Develop Reference

Usb List Devices in Xamarin.Forms

I try to do list of usb devices, connected by serial odt with smartphone, within xamarin.forms.
To do that I use this project https://github.com/anotherlab/UsbSerialForAndroid
How to do listview in shared project with devices from Project.Droid.MainActivity? I tried to do that with dependency service:
This is my Page1(where I want to have listview):
public partial class Page1 : ContentPage {
public Page1()
{
InitializeComponent();
DependencyService.Get<Interface1>().moj();
}
}
My interface:
namespace SensDxMobileApp.Views.MainWindow {
public interface Interface1 {
void moj();
}
}
And MyActivity(Droid project):
[assembly: Xamarin.Forms.Dependency(typeofProject.Droid.MainActivity))]
namespace Project.Droid {
public class MainActivity: Interface
{
protected override void OnCreate(Bundle bundle)
{
base.OnCreate(bundle);
listView = new Android.Widget.ListView;
}
public async void moj()
{
adapter = new UsbSerialPortAdapter(this);
listview.Adapter = adapter;
listView.ItemClick += async (sender, e) =>
{
await OnItemClick(sender, e);
};
await PopulateListAsync();
detachedReceiver = new UsbDeviceDetachedReceiver(this);
RegisterReceiver(detachedReceiver, new IntentFilter(UsbManager.ActionUsbDeviceDetached));
}
}
But I have an error "Object reference not set to an instance of an object.", on " DependencyService.Get().moj()" in Page1();
Did someone do something similar? Thanks

If you going the DependencyService route, then you'll want to create a separate class that implements Interface1 and registering that as a dependency service. I don't think you can register the MainActivity as a DependencyService implementation.
One problem that you are going to hit this is mostly async code and callbacks.
You also shouldn't be newing up an Android ListView as a DependencyService call. That would be better suited as a custom renderer. As a DependencyService implementation, you would want the moj() method to return data that can be consumed by the Xamarin.Forms code. You would need more than just that method. You would need code to initialize the UsbSerialPort class, code to query the list of devices, and then invoke a callback that sends back that list, In theory anyway. I never tested that library with Forms.

Create boolean listener

In Android, how do I take an action whenever a variable changes?
So I want to implement a listener for an object I created. What I want it to do is execute a block of code when its value changes from false to true.
As I am following this thread, I can't understand where the person wants us to implement the last block of code containing the logic for the listener.
Could someone, hopefully, guide me in the right direction?
(This question is being asked here as I don't have enough rep. points)

That last bit of example code triggers the listener, so it basically needs to be run whenever the "event" occurs. In this case the "event" is whenever (wherever in the code) the value of the variable changes.
If you have a setter and that is the only place the value changes, that is where you'd put it. If you are changing the value in multiple places throughout your code, I would make a new private method (call it signalChanged), put your code there, and then call it immediately after the variable assignment in the cases you want the listener to fire.
Here's an example (some code borrowed from linked answer, haven't checked that it compiles).
public class MyObj
{
public MyObj(int value)
{
setValue(value);
}
private int myValue;
public int getValue() { return myValue; }
public void setValue( int value )
{
if (value != myValue)
{
myValue = value;
signalChanged();
}
}
public interface VariableChangeListener
{
public void onVariableChanged(Object... variableThatHasChanged);
}
private VariableChangeListener variableChangeListener;
public void setVariableChangeListener(VariableChangeListener variableChangeListener)
{
this.variableChangeListener = variableChangeListener;
}
private void signalChanged()
{
if (variableChangeListener != null)
variableChangeListener.onVariableChanged(myValue);
}
}

you have to create a callback interface
here is a good about custom listener tutorial
here is a sample
public class MyObj {
VariableChanger onVariableChanged ;
public void setOnVariableChanged(VariableChanger onVariableChanged) {
this.onVariableChanged = onVariableChanged;
}
void log(){
boolean changed = false;
onVariableChanged.onVariableChanged();
//this will call it
}
interface VariableChanger{
void onVariableChanged();
}
}
class logic {
MyObj mo = new MyObj();
void main(){
mo.setOnVariableChanged(new MyObj.VariableChanger() {
#Override
public void onVariableChanged() {
//do your action
}
});
}
}

In Android, like any language, most developper uses logic comparisons to check values (if, else, switch, =, !=, >, <, etc) or Event (signal)
What kind of listener do you want to implement?

RxJava as event bus?

I'm start learning RxJava and I like it so far. I have a fragment that communicate with an activity on button click (to replace the current fragment with a new fragment). Google recommends interface for fragments to communicate up to the activity but it's too verbose, I tried to use broadcast receiver which works generally but it had drawbacks.
Since I'm learning RxJava I wonder if it's a good option to communicate from fragments to activities (or fragment to fragment)?. If so, whats the best way to use RxJava for this type of communication?. Do I need to make event bus like this one and if that's the case should I make a single instance of the bus and use it globally (with subjects)?

