Answer by Ravindra babu for How do I fix 'android.os.NetworkOnMainThreadException'?

New Thread and AsyncTask solutions have been explained already.

AsyncTask should ideally be used for short operations. Normal Thread is not preferable for Android.

Have a look at alternate solution using HandlerThread and Handler

HandlerThread

Handy class for starting a new thread that has a looper. The looper can then be used to create handler classes. Note that start() must still be called.

Handler:

A Handler allows you to send and process Message and Runnable objects associated with a thread's MessageQueue. Each Handler instance is associated with a single thread and that thread's message queue. When you create a new Handler, it is bound to the thread / message queue of the thread that is creating it -- from that point on, it will deliver messages and runnables to that message queue and execute them as they come out of the message queue.

Solution:

1. Create HandlerThread

2. Call start() on HandlerThread

3. Create Handler by getting Looper from HanlerThread

4. Embed your Network operation related code in Runnable object

5. Submit Runnable task to Handler

Sample code snippet, which address NetworkOnMainThreadException

HandlerThread handlerThread = new HandlerThread("URLConnection");
handlerThread.start();
handler mainHandler = new Handler(handlerThread.getLooper());

Runnable myRunnable = new Runnable() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        try {
            Log.d("Ravi", "Before IO call");
            URL page = new URL("http://www.google.com");
            StringBuffer text = new StringBuffer();
            HttpURLConnection conn = (HttpURLConnection) page.openConnection();
            conn.connect();
            InputStreamReader in = new InputStreamReader((InputStream) conn.getContent());
            BufferedReader buff = new BufferedReader(in);
            String line;
            while ( (line =  buff.readLine()) != null) {
                text.append(line + "\n");
            }
            Log.d("Ravi", "After IO call");
            Log.d("Ravi",text.toString());

        }catch( Exception err){
            err.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
};
mainHandler.post(myRunnable);

Pros of using this approach:

1. Creating new Thread/AsyncTask for each network operation is expensive. The Thread/AsyncTask will be destroyed and re-created for next Network operations. But with Handler and HandlerThread approach, you can submit many network operations (as Runnable tasks) to single HandlerThread by using Handler.