In Android, the UiThread is the main thread of the application that is responsible for handling user interface-related operations. It is also known as the main thread, UI thread or main Looper thread.
When an application is launched, the system creates a process and a dedicated thread called the main thread, which is responsible for handling various operations related to the user interface. This includes handling user input, updating the screen, and responding to events such as button clicks and touch events.
All UI-related operations, such as updating views or interacting with the UI components, must be executed on the UiThread to ensure that they are performed synchronously and without any conflicts or race conditions. If a non-UI operation, such as a network request or database query, is executed on the UiThread, it can block the thread and freeze the user interface, resulting in a poor user experience.
Therefore, it is recommended to perform long-running operations or operations that might block the UiThread, such as network or database operations, on a separate thread. Android provides various mechanisms, such as AsyncTask and Handler, to perform such operations in the background without blocking the UiThread.
The UiThread is a single thread that is responsible for updating the user interface and processing events related to the user interface. It runs on the main Looper, which is responsible for managing the message queue for the thread. Whenever an event occurs, such as a user interaction or a system notification, it is added to the message queue, and the UiThread dequeues and processes these events one by one in a sequential manner.
The UiThread is critical to the responsiveness and performance of an Android application. If the thread is blocked or overloaded with heavy tasks, the application can become unresponsive or crash. Therefore, it is recommended to avoid performing any long-running tasks or blocking operations on the UiThread.
Android provides several mechanisms for performing background tasks, such as AsyncTask, Handler, and ThreadPoolExecutor. These mechanisms allow developers to run tasks on a separate thread and post the results back to the UiThread when they are completed. This way, the UiThread is not blocked, and the user interface remains responsive and smooth.
In addition, Android provides a set of best practices for optimizing the performance of the UiThread. For example, it is recommended to use lightweight layouts and views, minimize the number of view groups, and avoid expensive operations, such as reflection or layout calculations, on the UiThread. By following these best practices, developers can ensure that their applications are responsive and performant, even on low-end devices.
User Interface Thread or UI-Thread in Android is a Thread element responsible for updating the layout elements of the application implicitly or explicitly. This means, to update an element or change its attributes in the application layout ie the front-end of the application, one can make use of the UI-Thread.
Realizing UI Thread -
For example, a thread action is started, and the developer wants to update the front-end element with respect to the thread elements, runOnUIThread{…} function can be used. Below is an example of the application where UI thread is used.
Initially, the application will show a Welcome message and as soon as the start button is clicked, it will show 2 messages, “love gfg” and “not gfg” alternatively at each second.