android - How to start a new Thread in a service?

Question

I am developing an Android app and I am doing some heavy work (bringing data from an online web page and parsing it to store in database) in a service. Currently, it is taking about 20+ mins and for this time my UI is stuck. I was thinking of using a thread in service so my UI doesn't get stuck but it is giving error. I am using the following code:

Thread thread = new Thread()
{
      @Override
      public void run() {
          try {
              while(true) {
                  sleep(1000);
                  Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "Running Thread...", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
              }
          } catch (InterruptedException e) {
           Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), e.toString(), Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
          }
      }
  };

thread.start();

This simple code is giving run time error. Even If I take out the while loop, it is still not working. Please, can any one tell me what mistake I am doing. Apparently, I copied this code directly from an e-book. It is suppose to work but its not.

Answer 1

Android commandment: thou shall not interact with UI objects from your own threads

Wrap your Toast Display into runOnUIThread(new Runnable() { });