title: Downloading data on Android app first run
body: <p>I have a language translation app that needs to download some initial data on the first run. When the app is first launched, the first step is to get a list of currently supported languages from the server. The user then selects which they wish to install, and the rest of the tables are then downloaded. </p>
  
  <p>I check if the languages are present in the local db, and if not, connect to the server and download them as JSON. The user cannot do anything until this data is retrieved from the server.</p>
  
  <p>If there is no network connection, a dialog should prompt the user to go to their WIFI settings. If there is a network error with the download, another dialog would then prompt the user to retry now, or wait until later. If the download succeeds, a new Intent is launched to send them to choose the languages to install.</p>
  
  <p>I have this mostly functioning (my AlertDialogs aren't showing), but the question is whether this is the proper way to accomplish this. I've currently set it up as an AsyncTask, but I've seen plenty of posts with responses yelling about how an AsyncTask should not be used when the UI depends on it. Fair enough, but an AsyncTask seems to be the recommended method for downloading data. </p>
  
  <p>Is an AsyncTask the correct way to download the data, or is there a preferred alternative? </p>
  
  <p><strike>How to best deal with this on the UI, as it depends on this data? A splash screen? I'd rather not, but it seems something should be there, and I need somewhere to display the AlertDialogs if necessary. </strike></p>