Develop Reference

Fragment communication: which is the better approach?

I was working on communication between multiple fragments in a activity stack.
I have figured out 2 ways to do this.
Through interfaces
Through Bundle setarguments
Bundle bundle = new Bundle();
bundle.putBoolean("Status",trur);
Fragment fragment = getFragmentManager().findFragmentByTag(bottomfragment.class.getName());
if(fragment!=null) {
fragment.setArguments(bundle);
}
I felt the 2nd approach easy.Since Google recommends 1 st approach
Can anyone help me with the problems I may face by following 2nd approach.

You are mixing the both the ways.
1. through interfaces is if you want to communicate from fragment to activity or fragment to fragment(via activity)
2. set argument is if you want to pass arguments while starting the fragment. you can call methods of fragment using the instance you get from fragment id/tag
Please referfragment communication

Try to communication between two fragments like this:
1) Create Interface like this:
public interface FragmentChangeListener {
void changeFragment(Fragment fragment);
}
2) Update MainActivity like this:
public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements FragmentChangeListener
{
//Activity code
------
#Override
public void changeFragment(Fragment fragment) {
FragmentManager fm = getSupportFragmentManager();
FragmentTransaction tr = fm.beginTransaction();
tr.replace(R.id.frame_container, fragment);
tr.commitAllowingStateLoss();
}
}
3) Create First Fragment:
public class FirstFragment extends Fragment
{
// call another freagment like this
//in your oncreateview method:
SecondFragment
Bundle b = new Bundle();
b.putSerializable(SELECTED_ITEM, true);
SecondFragment second = SecondFragment.newInstance(b);
FragmentChangeListener fc = (FragmentChangeListener) getActivity();
fc.changeFragment(second);
}
4) Second Fragment:
public class SecondFragment extends Fragment
{
public static SecondFragment newInstance(Bundle bundle) {
SecondFragment fragment = new SecondFragment();
if (bundle != null)
fragment.setArguments(bundle);
return fragment;
}
//another fragment related code
//In your OncreateView like this:
if (getArguments() != null)
boolean temp = getArguments().getBoolean(IntentParameter.SELECTED_ITEM);
}
Hope this explanation help you :)

Argument (Bundle) should be passed to Fragment only initially (when Fragment's object is created by default constructor). Calling setArguments method on already added Fragment will cause IllegalStateException. See body of setArguments method:
public void setArguments(Bundle args) {
if (mIndex >= 0 && isStateSaved()) {
throw new IllegalStateException("Fragment already active and state has been saved");
}
mArguments = args;
}
If you want to change something in Fragment A from Fragment B :
a) Get an object of A inside B using
getFragmentManager().findFragmentByTag("FRAGMENT_A_TAG");
Or
getFragmentManager().findFragmentById(FRAGMENT_A_CONTAINER_ID);
Cast returned object to A and call proper method on it. (It's the simplest way, but after it, A and B become highly coupled);
b) Alternatively, you can write mentioned logic inside method of Activity, which contains these 2 Fragments, get reference of this Activity inside B using getContext() casted to container Activity and call mentioned method on it (It kills reusability, because if you want to have A and B on other Activity, casting getContext() will cause ClassCastException);
c) The best way, to communicate between Fragments is to create interface, implement container Activity by this interface, get reference of this interface inside B and call proper method on it. (You can implement as many activities as you want by this interface, so it's reusable approach and A and B are loosely coupled).

