an error occured while executing doInBackground() android [duplicate]

Question

I am facing an issue with my code in my android app. I've not dealt with Async before and I'm unsure of how to debug the issue. For security reasons, the URL has been replaced.

class checkLogin extends AsyncTask<String, Void, Boolean> {
    protected Boolean doInBackground(String... params) {
        String urlStr = "http://example.com/api/?username=" + params[0] + "&password=" + params[1] + "&action=checkLogin";
        try{
            URL url = new URL(urlStr);
            HttpURLConnection connection= (HttpURLConnection)url.openConnection();
            connection.setRequestMethod("POST");
            connection.setDoOutput(true);
            connection.setUseCaches(false);
            connection.connect();
            BufferedReader reader= new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(connection.getInputStream()));
            String output = "";
            String str;
            while ((str= reader.readLine()) != null) {
                output += "\r\n" + str;
            }
            createMsg(output,"Debug");
            return true;
        }catch(Exception e){
            createMsg("Encountered an error. Report this problem to the development department with steps to reproduce","Fatal Error");
            return false;
        }
    }
}

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: createMsg creates an android alert box.

Error:

06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206): FATAL EXCEPTION: AsyncTask #1
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206): java.lang.RuntimeException: An error occured while executing doInBackground()
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at android.os.AsyncTask$3.done(AsyncTask.java:299)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.finishCompletion(FutureTask.java:352)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.setException(FutureTask.java:219)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:239)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at android.os.AsyncTask$SerialExecutor$1.run(AsyncTask.java:230)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1080)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:573)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:856)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206): Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: Can't create handler inside thread that has not called Looper.prepare()
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at android.os.Handler.<init>(Handler.java:197)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at android.os.Handler.<init>(Handler.java:111)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at android.app.Dialog.<init>(Dialog.java:107)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at android.app.AlertDialog.<init>(AlertDialog.java:114)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at android.app.AlertDialog$Builder.create(AlertDialog.java:931)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at com.unrealonline.timesheet.MainActivity.createMsg(MainActivity.java:55)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at com.unrealonline.timesheet.MainActivity$checkLogin.doInBackground(MainActivity.java:79)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at com.unrealonline.timesheet.MainActivity$checkLogin.doInBackground(MainActivity.java:1)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at android.os.AsyncTask$2.call(AsyncTask.java:287)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:234)
06-07 18:19:35.066: E/AndroidRuntime(1206):     ... 4 more

Answer 1

you can use runOnUiThread or Hanlder for showing Toast or Alertbox from non UI Thread(in your case from doInBackground). do it as:

try{
 //.....your code here...
while ((str= reader.readLine()) != null) {
       output += "\r\n" + str;
     }
Your_Current_Activity.this.runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
    public void run() {
        createMsg(output,"Debug"); // show message here
    }
});

  return true;
}catch(Exception e){
   //use runOnUiThread for showing Alert here....
  return false;

}

Answer 2

The doInBackground method in an AsyncTask should not perform any activity on the display (the UI) as it is specifically not on the UI thread. Although you can achieve this using the approach posted in @ρяσѕρєя K's answer, the very point of AsyncTask was to provide an easy mechanism for accessing the UI from a background thread in a structured manner.

When you call createMsg from within doInBackground, you break this paradigm. All UI actions in an AsyncTask should, in principle, be initiated from:

• onPreExecute, which will be run before doInBackground
• onPostExecute, which will be run once doInBackground has completed
• onProgressUpdate, which will be run whenever publishProgress is called from doInBackground

The Android dev page includes a good usage example.

In your case, it looks like you should return a success or failure code from doInBackground which is picked up by onPostExecute; it should call createMsg if it has received a fail code.