java - AsyncTasks do not get collected causing other AsyncTasks to not run

Question

My app uses a lot of AsyncTasks. It is a web app after all. And when I keep track of the Debug tab, I notice every AsyncTask says running behind it and after 5 AsyncTasks, I can't start any AsyncTasks. I fixed it by changing the executor to THREAD_POOL_EXECUTOR which allows 15 threads to be pooled. But the AsyncTasks still show as running.

The AsyncTasks all have InputStreams in them and BufferedReaders in them to read the JSON, but I never call the close() method on the Streamers and Readers. Could this be it, or will the AsyncTask be collected after it's finished no matter what?

If that's the deal, then why can't I run more than 5 AsyncTasks in my app?

Seeing as I put a bounty on it, I will explain this more explicitly

The AsyncTasks all go through their methods. All of them are built the same exact way, except with different BasicNameValuePairs. I am 100% sure there is no easy mistake made in the code.

Here is an example of one of the AsyncTasks:

private class RunningEvent extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, Response> {

    @Override
    protected void onPreExecute() {
        if (Constants.isOnline(getApplicationContext())) {
            super.onPreExecute();
        } else {
            Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(),
                    "No internet connection", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
            return;
        }
    }

    @Override
    protected Response doInBackground(Void... empty) {
        HttpClient client = new DefaultHttpClient();
        HttpPost post = new HttpPost(URL);

        try {
            List<NameValuePair> values = new ArrayList<NameValuePair>(5);
            values.add(new BasicNameValuePair("tag", "eventRunning"));
            values.add(new BasicNameValuePair("userid", String
                    .valueOf(response.user.userid)));
            post.setEntity(new UrlEncodedFormEntity(values));

            HttpResponse httpresponse = client.execute(post);
            HttpEntity entity = httpresponse.getEntity();
            InputStream stream = entity.getContent();

            Log.i("MenuActivity",
                    "Input streamed, parsing Gson for existing events");
            Gson gson = new Gson();
            Reader reader = new InputStreamReader(stream);

            eventresponse = gson.fromJson(reader, Response.class);
            return eventresponse;
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
            Log.e("RunningEvent", "Error sending data to Server");
        }
        return null;
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPostExecute(Response result) {
        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
        super.onPostExecute(result);
        Log.i("MenuActivity", "Binding button");
        if (eventresponse != null) {
            if (eventresponse.success == 1) {
                eventresponse.user = response.user;
                bActivity.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

                    public void onClick(View arg0) {
                        Intent i = new Intent("com.xxx.xxx.EVENT");
                        i.putExtra("response", eventresponse);
                        running = false;
                        switcher.cancel(true);
                        MenuActivity.this.finish();
                        startActivity(i);
                    }

                });
            } else {
                bActivity.setText("Nieuw activity");
                bActivity.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

                    public void onClick(View arg0) {
                        Intent i = new Intent("com.xxx.xxx.NEWEVENT");
                        i.putExtra("response", response);
                        running = false;
                        switcher.cancel(true);
                        MenuActivity.this.finish();
                        startActivity(i);
                    }

                });
            }
        } else {
            Log.i("RunningEvent", "Response is null");
        }
    }

}

The example above is the sometimes gets runned as the 6th AsyncTask and it will never enter the doInBackground() method. I believe this is the 5 Thread limit of the SERIAL_EXECUTOR. I "fixed" the problem by putting most AsyncTasks in THREAD_POOL_EXECUTOR, but this is just avoiding it.

What could be the reason that these AsyncTasks never stop running and clogging up the Executor?

Answer 1

android.os.AsyncTask come with two built-in executor. if using SERIAL_EXECUTOR, there is no threadpool and all AsyncTask get execute one at a time in serial order. if using THREAD_POOL_EXECUTOR (I suppose this is what you refer in the question), this allows up to maximum 128 AsyncTask get execute in parallel.

The number 5 you refer and see from debugging is the corePoolSize of underlying threadpool (AKA. THREAD_POOL_EXECUTOR), which is different from maximumPoolSize. check out AsyncTask source code and see how threadpool is implemented:

private static final int CORE_POOL_SIZE = 5;
private static final int MAXIMUM_POOL_SIZE = 128;
private static final int KEEP_ALIVE = 1;

... ...

/**
 * An {@link Executor} that can be used to execute tasks in parallel.
 */
public static final Executor THREAD_POOL_EXECUTOR
        = new ThreadPoolExecutor(CORE_POOL_SIZE, MAXIMUM_POOL_SIZE, KEEP_ALIVE,
                TimeUnit.SECONDS, sPoolWorkQueue, sThreadFactory);

Check out ThreadPoolExecutor API to see what is the default threadpool behavior created by calling this constructor. Generally speaking, corePoolSize is the number of threads to keep in the pool, even if they are idle, unless allowCoreThreadTimeOut is set.

Those 5 AsyncTask you see in debug are actually on core threads which are finished and become idle but never terminated, you can alter this behavior by calling ThreadPoolExecutor.allowCoreThreadTimeOut(boolean).

---

More story on SERIAL_EXECUTOR

I said SERIAL_EXECUTOR does not use threadpool, this is not true. SERIAL_EXECUTOR is indeed delegate the real work to THREAD_POOL_EXECUTOR, but using ArrayDeque to control the submission of next tasks (next task is submitted iff the previous task is finished), check out the source:

private static class SerialExecutor implements Executor {
    final ArrayDeque<Runnable> mTasks = new ArrayDeque<Runnable>();
    Runnable mActive;

    public synchronized void execute(final Runnable r) {
        mTasks.offer(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                try {
                    r.run();
                } finally {
                    scheduleNext();
                }
            }
        });
        if (mActive == null) {
            scheduleNext();
        }
    }

    protected synchronized void scheduleNext() {
        if ((mActive = mTasks.poll()) != null) {
            THREAD_POOL_EXECUTOR.execute(mActive);
        }
    }
}

So whatever you use SERIAL_EXECUTOR or THREAD_POOL_EXECUTOR, there are always 5 core threads shown in threadpool even they are finished and become idle. However, number of core thread (configured by corePoolSize) is not the number of threads (configured by maximumPoolSize) currently running in threadpool.