How to execute Async task repeatedly after fixed time intervals

How to make Async task execute repeatedly after some time interval just like Timer...Actually I am developing an application that will download automatically all the latest unread greeting from the server and for that purpose I have to check for updates from server after some fixed time intervals....I know that can be easily done through timer but I want to use async task which I think is more efficient for android applications.

Solution 1:

public void callAsynchronousTask() {
    final Handler handler = new Handler();
    Timer timer = new Timer();
    TimerTask doAsynchronousTask = new TimerTask() {       
        @Override
        public void run() {
            handler.post(new Runnable() {
                public void run() {       
                    try {
                        PerformBackgroundTask performBackgroundTask = new PerformBackgroundTask();
                        // PerformBackgroundTask this class is the class that extends AsynchTask 
                        performBackgroundTask.execute();
                    } catch (Exception e) {
                        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                    }
                }
            });
        }
    };
    timer.schedule(doAsynchronousTask, 0, 50000); //execute in every 50000 ms
}

Solution 2:

  //Every 10000 ms   
       private void doSomethingRepeatedly() {
      Timer timer = new Timer();
      timer.scheduleAtFixedRate( new TimerTask() {
            public void run() {

                  try{

                     new SendToServer().execute(); 

                  }
                  catch (Exception e) {
                      // TODO: handle exception
                  }

             }
            }, 0, 10000);
                     }

Solution 3:

You can just a handler:

private int m_interval = 5000; // 5 seconds by default, can be changed later
private Handle m_handler;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle bundle)
{
  ...
  m_handler = new Handler();
}

Runnable m_statusChecker = new Runnable()
{
     @Override 
     public void run() {
          updateStatus(); //this function can change value of m_interval.
          m_handler.postDelayed(m_statusChecker, m_interval);
     }
}

void startRepeatingTask()
{
    m_statusChecker.run(); 
}

void stopRepeatingTask()
{
    m_handler.removeCallback(m_statusChecker);
}

But I would recommend you to check this framework: http://code.google.com/intl/de-DE/android/c2dm/ Is a different approach: the server will notify the phone when something is ready (thus, saving some bandwidth and performance:))

Solution 4:

wouldn't it be more efficient to create a service and schedule it via Alarm Manager?