Is it possible to use AsyncTask in a Service class?

Question

Everything is in the title.

On the official documentations it is stated that Note that services, like other application objects, run in the main thread of their hosting process and AsyncTask only works if it is executed in the UIThread.

So is it possible to use AsyncTask in a Service class?

I am trying to do so but I'm always getting the same error

05-01 18:09:25.487: ERROR/JavaBinder(270): java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError

...

05-01 18:09:25.487: ERROR/JavaBinder(270): Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: Can't create handler inside thread that has not called Looper.prepare()

Am I doing something wrong or is this just impossible ?

Here is the code of my Service class

package com.eip.core;

import android.app.Service;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.AsyncTask;
import android.os.IBinder;
import android.os.RemoteException;
import android.util.Log;

public class NetworkService extends Service {


    private final INetwork.Stub mBinder = new INetwork.Stub() {

        @Override
        public int doConnect(String addr, int port) throws RemoteException {
            new ConnectTask().execute("test42");
            return 0;
        }
    };

    @Override
    public IBinder onBind(Intent arg0) {
        return mBinder;
    }

    private class ConnectTask extends AsyncTask<String, Void, Void> {

        @Override
        protected void onPreExecute() {
            super.onPreExecute();
            Log.i("OnPreExecute()", "");
        }

        @Override
        protected Void doInBackground(String... arg0) {
            Log.i("doInBackground()", "");
            return null;
        }

        @Override
        protected void onPostExecute(Void result) {
            super.onPostExecute(result);
            Log.i("OnPostExecute()", "");
        }

    }
}

Answer 1

Also be sure to check out IntentService. If that class is sufficient for your needs, it will take care of a lot of little details involved in making that pattern work correctly.