Develop Reference

How to check if fragment was created for the first time

I would like to check if a fragment was created for the first time so that I can launch a different fragment for introduction before coming to the retained fragment.
Normally for an activity I know I would use a sharedPreference-object to store a boolean value that tells me if this is the first time the user opens the activity, check the preference when the user starts the application, and if it returns true then show the middle screen.
Is the same possible for fragments?

Yes, you can use sharedPrference, but maybe it will be better to check the state when you actually switch to this fragment.
I mean you can decide in activity if to show introduction fragment or regular one before you create the fragment.

Restoring instance variables in Android upon activity recreation

I have an Android project for which I am creating a custom tab view. I have structured the main Activity (FragmentActivity) in such a way that it has a tab bar at the bottom of the screen with a FrameLayout above it. Each option on the tab creates a new Fragment (relating to that option). Now, to prevent recreation of fragments each time an option is clicked, I store the fragment in an instance variable in the activity. So, when a tab option is clicked, I check if its fragment is already created, if it is not already created, I create and add it to the FrameLayout (and hide any existing fragment), otherwise, I just hide the existing fragment (stored in an instance variable called currentlyViewedFragment) and show the already created fragment that matches the clicked option.
Also when the onCreate() of the activity is called, I set the initial tab to be the home tab (one of the tabs).
This works great, except when the activity is recreated (due to orientation changes). Here, I think the instance variables (essentially pointers to already created fragments) loose their value and are set to null. This causes the home tab to be created and be overlayed on the restored view. I also know that you can save state using the bundle passed to onSaveInstanceState and restore it using onRestoreInstanceState. But the bundle needs to contain data which is serialisable. However, these instance variables are merely pointers! How do I restore their values?
NOTE: this problem is solved below in a comment posted by me.
Thanks.

The answer to your problem is using the bundle for state restoration. Create a class in where you can put the variables and is serializable so you can put the its object to the bundle. Or you may also use SharedPreferences to store the instance variables' value in the phone storage. I hope you got idea from my weird answer.

When activity is recreated, detached fragment gets attached?

I have a Xamarin Android ActionBar-based app. I am not using anybody's compat library (Sherlock, etc.) I have a fragment for each tab. I have noticed the following behavior:
Suppose the user starts on Tab A, with corresponding fragment A. The user the switches to tab B, with corresponding fragment B. My code tells the app to detach fragment A, and attach fragment B. So far, so good. Now the weird part.
Suppose the user rotates the device. The fragments have all set
this.RetainInstance = true;
And I keep static references to them. So they stick around, which is what I want. But the weird thing is that when the activity is re-created after rotation, both fragments A and B get attached by Android, during my
base.OnCreate()
call from MyActivity.OnCreate(). This results in the app doing work which I assume is not needed. So my question is, how can I prevent that from happening?

You should read android guidelines. You must save the fragment state and the activity state and i suppose do not use static links and retainInstanceState. Google how to use Bundle and saveInstanceState, onCreate onRestoreInstancestate methods. Also after a recreation you can find you fragment by placed tag and reuse it without replace.
http://developer.android.com/training/basics/activity-lifecycle/recreating.html
http://developer.android.com/guide/components/fragments.html

Save activity state(not just some variables) on orientation change

I realized that there are lots of question on this topic already asked on SO.
But I don't even know the basic when it comes to saving the state of an activity.
(Refer Screenshot Below) When app launches,
1) ScrollView item 1,2,3,4 are visible
2) table containd data which is populated due to Gainer button.
As showed in below screenshots, While app is running in PORTRAIT mode, I
1)scrolled down to ScrollView item 4,5,6
2)pressed the Loser button so accordingly data in the table below the button changes.
3)I'll even change content of graph dynamically(which I had not done yet).
Now I switch to LANDSCAPE Mode so
1)ScrollView is showing ScrollView item 1,2,3,4
2)table is showing data which is populated due to pressing Gainer button.
3)graph is as it is as I've not changed it yet(which I will change later).
So what happens is when I change the orientation, my activity is getting re-launched. So if user is performing some task in one orientation and he changes the orientation, then whole progress will be lost.
I know I need to save the state of the activity and Restore it when orientation changes.
But I don't know from where to start and what to save.
ANY HELP WILL BE LIFE-SAVER !