Yes and it's pretty amazing after you learn how to do it. Consider the following singleton class:
public class UsernameModel {
private static UsernameModel instance;
private PublishSubject<String> subject = PublishSubject.create();
public static UsernameModel instanceOf() {
if (instance == null) {
instance = new UsernameModel();
}
return instance;
}
/**
* Pass a String down to event listeners.
*/
public void setString(String string) {
subject.onNext(string);
}
/**
* Subscribe to this Observable. On event, do something e.g. replace a fragment
*/
public Observable<String> getStringObservable() {
return subject;
}
}
In your Activity be ready to receive events (e.g. have it in the onCreate):
UsernameModel usernameModel = UsernameModel.instanceOf();
//be sure to unsubscribe somewhere when activity is "dying" e.g. onDestroy
subscription = usernameModel.getStringObservable()
.subscribe(s -> {
// Do on new string event e.g. replace fragment here
}, throwable -> {
// Normally no error will happen here based on this example.
});
In you Fragment pass down the event when it occurs:
UsernameModel.instanceOf().setString("Nick");
Your activity then will do something.
Tip 1: Change the String with any object type you like.
Tip 2: It works also great if you have Dependency injection.
Update:
I wrote a more lengthy article

Currently I think my preferred approach to this question is this to:
1.) Instead of one global bus that handles everything throughout the app (and consequently gets quite unwieldy) use "local" buses for clearly defined purposes and only plug them in where you need them.
For example you might have:
One bus for sending data between your Activitys and your ApiService.
One bus for communicating between several Fragments in an Activity.
One bus that sends the currently selected app theme color to all Activitys so that they can tint all icons accordingly.
2.) Use Dagger (or maybe AndroidAnnotations if you prefer that) to make the wiring-everything-together a bit less painful (and to also avoid lots of static instances). This also makes it easier to, e. g. have a single component that deals only with storing and reading the login status in the SharedPreferences - this component could then also be wired directly to your ApiService to provide the session token for all requests.
3.) Feel free to use Subjects internally but "cast" them to Observable before handing them out to the public by calling return subject.asObservable(). This prevents other classes from pushing values into the Subject where they shouldn't be allowed to.

Define events
public class Trigger {
public Trigger() {
}
public static class Increment {
}
public static class Decrement {
}
public static class Reset {
}
}
Event controller
public class RxTrigger {
private PublishSubject<Object> mRxTrigger = PublishSubject.create();
public RxTrigger() {
// required
}
public void send(Object o) {
mRxTrigger.onNext(o);
}
public Observable<Object> toObservable() {
return mRxTrigger;
}
// check for available events
public boolean hasObservers() {
return mRxTrigger.hasObservers();
}
}
Application.class
public class App extends Application {
private RxTrigger rxTrigger;
public App getApp() {
return (App) getApplicationContext();
}
#Override
public void onCreate() {
super.onCreate();
rxTrigger = new RxTrigger();
}
public RxTrigger reactiveTrigger() {
return rxTrigger;
}
}
Register event listener wherever required
MyApplication mApp = (App) getApplicationContext();
mApp
.reactiveTrigger() // singleton object of trigger
.toObservable()
.subscribeOn(Schedulers.io()) // push to io thread
.observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread()) // listen calls on main thread
.subscribe(object -> { //receive events here
if (object instanceof Trigger.Increment) {
fabCounter.setText(String.valueOf(Integer.parseInt(fabCounter.getText().toString()) + 1));
} else if (object instanceof Trigger.Decrement) {
if (Integer.parseInt(fabCounter.getText().toString()) != 0)
fabCounter.setText(String.valueOf(Integer.parseInt(fabCounter.getText().toString()) - 1));
} else if (object instanceof Trigger.Reset) {
fabCounter.setText("0");
}
});
Send/Fire event
MyApplication mApp = (App) getApplicationContext();
//increment
mApp
.reactiveTrigger()
.send(new Trigger.Increment());
//decrement
mApp
.reactiveTrigger()
.send(new Trigger.Decrement());
Full implementation for above library with example -> RxTrigger