Pattern for Activity / Fragment in android

I've a activity which basically is :
public class FragmentContainer extends FragmentActivityBase implements IRefreshListener {
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
if (getIntent().getExtras() == null
|| getIntent().getExtras().get("type") == null) {
showProductList();
}
else
{
if (getIntent().getExtras().get("type").equals("customer"))
showCustomerList();
}
#Override
public void showProductList() {
FragmentManager fragmentManager = getSupportFragmentManager();
FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction = fragmentManager
.beginTransaction();
// load the product list
ProductList fragment = new ProductList();
fragmentTransaction.replace(R.id.fragment_container, fragment)
.addToBackStack(null);
fragmentTransaction.commit();
}
.....
}
in the fragment, I use onCreateView to get intent and then I create my view.
If I need to change the fragment, I get the reference to the parent Activity (taken from onAttach) and I call method referenced by the IRefreshListener.
like :
IRefreshListener mCallback;
#Override
public void onAttach(Activity activity) {
super.onAttach(activity);
// This makes sure that the container activity has implemented
// the callback interface. If not, it throws an exception.
try {
mCallback = (IRefreshListener) activity;
} catch (ClassCastException e) {
throw new ClassCastException(activity.toString()
+ " must implement IRefreshListener");
}
}
public void callCustomer() {
mCallback.showCustomerList();
}
It works but whne I change the orientation, even I use setRetainInstance(true) it will be reseted.
I have 2 questions :
Do I use the good pattern to manage my application. The big activity which contains one fragment become bigger with the time
How should I handle orientation change ?
Regards

I do not find this pattern is more perfect or best one, although it is or was a suggestion from Google. Because it could be a worse coding style if fragment knows particular activity or listeners, you might write more and more code, when you wanna to let your fragment know more its "container" or "parents". Will the fragment later be used for other activity which has not been implemented with IRefreshListener etc, you will code much more.
My introduce is using Otto-Bus or Event-Bus. You can just send message from one to one. Every one doesn't have to know each other.

Android managing fragments from activity elegantly

Description of what I'm trying to accomplish:
I have an app that uses a FragmentActivity with a LinearLayout as a container for the fragments. I click different buttons on the FragmentActivity UI and add and remove Fragments to the container in the FragmentActivity. In addition to clicking buttons on the FragmentActivity UI, each Fragment also has buttons that can be clicked which will remove the current fragment and add a different fragment in its place.
The Android way of doing things as I understand it:
I have been reading up on how to do this and as I understand it, the 'proper' way of doing things is to use the FragmentActivity as sort of a relay station and have each fragment do callbacks to the FragmentActivity to communicate events and deal with them.
Scenario:
So let's say that the FragmentActivity is displaying Fragment A and when the user clicks a button in FragmentA I want to stop showing FragmentA and start showing FragmentB. To do this I have created an interface in FragmentA called AListener. In the onAttach() method of FragmentA I use the suggested method of checking that the FragmentActivity implements AListener. When the button in FragmentA is clicked I use one of the callback methods from AListener to communicate the click event to the FragmentActivity. In the FragmentActivity I create an instance of FragmentB and add it to the container in FragmentActivity. Then if some event happens in FragmentB I use the same scheme to communicate the event to the FragmentActivity and do something interesting.
So what's the problem?
For my application I have found this scheme of having Fragments call back to the FragmentActivity and then having the FragmentActivity create a new fragment or call forward to and existing fragment very cumbersome. I have many fragments that need to be displayed by the FragmentActivity and therefore I am implementing an interface for every type of fragment that needs to be displayed (Each fragment is different so they each have their own interface). This causes clashes when I have two interfaces that have the same method signatures and I'm forced to rename one of the methods.
For instance, if I want to attach a listener to a fragment using the onAttach() method of the fragment, then my FragmentActivity must implement the interface. I have found several instances where I have callback methods that have the same name (or I'm forced to name them something similar but different because of a namespace collision). One solution to this would be to use an anonymous classes as callbacks instead of having the FragmentActivity implement the interface. This seems to work well enough, but goes against what the Android documentation says about using the onAttach() method to set the listener.
Are there any elegant ways to approach this problem? It seems to me the tradeoff is that you either force the FragmentActivity to implement an interface for each Fragment that you want to display in it and have the fun problem of watching out for method signature collisions, or you go against the Android documentation and use Anonymous classes to handle the callbacks (not sure of the implications of this).
I am fairly new to Java and feel like I could be missing a concept here that would solve my problem. Can anyone set me straight on how to solve this problem elegantly?

