Android – using android.os.Mailbox for asychronous communication

Here is a screen shot.

Here’s how you set up a new Mailbox

// Create a mailbox and publish it.
Mailbox.createAndPublish("MyMailbox", new MyReceiver());

MyReceiver snippet and Notes

• when we get a message with msg.what == TEST1, we add another entry in the hash map and send it back


• when we get a message with msg.what == TEST2, we throw an exception


• for TEST3 and TEST4, we just send the message after a delay, just to illustrate that we can send the response asynchronously

    /**
     * Receiver for the Mailbox
     */
    private class MyReceiver extends Handler implements Mailbox.Receiver {
        public Object onNewMail(final Message msg, final Mailbox.Completion completion) {
            switch (msg.what) {
                case TEST1:
                    HashMap map = msg.getData();
                    map.put("hello", "world");
                    return map;

                case TEST2:
                    throw new RuntimeException();

                case TEST3:
                    completion.setAutoComplete(false);
                    // Send response after 5 seconds.
                    postDelayed(new Runnable() {
                        public void run() {
                            HashMap map = msg.getData();
                            map.put("hello", "world");
                            completion.complete(map);
                        }
                    }, 5000L);
                    return null;

                case TEST4:
                    completion.setAutoComplete(false);
                    // Send exception after 5 seconds.
                    postDelayed(new Runnable() {
                        public void run() {
                            completion.completeWithException(new RuntimeException());
                        }
                    }, 5000L);
                    return null;

                default:
                    throw new RuntimeException("Got unknown message " + msg);
            }
        }
    }

Sending messages to the mailbox

Not too complicated..

// Setup request/response data structures
Message request = handler.obtainMessage(TEST4);
HashMap map = new HashMap();
map.put("test.name", "test4");
request.setData(map);
Message response = handler.obtainMessage(RESPONSE);

// Send the request to the mailbox
Mailbox.sendToPublished("MyMailbox", request, response);

Receiving the response back from the mailbox

Just another Handler..

    /**
     * Handler updates the text area with the response or exception
     */
    private class MyUIReceiver extends Handler {
        public void handleMessage(android.os.Message message) {
            switch (message.what) {
                case RESPONSE:
                    TextView text = (TextView) MyMailbox.this.findViewById(R.id.text);
                    AsyncResult result = (AsyncResult) message.obj;
                    if (result.exception != null) {
                        text.setText(result.exception.toString());
                    } else {
                        text.setText(result.result.toString());
                    }
                    break;
            }
        }
    }

Saving the best for last!!

• You can send messages from another process not just the same process!


• Looks like you can stuff any Parcelable object into the hashmap (and don’t have to stick to just AIDL!!)

Download Source and APK from here – Mailbox.zip