Hello Readers, CoolMonkTechie heartily welcomes you in this article (How To Apply Background Processing In Android Application?).
In this article, we will learn about how to apply background processing in android application. Processing data in the background is an important part of creating an Android application. Therefore, it is both responsive for our users as well as a good citizen on the Android platform. This article explains the below points :
- what qualifies as background work,
- defines background task categories,
- provides us with criteria to categorize our tasks, and
- recommends APIs that we should use to execute them.
A famous quote about learning is :
“Learn as though you would never be able to master it; hold it as though you would be in fear of losing it.“
So Let’s begin.
Background Processing Principle
In general, any task that takes more than a few milliseconds should be delegated to a background thread. Common long-running tasks include things like decoding a bitmap, accessing storage, working on a machine learning (ML) model, or performing network requests.
Background Work Definition
An app is considered to be running in the background as long as each of the following conditions are satisfied:
- None of the app’s activities are currently visible to the user.
- The app isn’t running any foreground services that started while an activity from the app was visible to the user.
Otherwise, the app is considered to be running in the foreground.
Sometimes, after a foreground service starts while an activity from the app is visible to the user, the user navigates away from the app, such as returning to the home screen. In this situation, the app is considered to be running in the foreground even after the user navigates away from the app.
Common Background Tasks
The following list shows common tasks that an app manages while it runs in the background:
- Our app registers a broadcast receiver in the manifest file.
- Existing app schedules a repeating alarm using Alarm Manager.
- Currently used app schedules a background task, either as a worker using Work Manager or a job using Job Scheduler.
Categories of Background Tasks
Background tasks fall into one of the following main categories:
- Immediate
- Deferred
- Exact
To categorize a task, we need answer the following questions:
Does the task need to complete while the user is interacting with the application?
If so, this task should be categorized for immediate execution. If not, proceed to the second question.
Does the task need to run at an exact time?
If we do need to run a task at an exact time, categorize the task as exact.
Most tasks don’t need to be run at an exact time. Tasks generally allow for slight variations in when they run that are based on conditions such as network availability and remaining battery. Tasks that don’t need to be run at an exact time should be categorized as deferred.
After getting the answer, we traverse the corresponding decision tree which helps us decide best category for our background task.
Recommended Solutions
The following sections describe recommended solutions for each background task type.
Immediate Tasks
We recommend Kotlin coroutines for tasks that should end when the user leaves a certain scope or finishes an interaction. Many Android KTX libraries contain ready-to-use coroutine scopes for common app components like ViewModel and common application lifecycles.
Threading on Android is the recommended options for Java programming language users.
For tasks that should be executed immediately and need continued processing, even if the user puts the application in background or the device restarts, we recommend using WorkManager and its support for long-running tasks.
In specific cases, such as with media playback or active navigation, we might want to use foreground Services directly.
Deferred Tasks
A task can deferred if:
- it is not directly connected to a user interaction and,
- it can run at any time in the future.
The recommended solution for deferred tasks is WorkManager.
WorkManager makes it easy to schedule deferrable, asynchronous tasks that are expected to run even if the app exits or the device restarts.
Exact Tasks
We can use AlarmManager if task that needs to be executed at an exact point in time.
That’s all about in this article.
Related Other Articles / Posts
Conclusion
In this article, we understood about how to apply background processing in android application. Processing data in the background is an important part of creating an Android application. We can use WorkManager for Immediate and deferred task and continued processing while AlarmManager for Exact Tasks. This article reviewed background work definitions and qualifies, common categories and recommended solutions for background processing tasks in android.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed and learned about Background Processing concepts in Android. Reading is one thing, but the only way to master it is to do it yourself.
Please follow and subscribe to the blog and support us in any way possible. Also like and share the article with others for spread valuable knowledge.
You can find other articles of CoolMonkTechie as below link :
You can also follow official website and tutorials of Android as below links :
If you have any comments, questions, or think I missed something, leave them below in the comment box.
Thanks again Reading. HAPPY READING !!???
There’s certainly a lot to learn about this issue.
I really like all the points you’ve made.