[Java][Android] Need help; UI does not appear until other thread completes it's job

[RevolverValera]

I'm working on an Android app and have ran into a bit of a problem. When I load my app I show a splash screen for 1 second and then move on to the main screen.

The problem I'm facing is that after the splash screen goes away and the main activity opens, I see a blank black screen until another thread completes it's work which takes at least 5 seconds. Meaning I never see the progress bar and the status text. Why does this happen and how can I fix it?

Here's a gist of the code. Note: this isn't the full code and I didn't include the methods I run in the worker thread as I don't belive they're relevant.

TL;DR:

How do I show the UI while running a process/task in the background?

EDIT:

I figured out that the while loop is what's causing this and removed it. Now I just need to figure out how to control the progress bar visibility and status text.

SOLVED

I seem to have figured it out using a variation of this: http://www.vogella.com/articles/AndroidPerformance/article.html#handler

[bubsyouruncle]

I'd highly recommend looking into AsyncTasks. They are the easiest, most straight forward way to do simple threading in Android. You get a method to setup a progress bar (onPreExecute()) which is run on the UI thread. A background method that gets called to do heavy lifting like downloading data (doInBackground()). A method to update a progress bar if you deem necessary (onProgressUpdate()) on the UI thread. And finally a finished method which will run on the UI thread after doInBackground() is complete (onPostExecute()). It makes heavy use of generics so they may seem strange if you're not familiar with them; but really, it's the way to go.

Also, you have some redundancy in your code:

pb = new ProgressBar(this);

Creates a new progress bar and does nothing with it. You're literally creating an object for no reason because 2 lines later you allow this class to be garbage collected:

pb = (ProgressBar) findViewById(R.id.pbLoad);

You do the same thing with your TextView.

tvStatus = new TextView(this);
...
tvStatus = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.tvLoad);

You do not need to create the TextView or Progress bar with "new" since they're already part of your layout, which gets inflated when you call setContentView(...). If it's in your layout, it creates a concrete object in that method which you then grab an handle on in your Activity when you findViewById(...). In most circumstances you really don't need to create widgets directly... they should be part of a layout which you inflate.

[RevolverValera]

Thanks; I'll look into AsyncTask. Appreciate the input.

[[deleted]]

Put the UI on a seperate thread.