Error when downloading a file while using AsyncTask to show progress

Question

I used this Answer to develop an android app to download a file from an internet server.

But it gives the following error.

error: expected

error: illegal start of type

Execution failed for task ':app:compileDebugJavaWithJavac'.

Compilation failed; see the compiler error output for details.

This error is for the code line,

downloadTask.execute("the url to the file you want to download");//execute method
//is highlighted in red in android studio and it says "Cannot resolve symbol execute"

This answer is accepted as the correct one. I followed what it says but it still give the above error. I'm very new to this environment, Please help me.

 package com.kalusudu.dp.smarthike;

import android.content.Context;
import android.content.DialogInterface;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.graphics.BitmapFactory;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.AsyncTask;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.PowerManager;
import android.support.design.widget.FloatingActionButton;
import android.support.design.widget.Snackbar;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.TextView;
import android.widget.Toast;

import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.net.URL;

public class RecentStories extends AppCompatActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_recent_stories);
        Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
        setSupportActionBar(toolbar);

        FloatingActionButton fab = (FloatingActionButton) findViewById(R.id.fab);
        fab.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View view) {
                Snackbar.make(view, "Replace with your own action", Snackbar.LENGTH_LONG)
                        .setAction("Action", null).show();
            }
        });

        TextView text1 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.TextView01);
        text1.setText("Knuckles mountain range is a part of the Hill Country of Sri Lanka which is also about 3000 Ft or 915 Mts. from sea level and covers an area of about 90 Sq. Milles or 234 Sq. Km of land extent.");

        TextView text2 = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.TextView02);
        text2.setText("Knuckles mountain range is a part of the Hill Country of Sri Lanka which is also about 3000 Ft or 915 Mts. from sea level and covers an area of about 90 Sq. Milles or 234 Sq. Km of land extent.");


        ImageView imageviewOne = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.imageView01);
        imageviewOne.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            public void onClick(View v) {
                Intent intent = new Intent(RecentStories.this,Cloud.class);
                //intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
                //intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_BROWSABLE);
                //intent.setData(Uri.parse("http://m.facebook.com"));
                startActivity(intent);
            }
        });
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_recent_stories, menu);
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
        // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
        // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
        int id = item.getItemId();

        //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
        if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
            return true;
        }

        return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }

    // execute this when the downloader must be fired
    final DownloadTask downloadTask = new DownloadTask(RecentStories.this);
    downloadTask.execute("URL");//execute method
//is highlighted in red in android studio and it says "Cannot resolve symbol execute"


}

// usually, subclasses of AsyncTask are declared inside the activity class.
// that way, you can easily modify the UI thread from here
private class DownloadTask extends AsyncTask<String, Integer, String> {

    private Context context;
    private PowerManager.WakeLock mWakeLock;

    public DownloadTask(Context context) {
        this.context = context;
    }

    @Override
    protected String doInBackground(String... sUrl) {
        InputStream input = null;
        OutputStream output = null;
        HttpURLConnection connection = null;
        try {
            URL url = new URL(sUrl[0]);
            connection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
            connection.connect();

            // expect HTTP 200 OK, so we don't mistakenly save error report
            // instead of the file
            if (connection.getResponseCode() != HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {
                return "Server returned HTTP " + connection.getResponseCode()
                        + " " + connection.getResponseMessage();
            }

            // this will be useful to display download percentage
            // might be -1: server did not report the length
            int fileLength = connection.getContentLength();

            // download the file
            input = connection.getInputStream();
            output = new FileOutputStream("/sdcard/file_name.extension");

            byte data[] = new byte[4096];
            long total = 0;
            int count;
            while ((count = input.read(data)) != -1) {
                // allow canceling with back button
                if (isCancelled()) {
                    input.close();
                    return null;
                }
                total += count;
                // publishing the progress....
                if (fileLength > 0) // only if total length is known
                    publishProgress((int) (total * 100 / fileLength));
                output.write(data, 0, count);
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            return e.toString();
        } finally {
            try {
                if (output != null)
                    output.close();
                if (input != null)
                    input.close();
            } catch (IOException ignored) {
            }

            if (connection != null)
                connection.disconnect();
        }
        return null;
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPreExecute() {
        super.onPreExecute();
        // take CPU lock to prevent CPU from going off if the user
        // presses the power button during download
        PowerManager pm = (PowerManager) context.getSystemService(Context.POWER_SERVICE);
        mWakeLock = pm.newWakeLock(PowerManager.PARTIAL_WAKE_LOCK,
                getClass().getName());
        mWakeLock.acquire();
    }

    @Override
    protected void onProgressUpdate(Integer... progress) {
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPostExecute(String result) {
        mWakeLock.release();
        if (result != null)
            Toast.makeText(context,"Download error: "+result, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
        else
            Toast.makeText(context,"File downloaded", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    }
}

are you missing a `;` in the line before or something? check your code, this is a syntax error — David Medenjak, Apr 29 '17 at 07:31
use weak reference on context or your will receive memory leak — Anton Kazakov, Apr 29 '17 at 07:37
The error is coming from the `downloadTask.execute("URL");` line being outside of a method. You need to move that into a method. You also can't initialize `downloadTask` where you have it, as the `Context` will be null. — Mike M., Apr 29 '17 at 07:43
Thank you @MikeM. when I moved it in to a method it is working. Thank you for pointing my mistake. — Punya Munasinghe, Apr 29 '17 at 07:51

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 29 '17 at 07:31

1

Did you add your url - or just the text???

downloadTask.execute("the url to the file you want to download");

For example

downloadTask.execute("https://maps.awesome.com/maps/api/geocode/json");

answered Apr 29 '17 at 07:31

vivianaranha

2,781
6
33
47

Yes, I thought it would be enough just to check the code – Punya Munasinghe Apr 29 '17 at 07:35

Error when downloading a file while using AsyncTask to show progress

1 Answers1