I completely understand your problem since i was dealing it for a long time. Here is the solution i came up right now! It may need some modification based on your need but i it works well.
first of all to to make communicating of event easier in your app use an EventBus! here is the most famous one https://goo.gl/nAEW6
event bus allows you to send event from anywhere to anywhere without need to worry about implementing interfaces, broadcast receivers, threading, etc.
Then add FragmentOrganizer to your app. It's a base class for all of your Fragment Organizers. basically you need one for each activity. Here is the code
public abstract class FragmentOrganizer {
protected FragmentManager fragmentManager;
public FragmentOrganizer(FragmentManager fragmentManager) {
this.fragmentManager = fragmentManager;
openFragment(getInitialFragment());
EventBus.getDefault().register(this);
}
protected abstract Fragment getInitialFragment();
protected abstract void onEvent(Object event);
public abstract boolean handleBackNavigation();
public void freeUpResources(){
EventBus.getDefault().unregister(this);
}
protected Fragment getOpenFragment(){
String tag = fragmentManager.getBackStackEntryAt(fragmentManager.getBackStackEntryCount() -1).getName();
return fragmentManager.findFragmentByTag(tag);
}
protected boolean isFragmentOpen(Fragment fragment){
return isFragmentOpen(fragment, true);
}
protected boolean isFragmentOpen(Fragment fragment, boolean useArgs){
String fragmentTag = createFragmentTag(fragment, useArgs);
if (fragmentManager.getBackStackEntryCount() != 0) {
String name = fragmentManager.getBackStackEntryAt(fragmentManager.getBackStackEntryCount() - 1).getName();
if(!useArgs)
name = name.substring(0, name.indexOf("-"));
return name.equals(fragmentTag);
}
return false;
}
private String createFragmentTag(Fragment fragment, boolean addArgs) {
StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
stringBuilder.append(fragment.getClass().getSimpleName());
if(addArgs) {
stringBuilder.append("-");
if (fragment.getArguments() != null)
stringBuilder.append(fragment.getArguments().toString());
}
return stringBuilder.toString();
}
public void openFragment(Fragment fragment) {
if(isFragmentOpen(fragment))
return;
String fragmentTag = createFragmentTag(fragment, true);
FragmentTransaction transaction = fragmentManager.beginTransaction();
transaction.replace(R.id.activity_main_fragment_container, fragment, fragmentTag);
transaction.addToBackStack(fragmentTag).commit();
}
}
Now you need to create your fragment organizer that inherit from FragmentOrganizer and implements 3 required methods. here the sample
public class MainFragmentOrganizer extends FragmentOrganizer {
public MainFragmentOrganizer(FragmentManager fragmentManager) {
super(fragmentManager);
}
#Override
protected Fragment getInitialFragment() {
return HomeFragment.newInstance();
}
#Override
public void onEvent(Object event){
if(event instanceof ClickedOnPhotoEvent){
String photoCode = ((ClickedOnPhotoEvent) event).photoCode;
openFragment(PhotoFragment.newInstance(photoCode));
}
}
#Override
public boolean handleBackNavigation(){
Fragment fragment = getOpenFragment();
if (fragment instanceof HomeFragment){
return false;
} else {
fragmentManager.popBackStack();
return true;
}
}
}
And in your activity you just need to insatiate your FragmentManager and let it do the magic!
fragmentManager = getSupportFragmentManager();
fragmentOrganizer = new MainFragmentOrganizer(getSupportFragmentManager());
#Override
public void onBackPressed() {
//first let fragment organizer handle back. If it does not activity takes cares of it!
if(!fragmentOrganizer.handleBackNavigation()){
finish();
}
}
#Override
protected void onDestroy() {
fragmentOrganizer.freeUpResources();
super.onDestroy();
}
It may seem a lot of code but as you see most of the code encapsulated in FragmentOrganizer base class and it does all the general works so you just have to copy this file from one project to another.
As i said in the beginning i just came up with this solution right now, so it may not be perfect. I Plan to use this in my next project i hope you do to. And if you do i really appritiate if you share your though. have a good time

