Is there a way to change text in a TextView while the java code runs?

Question

I have a TextView in an XML layout (in an Android application). This TextView displays the value of of a string in strings.xml. However, as my java code runs I want the value of that string to change each second for 4 consecutive seconds and I want the XML layout to show that change.

Is there a way to change the value of the string in strings.xml while the java code runs? If not is there an alternative way to change the text displayed by a textView in a layout as the java code runs?

`Strings.xml` is unchangable. [`TextView#setText()`](http://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/TextView.html#setText(int)) however, can accept any String/String resource id. — A--C, Jan 26 '13 at 20:58
Forget layout. http://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/TextView.html#setText(java.lang.CharSequence). Please also do some basic Java tutorials before you try to develop Android apps. — Simon, Jan 26 '13 at 20:58
see [Updating TextView every N seconds?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4776514/updating-textview-every-n-seconds) for updating textview when your java code running — ρяσѕρєя K, Jan 26 '13 at 20:59
@A--C Thanks for the replies - I thought Strings.xml was unchangeable but in another thread someone was saying it could be changed and that was not contested. I tried to used "TextView.setText(num)" where 'num' is the String variable I am displaying but an error appeared saying when I defined TextView it needed to be a 'final' variable. So I did that but that results in the app crashing when it is about to change to the second value of 'num'. Is there a way to allow it to change more than once i.e. before and after a 'sleep(1000);'? or is there something else I'm doing wrong? — Uwais A, Jan 26 '13 at 22:05
@user2014236 if you're using a plain old `Thread`, you're probably getting an exception saying that you can't update the UI from a different `Thread` (which is why we use [`runOnUIThread()`](http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/Activity.html#runOnUiThread(java.lang.Runnable))) coder's answer I'd say should work and it's definitely cleaner. — A--C, Jan 26 '13 at 22:39

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 26 '13 at 22:40

3

I'd recommend using a Timer.

private Timer timer = new Timer();
private TimerTask timerTask;
timerTask = new TimerTask() {
  @Override
  public void run() {
    //refresh your textview
  }
};
timer.schedule(timerTask, 0, 10000);

You can cancel it using:

timer.cancel();

edited Jan 26 '13 at 22:40

A--C

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answered Jan 26 '13 at 21:34

Buneme Kyakilika

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Is there a way to change text in a TextView while the java code runs?

1 Answers1