.614: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(1042): java.lang.RuntimeException: Can't create handler inside thread that has not called Looper.prepare()

Answer 1

You can’t use startActivityForResult from non-UI thread. You can either use runOnUiThread() or Handler.post().

Also, you shouldn’t really use separate thread for polling. Use Handler‘s postDelayed() function for polling. This way you won’t wasted whole thread for simple polling. For an example see: Repeat a task with a time delay?