How to stop or destroy an Android thread

Question

I know that the stop method has been deprecated and I am using destroy now, but I get this error:

11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538): java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: Thread.destroy()
11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538):     at java.lang.Thread.destroy(Thread.java:600)
11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538):     at com.rathbones.src.NewslettersActivity.onKeyDown(NewslettersActivity.java:144)
11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538):     at android.view.KeyEvent.dispatch(KeyEvent.java:1037)
11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538):     at android.app.Activity.dispatchKeyEvent(Activity.java:2068)
11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538):     at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$DecorView.dispatchKeyEvent(PhoneWindow.java:1643)
11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538):     at android.view.ViewRoot.deliverKeyEventToViewHierarchy(ViewRoot.java:2471)
11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538):     at android.view.ViewRoot.handleFinishedEvent(ViewRoot.java:2441)
11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538):     at android.view.ViewRoot.handleMessage(ViewRoot.java:1735)
11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538):     at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538):     at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538):     at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4627)
11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:521)
11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:868)
11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:626)
11-09 11:42:28.740: E/AndroidRuntime(1538):     at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
11-09 11:42:28.760: W/ActivityManager(59):   Force finishing activity com.rathbones.src/.NewslettersActivity

The application is not crashing, it's just that I get this error in logcat.

Actually I have a newsletter module which enables users to view the PDF file. When they press the view button it opens up a progress bar and in the same time if someone presses the backbutton it should stop the thread and exit gracefully. It does that but in the log I get the above error.

Here is the code snippet causing this error:

private void viewOnline() {

        if (currentNewsletter == null) {
            Log.e(Constants.APP_NAME, "No newsletter selected");
            return;
        }

        final ProgressDialog d = new ProgressDialog(this);
        d.setMessage("Downloading...");
        d.show();

        final Context context = getApplicationContext();
         t = new Thread(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {

                String fileName = currentNewsletter.mFilename;

                Log.d(Constants.APP_NAME, "Downloading/showing: " + fileName);
                final File file = Utilities.getFileFromURL(context, currentNewsletter.mUrl, currentNewsletter.mExpectedSizeInBytes, fileName, false);

                d.dismiss();
                // Now we can show the file
                viewPDF(file);
            }
        });
        t.start();

        // Utilities.List(getApplicationContext().getFilesDir().getPath());
        // Utilities.List(getApplicationContext().getDir("files", Context.MODE_WORLD_WRITEABLE).getAbsolutePath());
        // Utilities.DeleteDirectory(getApplicationContext().getDir("files", Context.MODE_WORLD_WRITEABLE).getAbsolutePath());

    }

    private void viewPDF(File file) {

        //DEBUG DEBUG DEBUG
        //Log.d(Constants.APP_NAME, "ViewPDF: showing " + file.getName());
        //Log.d(Constants.APP_NAME, "Path: " + file.getPath());
        //Log.d(Constants.APP_NAME, "Exists: " + file.exists());
        //Log.d(Constants.APP_NAME, "Length: " + file.length());
        //DEBUG DEBUG DEBUG

        // Now it's all safe and sound and local, open it
        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
        intent.setDataAndType(Uri.fromFile(file), "application/pdf");

        try {
            startActivity(intent);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            Toast.makeText(this, "No Application Available to View PDF", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }
    }

    @Override
    protected void onStop() {
        finish();
        super.onStop();
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
        if (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_BACK) {
            t.destroy();
           Intent i = new Intent(NewslettersActivity.this,MainMenuActivity.class);

           startActivity(i);
           finish();
            return true;
        }
        return super.onKeyDown(keyCode, event);
    }

destroy is also deprecated. Follow this link:http://developer.android.com/reference/java/lang/Thread.html#destroy%28%29 — Vineet Shukla, Nov 09 '11 at 12:02

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 05 '20 at 19:42

3

If you have a thread with a while loop inside, you can control this thread by a boolean flag for the while condition. When you set the flag to false the thread just finishes its task.

Here's a little example:

boolean flag = true;
Thread secondary = new Thread(new Runnable() {

@Override
public void run() {
    while (flag) {
    // do something
    }
 }
});

secondary.start(); //start the thread
flag = false; // this will force secondary to finish its execution
 try {
   secondary.join(); // wait for secondary to finish
   } catch (InterruptedException e) {
    throw new RuntimeException(e);
}

I will found this code in SO and it also works for me.

edited Jan 05 '20 at 19:42

the Tin Man

158,662
42
215
303

answered Nov 09 '11 at 12:25

user370305

108,599
23
164
151

Could you tell me in more detail please. – Maverick Nov 09 '11 at 12:28
well..it looks a very logical solution..just trying it out now..and will let you know – Maverick Nov 09 '11 at 12:31
@Dipak Keshariya - Without seeing what are you tried, How you implemented this code in your app we can't say anything. Put your problem in SO as a new question with Exception what you getting. – user370305 Mar 22 '12 at 12:13
pls see my question, http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9817941/stop-current-thread-issue – Dipak Keshariya Mar 22 '12 at 13:12

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 23 '19 at 22:29

2

Use interrupt() instead of destroy().

edited Nov 23 '19 at 22:29

Joshua Pinter

45,245
23
243
245

answered Nov 09 '11 at 12:04

Quentin DOMMERC

876
1
8
24

Then follow this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5241822/is-it-good-way-to-stop-java-thread-forcefully/5241925#5241925 – Quentin DOMMERC Nov 09 '11 at 12:51

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 05 '20 at 19:41

0

To the user370305 answer, maybe two changes could help:

Use AtomicBoolean instead boolean, if the Thread runs in another core, changes could not be visible for flag.
Remove the throw new RuntimeException(e) within the catch. It will crash as you are throwing an Exception.

edited Jan 05 '20 at 19:41

the Tin Man

158,662
42
215
303

answered Dec 19 '14 at 11:40

Raúl Torres

1

How to stop or destroy an Android thread

3 Answers3