ListView not updating after async call

I have a weird / unique situation with my ListView. This is the scenario:
I'm making use of the MVP design pattern. As the Activity starts, it raises an event to notify the presenter to fetch some data from a web service. The web service call is an Async call. Once the web service Completed event is raised, I take the result and push it into a property (which is of type Array) that resides within my View / Activity.
Everything I mentioned works just fine, but as soon as the device is rotated, some interesting developments take place.
The async call resumes as normal and provides the property (Array) with a value. So nothing wrong there... (And yes there is data in the collection) I then set the ListView Adapter and call the notifyDataSetChanged, but nothing happens. The UI is not updated or anything?? If I re-enter the Activity the data is visible again ??
I even tried calling invalidateViews and invalidate on the ListView - this didn't do anything.
Could someone please assist me in this matter?
Many thanks in advance!
[Update]
I would like to stress the fact that I am making use of C# (Xamarin) and not Java (:sigh: - yes I know). Furthermore, I am not making use of the ASyncTask class, instead I'm making use of the async methods created within the proxy classes generated by Visual Studio. Pretty straight forward, but this is the code that populates the ListView - the property is set from the presenter
Presenter
Where View is of type IContactsView
protected override void OnCollectData(System.Collections.IEnumerable data, Type typeOfData)
{
if (data != null && typeOfData != null && typeOfData.Equals(typeof(UserContact)))
{
this.View.UserInformationCollection = data.Cast<UserContact>().ToArray();
}
}
Activity
The activity implements IContactsView
public UserContact[] UserInformationCollection
{
get
{
return this._userInformationCollection;
}
set
{
this.RunOnUiThread(() =>
{
this._userInformationCollection = value;
ListView listview = this.FindViewById<ListView>(Resource.Id.userLV);
if (listview != null)
{
UserContact[] subsidiesList = this.GetIndexedContacts(this._userInformationCollection);
listview.Adapter = new ContactsAdapter(this, subsidiesList.ToList());
((ContactsAdapter)listview.Adapter).NotifyDataSetChanged();
}
});
}
}
[/Update]

Found a much better solution! So please ignore the static variable idea!
Activity:
Override the OnRetainNonConfigurationInstance and return the presenter
public override Java.Lang.Object OnRetainNonConfigurationInstance()
{
return this._presenter;
}
Within the OnCreate check the LastNonConfigurationInstance and get the presenter - if it isn't null:
protected override void OnCreate(Bundle bundle)
{
...
if (this.LastNonConfigurationInstance != null)
{
this._presenter = this.LastNonConfigurationInstance as ContactsPresenter;
this._presenter.RefreshView(this);
}
else
{
// create a new presenter
this._presenter = new ContactsPresenter(this);
}
...
}
So maybe, you saw what I did in the previous code sample? Yes, I send the new instance of the activity to the presenter - have a look at the RefreshView
Presenter:
So within my base presenter I have the following method:
public class Presenter<T> : Java.Lang.Object, IPresenter where T : IView
{
/// <param name="view">The view.</param>
public void RefreshView(T view)
{
this.View = view;
}
}
The above code helps my presenter say with the creation of new activities - so when it returns data after the async call it will have the latest and greatest instance of the activity!
Hope this helps!
Kind regards,

Got it working by doing the following:
declare a static variable of the activity:
private static ContactsActivity _cachedActivity = null;
Overrode the OnResume within the activity and set the variable:
protected override void OnResume()
{
base.OnResume();
_cachedActivity = this;
}
Override the OnCreate within the activity and set the variable:
protected override void OnCreate(Bundle bundle)
{
...
_cachedActivity = this;
...
}
Lastly I changed the property mentioned earlier:
public USBUserContact[] UserInformationCollection
{
get
{
return this._userInformationCollection;
}
set
{
_cachedActivity.RunOnUiThread(() =>
{
_cachedActivity._userInformationCollection = value;
ListView listview = _cachedActivity.FindViewById<ListView>(Resource.Id.userLV);
if (listview != null)
{
UserContact[] subsidiesList = _cachedActivity.GetIndexedContacts(_cachedActivity._userInformationCollection);
listview.Adapter = new ContactsAdapter(_cachedActivity, subsidiesList.ToList());
((ContactsAdapter)listview.Adapter).NotifyDataSetChanged();
}
});
}
}
Kind regards,

Android - Create an Array of Variable Object Types

How do I create an array of different types? If each class is an extension of the _object class, can I just make an _object array and add the extensions to it?
Example:
class _object {
int type = 1;
public _object() {
type = 2;
}
public doSomething() {
}
}
class tree extends _object {
public tree() {
}
}
class apple extends _object {
public apple() {
}
}
public tree aTree = new tree();
public apple anApple = new apple();
public _object[] objects = new _object[] { aTree, anApple };

The example in your question works. This is known as polymorphism.
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/IandI/polymorphism.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymorphism_in_object-oriented_programming

After setting up the above code in android as a project and debugging it, it in fact does work, so long as you only call methods of the base object.