A co-worker of mine came up with what I consider an elegant solution to this problem.
Remember, what we're trying to achieve is a way for fragments to callback to the parent activity without having the activity implement the interface. Also, we need to be able to automatically set the listener again if the activity is destroyed and then recreated.
Activities have a lifecycle callback called onAttachFragment(Fragment fragment) which is called whenever a fragment is being attached to the activity. So, for instance, when a new fragment is created within the activity, this gets called. It also gets called if an activity that was previously destroyed gets recreated. What you can do is use an interface or an anonymous class to set a listener on the new fragment in onAttachFragment like this:
#Override
public void onAttachFragment(Fragment fragment) {
super.onAttachFragment(fragment);
//Determine which fragment this is by checking its tag
if(fragment.getTag().contains(TextFrag.FRAG_TAG)){
//set a listener on this fragment using an anonymous class or interface
((TextFrag)fragment).setListener(new TextFragButtonListener() {
#Override
public void onButtonClicked() {
count++;
counterTV.setText(String.valueOf(count));
}
});
}
}
Using this technique we are able to avoid the activity having to implement an interface for the callback and thus we avoid any naming conflicts with our callback methods. Also, if the activity is destroyed, once it is recreated the listener will be automatically reset so our callbacks will still work.
There are probably many other ways to do this and I'd love to here anyone's criticisms of this technique and suggestions for any other techniques.

How to properly remove retained instance Fragment

Currently, I would like to retain an expensive data structure, during configuration changes. I choose not to use Bundle to handle it, as the expensive data structure is not parcelable.
Hence, I use a non-UI Fragment (Called it RetainInstanceFragment), with its setRetainInstance(true) to hold the data structure.
public class RetainInstanceFragment extends Fragment {
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
// Creating expensive data structure
expensiveDataStructure = CreateExpensiveDataStructure();
// Tell the framework to try to keep this fragment around
// during a configuration change.
setRetainInstance(true);
}
public ExpensiveDataStructure expensiveDataStructure = null;
}
An UI Fragment (Called it UIFragment) will get the expensive data structure from RetainInstanceFragment. Whenever there is configuration changes on UIFragment, UIFragment will always try to get the "cached" RetainInstanceFragment from FragmentManager, before it decides to create a new RetainInstanceFragment.
Example code is as follow.
public class UIFragment extends SherlockListFragment
#Override
public void onActivityCreated(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onActivityCreated(savedInstanceState);
FragmentManager fm = getFragmentManager();
// Check to see if we have retained the worker fragment.
retainInstanceFragment = (RetainInstanceFragment)fm.findFragmentByTag("data");
// If not retained (or first time running), we need to create it.
if (retainInstanceFragment == null) {
retainInstanceFragment = new RetainInstanceFragment();
fm.beginTransaction().add(watchlistArrayFragment, "data").commit();
} else {
// We can re-use retainInstanceFragment.expensiveDataStructure even
// after configuration change.
}
}
}
However, there's a problem. Whenever I destroy my old UIFragment, and replace it with new UIFragment, I expect old RetainInstanceFragment will be destroyed as well. Here is how I destroy and create new UIFragment
public class MyFragmentActivity extends SlidingFragmentActivity
// Being triggered when there is different menu item in sliding menu being
// selected.
public void selectActiveContent(Country country) {
Fragment fragment = new UIFragment(country);
getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction().replace(R.id.content, fragment).commitAllowingStateLoss();
}
But old RetainInstanceFragment is never destroyed.
My guess is, perhaps I forget to perform clean up in UIFragment. Hence, I add the following code
UIFragment
#Override
public void onDetach() {
super.onDetach();
// To differentiate whether this is a configuration changes, or we are
// removing away this fragment?
if (this.isRemoving()) {
FragmentManager fm = getFragmentManager();
fm.beginTransaction().remove(retainInstanceFragment).commit();
}
}
However, it doesn't work all the time. I perform several sliding menu clicks.
1. selectActiveContent() -> Create new UIFragment and new RetainInstanceFragment
2. selectActiveContent() -> Create new UIFragment, but re-use previous RetainInstanceFragment. (Wrong behavior)
3. selectActiveContent() -> Create new UIFragment, and new RetainInstanceFragment.
4. selectActiveContent() -> Create new UIFragment, but re-use previous RetainInstanceFragment. (Wrong behavior)
Any idea how I can properly remove retained instance Fragment?