Option #1: Override onSaveInstanceState() of your Activity and put whatever information you want in the supplied Bundle. Your new activity instance will receive that Bundle in onRestoreInstanceState() (or onCreate()). Here is a sample project demonstrating this.
Option #2: Override onRetainNonConfigurationInstance() of your Activity and return some object that represents your state. Your new activity instance can call getLastNonConfigurationInstance() to retrieve that object, so the new activity can apply that information. Be careful, though, not to have the old activity return something in the object that holds a reference back to the old activity (e.g., a widget, an instance of a regular inner class). Here is a sample project demonstrating this.
Option #3: Convert this activity to a fragment. Have the fragment call setRetainInstance(true); on itself during its initial setup. Add the fragment dynamically to some activity via a FragmentTransaction. Now, when the configuration changes, the fragment is retained, so all your widgets and state are retained. Here is an overly-complex sample application demonstrating this.
Those are the three recommended approaches nowadays.

Retain Fragment state between Activities

Its possible to retain a Fragment between Activities?
Lets say I have Activity A with Fragment F_Left placed at the left and Fragment F_Right placed at the right. If I want to launch a new Activity and keep Fragment F_Left... how can I do it?
Can I retain Fragment F_Left state between activities?
Note that I want to launch a new Activity because Fragment F_Left is my app menu and Fragment F_Right changes completely the context of the user operations... and my app have many of operations, so it makes sense to have an Activity per operation.
I know its possible to retain Fragment within an Activity, but as Fragment life cycle is closely tied to the container Activity I don't know if this is possible keep Fragment state between Activities.

Since API Level 13 (HONEYCOMB_MR2, June 2011), you can save and restore the state of a fragment across activities.
To save the state, use FragmentManager.saveFragmentInstanceState(), providing a reference to the Fragment whose state you wish to save. The Fragment must be attached at the time you attempt to save its state.
To restore the state, use Fragment.setInitialSavedState() with the return value when you instenciate the same Fragment.
myFragment = new MyFragment();
myFragment.setInitialSavedState(appState.getMyFragmentState());
fragmentManager.beginTransaction().add(R.id.container, myFragment).commit();
You can persist the SavedState object across activities as you would any other object; one way is to subclass Application as shown above (appState is the instance of our subclass).

Based on your response to my comment, I have a slightly different answer. It may not end up being the best answer in your specific situation, I'll let you decide that. :)
Right now you are bundling your fragments in activities because that is what made sense to you, but really, you can probably treat the entire process as one activity and use fragment transactions to hide & show (or create and destroy) fragments as needed.
Since you won't be creating and destroying activities, your menu fragment on the left will be left untouched, and you won't have any problems with its UI state. The set of operations you want to run (which no doubt includes all sorts of different fragments on the right) does not need to be launched in a new activity - but you will have to find a way to manage the logic you need for the fragment transactions (either in your one über-activity or in some kind of OperationsManager class).
I think this will end up being a lot smoother for the users of your application since the single activity just remains running - and you are only changing the parts that actually need to change.

If I want to launch a new Activity and keep Fragment F_Left... how can I do it?
Don't launch a new activity.
Can I retain Fragment F_Left state between activities?
Not automatically. It is not the same fragment. You would pass data between the activities for use by the fragment no differently than you would without any fragments at all.

To potentially answer your original question, if you fire off another activity then I believe that you can save your fragment from your first activity by calling FragmentManager::putFragment(...) when onSaveInstanceState(...) is called and then getting it back later, e.g. in onCreate(...).
However, I have to agree with Mark D's response.
Incidentally I'm doing something similar in that I have a dual pane setup whereby the left pane if fixed with a number of options with each option invoking a different fragment in the right pane. Furthermore selecting an entry in the right pane can result in the right fragment being replaced by another one.
However, I have taken the approach whereby by left fragment is only responsible for displaying and handling responses from the immediate fragment which appears in the right hand pane. Furthermore each right-hand fragment is then responsible for 'replacing' itself with a new fragment and handling results sent back to it. I'm using setTargetFragment, getTargetFragment, and calling onto the target fragment's onActivityResult method to pass results back.
For me the approach I've taken is no different from when my app runs on a phone with a single pane whereby the initial option's activity only knows about the activies it fires off and subsequently these new ones fire off further activies which they know about.
It should be mentioned that my activity in my dual pane app doesn't really do much apart from loading the left pane fragment and I can't quite see the need for a single activity to ever have to manage hundreds of fragments.