NativeScript / NativeScript/android

questions about background threads

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Description

I know you already said here that all JS runs in UI Thread but i would like to have another look at this.
The reason is that i found out that on IOS the Js code will run on the the thread in has been triggered.
This is actually an amazing feature. Thanks to that i managed to create an OpenCV module that can do live camera processing. In native the image processing is triggered from a background thread, then i call a JS delegate that modifies the image and returns it. All that happens in the background thread!.

It works amazingly. Imagine all the possibilities!
Now obviously i want to look at this on android. I immediately faced a wall on android as the runtime will always make sure the call to v8 JS will be done on the "worker" thread.
I wanted to try things so i decided to debug the runtime and modify the code so that it runs the v8 JS in the thread it is in.
To do that i simply modified the code to make it believe it is always in the worker thread
Now i get a weird error that i dont get. I end with a maximum call stack exceeded:

Process: org.nativescript.demovueopencv, PID: 2587
    java.lang.RuntimeException: An error occurred while executing doInBackground()
        at android.os.AsyncTask$3.done(AsyncTask.java:354)
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.finishCompletion(FutureTask.java:383)
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.setException(FutureTask.java:252)
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:271)
        at android.os.AsyncTask$SerialExecutor$1.run(AsyncTask.java:245)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1167)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:641)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:764)
     Caused by: com.tns.NativeScriptException: 
    Calling js method doInBackground failed
    
    RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded
    File: "file:///data/data/org.nativescript.demovueopencv/files/app/vendor.js, line: 39669, column: 14
    
    StackTrace: 
    	Frame: function:'ActivityCallbacksImplementation.onStart', file:'file:///data/data/org.nativescript.demovueopencv/files/app/vendor.js', line: 39669, column: 15
    	Frame: function:'NativeScriptActivity.onStart', file:'file:///data/data/org.nativescript.demovueopencv/files/app/vendor.js', line: 37027, column: 21
    
    
        at com.tns.Runtime.callJSMethodNative(Native Method)
        at com.tns.Runtime.dispatchCallJSMethodNative(Runtime.java:1162)
        at com.tns.Runtime.callJSMethodImpl(Runtime.java:1041)
        at com.tns.Runtime.callJSMethod(Runtime.java:1028)
        at com.tns.Runtime.callJSMethod(Runtime.java:1008)
        at com.tns.Runtime.callJSMethod(Runtime.java:1000)
        at android.os.AsyncTask_bundle_283_42_AsyncTaskRunner.doInBackground(Unknown Source:20)
        at android.os.AsyncTask$2.call(AsyncTask.java:333)
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
        	... 4 more

It seems to appear in the native side which i dont get.
Can someone guide me on this?

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First steps

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  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with test-app/runtime/src/main/java/com/tns/Runtime.java around line 1152 and the dispatchCallJSMethodNative entry at line 1162. Reproduce the background-thread call and compare the resulting ActivityCallbacksImplementation.onStart recursion with the reported stack trace; done would mean identifying the cause and documenting or fixing the supported thread behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
android, java, javascript
Domain
mobile-dev
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
15/100

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