As suggested by #Luksprog, the following method works. However, it still do not explain why the previous cleanup done through onDetach doesn't work. If anyone can explain why this solution works and previous doesn't, I would be very thankful. :)
UIFragment
#Override
public void onDetach() {
super.onDetach();
}
public void cleanupRetainInstanceFragment() {
FragmentManager fm = getFragmentManager();
fm.beginTransaction().remove(this.retainInstanceFragment).commit();
}
MyFragmentActivity
public class MyFragmentActivity extends SlidingFragmentActivity
// Being triggered when there is different menu item in sliding menu being
// selected.
public void selectActiveContent(Country country) {
// *******************************************
// Solution suggested by #Luksprog. It works!
// But I have no idea why it works and previous doesn't work...
// *******************************************
Fragment oldFragment = getSupportFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.content);
if (oldFragment instanceof UIFragment) {
((UIFragment)oldFragment).cleanupRetainInstanceFragment();
}
Fragment fragment = new UIFragment(country);
getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction().replace(R.id.content, fragment).commitAllowingStateLoss();
}
(Edited) Useful comment by #Luksprog
The fragment transactions are not made right away. My assumption was
that doing that transaction in the onDetach() callback will not remove
the retain fragment instance before the UI fragment's replace
transaction finished and so your new UI fragment will still see the
retain fragment instance still available, so it will not create a new
one. Your previous method is not in the spirit of the fragments
framework where fragments are unaware of other fragments and the
activity manages all of them as it knows more about the overall
application state.

I think you can just remove the fragment from fragment transaction.
if (mWorkFragment != null) {
fm.beginTransaction().remove(mWorkFragment).commitAllowingStateLoss();
}

How to get a Fragment to remove itself, i.e. its equivalent of finish()?

I'm converting an app to use fragments using the compatibility library.
Now currently I have a number of activities (A B C D) which chain onto one another, D has a button 'OK' which when pressed calls finish which then bubbles up through onActivityResult() to additionally destroy C and B.
For my pre Honycomb fragment version each activity is effectively a wrapper on fragments Af Bf Cf Df. All activities are launched via startActivityForResult() and onActivityResult() within each of the fragments can happily call getActivity().finish()
The problem that I am having though is in my Honeycomb version I only have one activity, A, and fragments Bf, Cf, Df are loaded using the FragmentManager.
What I don't understand is what to do in Df when 'OK' is pressed in order to remove fragments Df, Cf, and Bf?
I tried having the fragment popping itself off the stack but this resulted in an exception. onActivityResult() is useless because I have not loaded up the fragment using startActivityForResult().
Am I thinking about this completely the wrong way? Should I be implementing some sort of listener that communicates with either the parent fragment or activity in order to do the pop using the transaction manager?

While it might not be the best approach the closest equivalent I can think of that works is this with the support/compatibility library
getActivity().getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction().remove(this).commit();
or
getActivity().getFragmentManager().beginTransaction().remove(this).commit();
otherwise.
In addition you can use the backstack and pop it. However keep in mind that the fragment might not be on the backstack (depending on the fragmenttransaction that got it there..) or it might not be the last one that got onto the stack so popping the stack could remove the wrong one...

You can use the approach below, it works fine:
getActivity().getSupportFragmentManager().popBackStack();

What I don't understand is what to do in Df when 'OK' is pressed in order to remove fragments Df, Cf, and Bf?
Step #1: Have Df tell D "yo! we got the OK click!" via calling a method, either on the activity itself, or on an interface instance supplied by the activity.
Step #2: Have D remove the fragments via FragmentManager.
The hosting activity (D) is the one that knows what other fragments are in the activity (vs. being in other activities). Hence, in-fragment events that might affect the fragment mix should be propagated to the activity, which will make the appropriate orchestration moves.

