Android Quiz Game - Countdown timer for each qstion

Question

I have created a Quiz app for Android using the tutorial here: http://automateddeveloper.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/getting-started-complete-android-app.html For each question, the user will only have 20 seconds to answer it. If he/she fails to answer in 20 seconds, an `AlertDialog` will popup and the game will terminate. To do this, I have added a counter in the `OnCreate` method of `QuestionActivity class`: ``` final TextView myCounter = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.countdown); new CountDownTimer(20000, 1000) { @Override public void onFinish() { timeUp(); } @Override public void onTick(long millisUntilFinished) { myCounter.setText("Time left: " + String.valueOf(millisUntilFinished / 1000)); } }.start(); public void timeUp() { AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder( QuestionActivity.this); builder.setTitle("Times up!") .setMessage("Game over") .setCancelable(false) .setNeutralButton(android.R.string.ok, new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() { public void onClick(DialogInte…

Accepted Answer

I think the activity doesn't exist anymore at a certain point when you try to make the dialog(probably when the `CountDownTimer` is near the end?!?).

Anyway I think finishing and starting the same activity for each question isn't such a good idea, instead you could use the current activity and simply restart the timer. For example:

```
public class QuestionActivity extends SherlockActivity implements
    OnClickListener {

private CountDownTimer mCountDown;

@Override
   public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
      // ...
      mCountDown = new CountDownTimer(20000, 1000) {

@Override
        public void onFinish() {
            // myCounter.setText("Time up!");
            timeUp(context);
        }

@Override
        public void onTick(long millisUntilFinished) {
            myCounter.setText("Time left: "
                    + String.valueOf(millisUntilFinished / 1000));
        }
      }.start();
      // ... 
```

and in the `onClick` callback do the same to setup a new question, stop the old timer and restart the new timer:

```
//check if end of game
if (currentGame.isGameOver()) {
    Intent i = new Intent(this, EndgameActivity.class);
    startActivity(i);
    finish();
} else {
    if (mCountDown != null) { 
       mCountDown.cancel();
    }  
    currentQ = currentGame.getNextQuestion();
    setQuestions();
    mCountDown = new CountDownTimer(20000, 1000) {

@Override
        public void onFinish() {
            // myCounter.setText("Time up!");
            timeUp(context);
        }

@Override
        public void onTick(long millisUntilFinished) {
            myCounter.setText("Time left: "
                    + String.valueOf(millisUntilFinished / 1000));
        }
    }.start();  
}
```

Also, in the callback for the `Dialog`'s `Button` I would first close the `Dialog` before finishing the `Activity`:

```
((AlertDialog) dialog).dismiss();
QuestionActivity.this.finish();
```

Android Quiz Game - Countdown timer for each qstion

Solution

Problem