Android code optimization - AsyncTask

Question

I have finished my first Android App, but I am getting lots of skipped frame messages from Choreographer. So, I started reading and got the impression that I should put as less calculations/works as possible in main thread, rather should use AsyncTask.

To understand the thumb rule, can anybody please validate my code whether I should move any methods in AsyncTask?

public class EditEntry extends Activity  implements DatePickerFragment.TheListener{
    public static int EDIT_BOOK_ID;
    EditText edit_datepurchased;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_edit_entry);

        Intent eintent = getIntent();
        EDIT_BOOK_ID = Integer.parseInt(eintent.getStringExtra("passid"));
        populateData(EDIT_BOOK_ID);
    }

    /**
     * Set up the {@link android.app.ActionBar}.
     */
    @TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB)
    private void setupActionBar() {
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {
            getActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.edit_entry, menu);
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        switch (item.getItemId()) {
        case R.id.editsave:
                editSave();
                return true;
        case android.R.id.home:
            String currlist = Integer.toString(EDIT_BOOK_ID);
                Intent editIntent = new Intent();
                editIntent.putExtra("bookid", currlist);
                setResult(RESULT_OK, editIntent);
                finish();
            return true;
        }
        return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }

    //populateData get the data from database and populate all the fields in the page

    public void populateData(int runid){
        mylibmandbhandler db = new mylibmandbhandler(this);
        mylibman cn = new mylibman();
        cn = db.getNextBook(runid,2);  // Method in mylibmandbhandler class to fetch data
        String temp;
        EditText mEditText = new EditText(this);

        mEditText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.bookname); // TEXT
        mEditText.setText(cn.getBookname());

        mEditText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.pages); //NUMBER
        temp = Integer.toString(cn.getPages());
        mEditText.setText(temp.equals("-1")?"":temp);

        CheckBox mCheckBox = (CheckBox) findViewById(R.id.inlibrary); //CHECKBOX
        if(cn.getInlibrary()==1){
            mCheckBox.setChecked(true);
        }else{
            mCheckBox.setChecked(false);
        }
        ....................
        ....................
        // I HAVE AROUND 25 fields (mostly EditText)
        ....................
        ....................

        db.close();
    }

    // editSave update the database based on changed values
    public void editSave() {
        AlertDialog.Builder editDialog = new AlertDialog.Builder(EditEntry.this);
        editDialog.setTitle("Confirm Edit...");
        editDialog.setMessage("Are you sure you want save changes?");
        final mylibmandbhandler db = new mylibmandbhandler(this);
        editDialog.setNegativeButton("NO", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
            public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) {
                dialog.cancel();
            }
        });

        editDialog.setPositiveButton("YES", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
            public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog,int which) {
                String[] dataarr = new String[17];
                EditText xEditText;
                String aTemp;
                int cnt = 0;
                xEditText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.bookname);
                dataarr[cnt++] = xEditText.getText().toString();

                xEditText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.pages);
                aTemp = xEditText.getText().toString();
                try {
                   Integer.parseInt(aTemp);  // IF NUMBER
                   dataarr[cnt++] = aTemp;
                } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
                    dataarr[cnt++] = "-1";
                }
                     .....................
                     .....................
                     // Get All 25 fields data
                     .....................
                     .....................


                    db.updateRecord(new mylibman(dataarr),EDIT_BOOK_ID);   // Method in mylibmandbhandler class to update database

                Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Changes saved for Book#"+EDIT_BOOK_ID, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

                //RETURN TO MAIN ACTIVITY PAGE AND RELOAD THE EDITED RECORD
                String currlist = Integer.toString(EDIT_BOOK_ID);
                Intent editIntent = new Intent();
                editIntent.putExtra("bookid", currlist);
                setResult(RESULT_OK, editIntent); 
                finish();
            }
        });
        db.close();
        editDialog.show();
    }

    //SHOW DATE DIALOG
    public void showdate(View v) {
        edit_datepurchased = (EditText) findViewById(v.getId());
        DialogFragment newFragment = new DatePickerFragment();
        Bundle bundle = new Bundle();
        bundle.putString("dateAsText",edit_datepurchased.getText().toString());
        newFragment.setArguments(bundle); 
        newFragment.show(getFragmentManager(), "datePicker");
    }

    //@Override
    public void returnDate(String date) {
        edit_datepurchased.setText(date);
    }

}

Answer 1

Both the methods editSave() and populateData() require access to a database to function. They both should be modified to use AsyncTask in order to reduce the footprint that your code has on the 'main thread'.

I presume the database is local to the device because otherwise you would be getting the notorious NetworkOnMainThreadException... but regardless, for the same reason that NetworkOnMainThread has been designated as a critical problem, database access should be treated the same way. Any time you have IO or other non-CPU bound activities, you really should be using the AsyncTask, and there's a good example on StackOverflow too.