Android Room - simple select query - Cannot access database on the main thread

I am trying a sample with Room Persistence Library. I created an Entity:

@Entity
public class Agent {
    @PrimaryKey
    public String guid;
    public String name;
    public String email;
    public String password;
    public String phone;
    public String licence;
}

Created a DAO class:

@Dao
public interface AgentDao {
    @Query("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Agent where email = :email OR phone = :phone OR licence = :licence")
    int agentsCount(String email, String phone, String licence);

    @Insert
    void insertAgent(Agent agent);
}

Created the Database class:

@Database(entities = {Agent.class}, version = 1)
public abstract class AppDatabase extends RoomDatabase {
    public abstract AgentDao agentDao();
}

Exposed database using below subclass in Kotlin:

class MyApp : Application() {

    companion object DatabaseSetup {
        var database: AppDatabase? = null
    }

    override fun onCreate() {
        super.onCreate()
        MyApp.database =  Room.databaseBuilder(this, AppDatabase::class.java, "MyDatabase").build()
    }
}

Implemented below function in my activity:

void signUpAction(View view) {
        String email = editTextEmail.getText().toString();
        String phone = editTextPhone.getText().toString();
        String license = editTextLicence.getText().toString();

        AgentDao agentDao = MyApp.DatabaseSetup.getDatabase().agentDao();
        //1: Check if agent already exists
        int agentsCount = agentDao.agentsCount(email, phone, license);
        if (agentsCount > 0) {
            //2: If it already exists then prompt user
            Toast.makeText(this, "Agent already exists!", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
        }
        else {
            Toast.makeText(this, "Agent does not exist! Hurray :)", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
            onBackPressed();
        }
    }

Unfortunately on execution of above method it crashes with below stack trace:

    FATAL EXCEPTION: main
 Process: com.example.me.MyApp, PID: 31592
java.lang.IllegalStateException: Could not execute method for android:onClick
    at android.support.v7.app.AppCompatViewInflater$DeclaredOnClickListener.onClick(AppCompatViewInflater.java:293)
    at android.view.View.performClick(View.java:5612)
    at android.view.View$PerformClick.run(View.java:22288)
    at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:751)
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:95)
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:154)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6123)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:867)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:757)
 Caused by: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
    at android.support.v7.app.AppCompatViewInflater$DeclaredOnClickListener.onClick(AppCompatViewInflater.java:288)
    at android.view.View.performClick(View.java:5612) 
    at android.view.View$PerformClick.run(View.java:22288) 
    at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:751) 
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:95) 
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:154) 
    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6123) 
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) 
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:867) 
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:757) 
 Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Cannot access database on the main thread since it may potentially lock the UI for a long periods of time.
    at android.arch.persistence.room.RoomDatabase.assertNotMainThread(RoomDatabase.java:137)
    at android.arch.persistence.room.RoomDatabase.query(RoomDatabase.java:165)
    at com.example.me.MyApp.RoomDb.Dao.AgentDao_Impl.agentsCount(AgentDao_Impl.java:94)
    at com.example.me.MyApp.View.SignUpActivity.signUpAction(SignUpActivity.java:58)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) 
    at android.support.v7.app.AppCompatViewInflater$DeclaredOnClickListener.onClick(AppCompatViewInflater.java:288) 
    at android.view.View.performClick(View.java:5612) 
    at android.view.View$PerformClick.run(View.java:22288) 
    at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:751) 
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:95) 
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:154) 
    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6123) 
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) 
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:867) 
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:757) 

Seems like that problem is related to execution of db operation on main thread. However the sample test code provided in above link does not run on a separate thread:

@Test
    public void writeUserAndReadInList() throws Exception {
        User user = TestUtil.createUser(3);
        user.setName("george");
        mUserDao.insert(user);
        List<User> byName = mUserDao.findUsersByName("george");
        assertThat(byName.get(0), equalTo(user));
    }

Am I missing anything over here? How can I make it execute without crash? Please suggest.

Database access on main thread locking the UI is the error, like Dale said.

--EDIT 2--

Since many people may come across this answer... The best option nowadays, generally speaking, is Kotlin Coroutines. Room now supports it directly (currently in beta). https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/coroutines-overview.html https://developer.android.com/jetpack/androidx/releases/room#2.1.0-beta01

--EDIT 1--

For people wondering... You have other options. I recommend taking a look into the new ViewModel and LiveData components. LiveData works great with Room. https://developer.android.com/topic/libraries/architecture/livedata.html

Another option is the RxJava/RxAndroid. More powerful but more complex than LiveData. https://github.com/ReactiveX/RxJava

--Original answer--

Create a static nested class (to prevent memory leak) in your Activity extending AsyncTask.

private static class AgentAsyncTask extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, Integer> {

    //Prevent leak
    private WeakReference<Activity> weakActivity;
    private String email;
    private String phone;
    private String license;

    public AgentAsyncTask(Activity activity, String email, String phone, String license) {
        weakActivity = new WeakReference<>(activity);
        this.email = email;
        this.phone = phone;
        this.license = license;
    }

    @Override
    protected Integer doInBackground(Void... params) {
        AgentDao agentDao = MyApp.DatabaseSetup.getDatabase().agentDao();
        return agentDao.agentsCount(email, phone, license);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPostExecute(Integer agentsCount) {
        Activity activity = weakActivity.get();
        if(activity == null) {
            return;
        }

        if (agentsCount > 0) {
            //2: If it already exists then prompt user
            Toast.makeText(activity, "Agent already exists!", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
        } else {
            Toast.makeText(activity, "Agent does not exist! Hurray :)", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
            activity.onBackPressed();
        }
    }
}

Or you can create a final class on its own file.

Then execute it in the signUpAction(View view) method:

new AgentAsyncTask(this, email, phone, license).execute();

In some cases you might also want to hold a reference to the AgentAsyncTask in your activity so you can cancel it when the Activity is destroyed. But you would have to interrupt any transactions yourself.

Also, your question about the Google's test example... They state in that web page:

The recommended approach for testing your database implementation is writing a JUnit test that runs on an Android device. Because these tests don't require creating an activity, they should be faster to execute than your UI tests.

No Activity, no UI.