Pause and Resume AsyncTasks? (Android)
android, java
Solution
I have an AsyncTask that acts as a countdown timer for my game.
That is not a good use of `AsyncTask`. `AsyncTasks` should do work and be done, not try hanging around. For a countdown timer, use `postDelayed()` -- you don't even need a background thread. Or, use `CountDownTimer`.
If I cancel it and try to re-execute it, it crashes with an IllegalStateException.
The documentation states: "The task can be executed only once (an exception will be thrown if a second execution is attempted.)"
Problem
I have an `AsyncTask` that acts as a countdown timer for my game. When it completes the countdown it displays the out of time end screen and it also updates the timer displayed on the screen. Everything works fine, except I need to be able to pause and resume this when the pause button in the game is pressed. If I cancel it and try to re-execute it, it crashes with an `IllegalStateException`. If I cancel it and instantiate a new AsyncTask in its place the old one begins to run again and the new one runs at the same time. Is there a way to cancel/pause the timer and restart it using `AsyncTask`s or is there a different way I should be going about doing this? EDIT: This is what I did for a solution: `mhandler = new Handler();` ``` mtimerTask = new Runnable(){ public void run(){ mtimer -= 1; if(mtimer == 0) { mhandler.removeCallbacks(this); } mhandler.postDelayed(this, 1000); } }; mhandler.removeCallbacks(mtimerTask); mhandler.post(_timerTask)` ``` Not sure if it's the best way to go about it, but it worked for me.