Java – how to run a thread repeatedly after a period of time

I want to run a thread (perform some time-consuming tasks in the background and do not update the UI). It just downloads some files from the Internet and it is independent of the UI

I want to run this thread repeatedly after a time interval

How can I do this? I have threads like the following:

boolean mResult =false;

void onCreate()
{
    DownloadThread mDownloadThread = new DownloadThread();
    mDownloadThread.start();
}

class DownloadThread extends Thread implements Runnable
{
    public void run() 
    {
       // My download code 
       mResult  = result;
    }
}

Do I need to use handler to do this?

Solution

Option 1:

volatile boolean flag = true;

public void run() 
{
    while(flag)
    {    
       // Do your task
        try{
            Thread.Sleep(interval);
        } catch(Exception e){

        }

    }
}

Option 2:

Timer timer = new Timer();
timer.scheduleAtFixedRate(new TimerTask() {

    @Override
    public void run() {
        // Do your task
    }

},interval);

Option 3:

volatile boolean flag = true;

public void someMethod(){
     // Do your task
     try{
         Thread.Sleep(interval);
     } catch(Exception e){

     }
     if(flag)
        return;
     else
        someMethod();     
}

Option 4:

final Handler handler = new Handler();
volatile boolean flag = true;

Class A implements Runnable{
    public void run(){
        // Do your Task
    }
    if(!flag)
       handler.postDelayed(a,interval);
}

A a = new A();

handler.postDelayed(a);

There are more options I've never tried options 3 and 4 It just appeared in my mind, I wrote If I were you, I would use either 1 or 2