You should let the Activity deal with adding and removing Fragments, as CommonsWare says, use a listener. Here is an example:
public class MyActivity extends FragmentActivity implements SuicidalFragmentListener {
// onCreate etc
#Override
public void onFragmentSuicide(String tag) {
// Check tag if you do this with more than one fragmen, then:
getSupportFragmentManager().popBackStack();
}
}
public interface SuicidalFragmentListener {
void onFragmentSuicide(String tag);
}
public class MyFragment extends Fragment {
// onCreateView etc
#Override
public void onAttach(Activity activity) {
super.onAttach(activity);
try {
suicideListener = (SuicidalFragmentListener) activity;
} catch (ClassCastException e) {
throw new RuntimeException(getActivity().getClass().getSimpleName() + " must implement the suicide listener to use this fragment", e);
}
}
#Override
public void onActivityCreated(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onActivityCreated(savedInstanceState);
// Attach the close listener to whatever action on the fragment you want
addSuicideTouchListener();
}
private void addSuicideTouchListener() {
getView().setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
#Override
public void onClick(View v) {
suicideListener.onFragmentSuicide(getTag());
}
});
}
}

In the Activity/AppCompatActivity:
#Override
public void onBackPressed() {
if (mDrawerLayout.isDrawerOpen(GravityCompat.START)) {
// if you want to handle DrawerLayout
mDrawerLayout.closeDrawer(GravityCompat.START);
} else {
if (getFragmentManager().getBackStackEntryCount() == 0) {
super.onBackPressed();
} else {
getFragmentManager().popBackStack();
}
}
}
and then call in the fragment:
getActivity().onBackPressed();
or like stated in other answers, call this in the fragment:
getActivity().getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction().remove(this).commit();

If you are using the new Navigation Component, is simple as
findNavController().popBackStack()
It will do all the FragmentTransaction in behind for you.

See if your needs are met by a DialogFragment. DialogFragment has a dismiss() method. Much cleaner in my opinion.

I create simple method for that
popBackStack(getSupportFragmentManager());
Than place it in my ActivityUtils class
public static void popBackStack(FragmentManager manager){
FragmentManager.BackStackEntry first = manager.getBackStackEntryAt(0);
manager.popBackStack(first.getId(), FragmentManager.POP_BACK_STACK_INCLUSIVE);
}
It's work great, have fun!

OnCreate:
//Add comment fragment
container = FindViewById<FrameLayout>(Resource.Id.frmAttachPicture);
mPictureFragment = new fmtAttachPicture();
var trans = SupportFragmentManager.BeginTransaction();
trans.Add(container.Id, mPictureFragment, "fmtPicture");
trans.Show(mPictureFragment); trans.Commit();
This is how I hide the fragment in click event 1
//Close fragment
var trans = SupportFragmentManager.BeginTransaction();
trans.Hide(mPictureFragment);
trans.AddToBackStack(null);
trans.Commit();
Then Shows it back int event 2
var trans = SupportFragmentManager.BeginTransaction();
trans.Show(mPictureFragment); trans.Commit();

If you need to popback from the fourth fragment in the backstack history to the first, use tags!!!
When you add the first fragment you should use something like this:
getFragmentManager.beginTransaction.addToBackStack("A").add(R.id.container, FragmentA).commit()
or
getFragmentManager.beginTransaction.addToBackStack("A").replace(R.id.container, FragmentA).commit()
And when you want to show Fragments B,C and D you use this:
getFragmentManager.beginTransaction.addToBackStack("B").replace(R.id.container, FragmentB, "B").commit()
and other letters....
To return to Fragment A, just call popBackStack(0, "A"), yes, use the flag that you specified when you add it, and note that it must be the same flag in the command addToBackStack(), not the one used in command replace or add.
You're welcome ;)

To Close a fragment while inside the same fragment
getActivity().onBackPressed();
kotlin -
requireActivity().onBackPressed()

parentFragmentManager.apply {
val f = this#MyFragment
beginTransaction().hide(f).remove(f).commit()
}

Why not just:
getActivity().finish();