Android hide dialog after set time, like a custom time-interval toast

Question

I'm trying to display some text on the screen for a set period of time, similar to a toast, but with the ability to specify the exact time it is on the screen. I'm thinking an alert dialog may work for this, but I can't seem to figure out how to dismiss the dialog automatically.

Can you suggest an alternative to toast notifications in which I can specify the exact time it is displayed?

Thank you!

static DialogInterface dialog = null;
public void toast(String text, int duration) {

    final AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(gameplay);

    LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater) gameplay.getSystemService(gameplay.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
    View layout = inflater.inflate(R.layout.tutorial, (ViewGroup)gameplay.findViewById(R.id.layout_root));
    ((TextView)layout.findViewById(R.id.message)).setText(text);

    builder
        .setView(layout);


    builder.show();

    if (dialog!=null){
        dialog.cancel();
        dialog.dismiss();
    }

    dialog = builder.create();


    Handler handler = null;
    handler = new Handler(); 
    handler.postDelayed(new Runnable(){ 
         public void run(){
             dialog.cancel();
             dialog.dismiss();
         }
    }, 500);


}

Answer 1

You just need to time calls to Dialog#dismiss(); for your problem Handler class would suffice(+1 to Javanator :)).

FYI, there are other classes namely AlarmManager, Timer & TimerTask that can help with timing the runs of your code.

EDIT:

Change your code to:

static DialogInterface dialog = null;
public void toast(String text, int duration) {

    final AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(gameplay);

    LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater) gameplay.getSystemService(gameplay.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
    View layout = inflater.inflate(R.layout.tutorial, (ViewGroup)gameplay.findViewById(R.id.layout_root));
    ((TextView)layout.findViewById(R.id.message)).setText(text);

    builder
        .setView(layout);


    //builder.show(); commented this line
// I don't understand the purpose of this if block, anyways
// let it remain as is at the moment
    if (dialog!=null){
        dialog.cancel();
        dialog.dismiss();
    }

    dialog = builder.create().show();


    Handler handler = null;
    handler = new Handler(); 
    handler.postDelayed(new Runnable(){ 
         public void run(){
             dialog.cancel();
             dialog.dismiss();
         }
    }, 500);


}