How to cancel DefaulHttpClient execution process in multithread

Question

I am developing an android application that rely very much on internet, I retrieve data frequently using this RestClient Class, that wrap some detail on using DefaultHttpCli

Answer 1

The RestClient object your using doesn't expose any interrupt() method of DefaultHttpClient (which is the backing object doing most of the work). Not a problem - the DefaultHttpClient doesn't seem to have any interrupt or abort functionality to expose in the first place.

So, your left with a blocking operation on client.Execute().

Your half way to having a solution - which is to put the blocking operation into a Thread. Where your falling down is your architecture - your using a Thread/Listener setup which doesn't give you alot of wiggle room.

Try switching your anonymous Thread to an AsyncTask. This won't solve the problem of you're client.Execute() from blocking but will allow you to throw away the listener (replacing it with onProgressUpdate() or onPostExecute()).

What this will do is allow you call task.cancel(), signalling to the Task it is no longer needed. This will allow you to reassign a new AsyncTask, orphaning the cancelled task, the orphaned thread will then finish quickly as its able and die quietly while the rest of your application gets on with what it needs to.

((On an unrelated note, "Execute()" is a method and shouldn't be capitalised))