Question

My android application has a BroadcastReceiver. At start I start a Service that has an AlarmManager for calling my receiver periodically every 10 minutes and the receiver tries to make a http connection. When the receiver is trying to make a httpConnection sometimes it takes times in lines httpConnection.getResponseCode(); or in androidHttpTransport.call(soapAction, envelope); and in these situations android UI (Activity) hangs and waits until the receiver’s operation is completed. But I think the BroadcastReceiver’s operation is in a separate thread and it should not pauses UI thread.

Why this happens and how can I correct it?

My httpconnection in receiver:

private Object callWebServiceMethodPublic(String url,
            String namespace, String methodName,
            HashMap<String, Object> parameters, String soapAction)
            throws Exception {

        //System.setProperty("http.keepAlive", "false");

        Log.i("WebService", "URL: " + url);
        Log.i("WebService", "MethodName: " + methodName);

        Log.i("SendMapMovements", "1.2.3.1");

        URL myurl = new URL(url);
        URLConnection connection = myurl.openConnection();
        connection.setConnectTimeout(20 * 1000);
        //connection.setRequestProperty("Connection", "close");

        HttpURLConnection httpConnection = (HttpURLConnection) connection;

        Log.i("SendMapMovements", "1.2.3.2");

        int responseCode = -1;
        try {
            responseCode = httpConnection.getResponseCode();

            Log.i("SendMapMovements", "1.2.3.3");

        } catch (Exception e1) {
            if (e1.toString().contains("Network is unreachable")) {

            } else if (e1.toString().contains("SocketTimeoutException")) {

            } else {
                throw e1;
            }
        }
        if (responseCode == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {
            httpConnection.disconnect();

            Log.i("SendMapMovements", "1.2.3.4");

            SoapObject request = new SoapObject(namespace, methodName);

            if (parameters != null) {
                String[] keys = new String[0];
                keys = (String[]) parameters.keySet().toArray(keys);
                Object[] vals = (Object[]) parameters.values().toArray();

                for (int i = 0; i < parameters.size(); i++) {
                    request.addProperty(keys[i], vals[i]);
                    Log.i("WebService", keys[i] + ": " + vals[i]);
                }
            }

            Log.i("SendMapMovements", "1.2.3.5");

            SoapSerializationEnvelope envelope = new SoapSerializationEnvelope(
                    SoapEnvelope.VER11);
            envelope.dotNet = true;

            envelope.setOutputSoapObject(request);
            HttpTransportSE androidHttpTransport = new HttpTransportSE(url,
                    TimeOutInSeconds * 1000);

            Log.i("SendMapMovements", "1.2.3.6");

            try {
                androidHttpTransport.call(soapAction, envelope);

                Log.i("SendMapMovements", "1.2.3.7");

            } catch (Exception e) {
                if (e.toString().contains("XmlPullParserException")) {
                    throw new Exception(...);
                }
            }

            Object so = envelope.getResponse();
            System.gc();

            return so;

        } else {
            httpConnection.disconnect();
            Log.i("SendMapMovements", "1.2.3.8");
            String strErrorDescription = getHttpErrorDescription(responseCode);
            throw new Exception(strErrorDescription);
        }
    }

Answer 1

you must run your connection code whithin new Thread, not on UI Thread (Main Thread), because the BroadcastReceiver and your Activity runs on the same thread.