Develop Reference

Why am I getting Fragment not Attached to Activity Error?

I have a thread which triggers a callback method in my Activity which has a fragment. The Activity then calls a method within the Fragment to refresh the UI with new info. In that method, getString() is called. When getstring() is called, I get a 'Fragment not Attached to Activity error'. This UI refreshing error is guarded runOnUIThread. The fragment is added like so:
FragmentManager fm = getSupportFragmentManager();
fm.beginTransaction()
.add(fragmentContainerID, fragment, tag)
.commit();
fm.executePendingTransactions();
The activity uses two different layout files for horizontal and vertical orientation. Their are two fragment containers in both layouts. They have the same names in both horizontal and vertical layouts, but they do not match each other. The fragments are added using the above code the first time the Activity is created. On orientation changes, the fragments are automatically added into the layouts because the fragment containers have the same ids in both vertical and horizontal orientation.
When the savedInstanceState is not null, I get a reference to the fragments by using
fm.findFragmentByTag
Can anyone please tell me what I am doing wrong ? The fragments are visibly added to the Activity perfectly fine, and several minutes go by before this thread callback occurs, so I don't see how the Fragment is not "attached".
EDIT: Sigh, after some debugging Ive found that adding fragments in this way is perfectly fine. Code elsewhere in the Activity ( I registered for a callback twice) caused my fragment not attached error. If anyone reading this is getting this error, keep in mind that this issue can be triggered from elsewhere. Also, you have to setRetainInstance to true in the fragment to avoid it being recreated. Tags alone don't do that.

Fragments are added one-per-container so if you are using .add(fragmentContainerID, fragment, tag) ensure firstly that fragmentContainerID is different for each of the fragments added.
However, these sorts of issue are most often caused by a misunderstanding in how orientation changes are handled. When you change orientation and let the oncreate handle the adding: you get a new fragment of the same type what this means is that if your background task has a reference to your fragment - it has a reference to the old (now detached) fragment. What you need to do is to make sure the same fragment gets added to the tag (not a new instance). To do that just don't (re)create a fragment instance when we are only restoring state
public class MyActivity ... {
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
FragmentManager fm = getSupportFragmentManager();
if (savedInstanceState == null) {
MyFragment frag = new MyFragment();
frag.setArguments( getIntent().getExtras() ); //if it takes params
fm.beginTransaction().add(fragmentContainerID, frag, tag).commit();
}
//after this point a call to MyFragment frag = (MyFragment) fm.findFragmentByTag(tag); should always return the correct fragment
}
It's probably also a wise idea for your task to look for the fragment right when it does its callback to update the UI (and NOT to hold on to a reference to it). Depending on how you've set up your task it just means changing from FragmentManager fm = getSupportFragmentManager(); then the task is created, to calling it as part of the onPostExecute

When change orientation, fragment automatically added to FragmentManager and forget own tag!!
Use this code to find your fragment:
FragmentManager fragmentManager= getSupportFragmentManager();
for (Fragment fragment : fragmentManager.getFragments())
{
if(fragment instanceof MyFragment)
myFragment = (MyFragment)fragment;
}

After you find the fragments on orientation change, try detaching them and then reattaching them before any operation. Or if that does not work remove them and add them. then continue..... I have even had to sometimes put a time delay of a few millisec after detach and before attach to ensure all OK.

FragmentTransaction add() behavior

Working with fragments I've always used replace() for my transactions, but I wish I didn't have to save instance states anymore to restore a fragment's view and prevent reloading when coming back to that fragment. So, I've decided to work with add(). The thing is when I add another fragment, the previous fragment view remains in the background and that's fine (that's the behavior I expected), but the problem is I can actually interact with the views in the background. Example:
Fragment A has a Button
Fragment B has a TextView
When I add Fragment A and later add Fragment B, I'm able to click on Fragment A's Button, even staying on Fragment B's view.
I'm using:
FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction =
getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction().
add(getRootViewContainer(),fragment,fragment.getClass().getSimpleName());
if (shouldGoBack)
fragmentTransaction.addToBackStack(fragment.getClass().getSimpleName());
where getRootViewContainer() returns the id of the FrameLayout I'm using as my activity main container.
Now, is it really the default behavior of add()?
If so, is there a proper way to avoid this or one just has to use replace()?

What you can do here is just hide previous fragment at the time of transaction of current fragment.
FragmentTransaction ft = getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
Fragment newFragment= new MyFragment ();
ft.hide(CurrentFragment.this);
ft.show(newFragment);
ft.commit();
It worked for me just try it.

FragmentTransaction.hide(fragmentBehind); //works for me!
example :
//I have it globally available
FragmentTransaction trans = MainActivity.getManager().beginTransaction();
//not globally
FragmentTransaction trans = getFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
MapFragment newFragment = new newFragment();
trans.add(R.id.fragmentContainer, newFragment, tag);
trans.hide(this);
trans.addToBackStack(tag);
trans.commit();

Yes, this is a default behaviour of add().
If you really don't want to user replace(), you can try to disable views which are inside "old" fragment.

Navigate back to activity from fragment

I have class Demo and I am extends the demo by FragmentActivity class. Also I have another class Fragment1 extends Fragment. And the onclick of button i am navigate from activity Demo to the Fragment Fragment1. Now I want to come back on Demo from the Fragment1. So how can I back to Demo activity?
Thanks.

Your question is lacking a lot of detail, so I'm taking a stab in the dark here, but...
I presume in your onClick code, you use the Fragment Manager to create a new Fragment Transaction, then add the fragment to that transaction and commit it?
Your problem with the activity being closed when you hit the back button is likely because your fragment was not added to something called the "back stack". You can find to documentation here http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/FragmentTransaction.html#addToBackStack%28java.lang.String%29, but crucially the main thing you need to do is modify your code to include the line below:
FragmentManager fragmentManager = getFragmentManager()
FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction = fragmentManager.beginTransaction();
fragmentTransaction.add(R.id.fragment_container, new Fragment1());
fragmentTransaction.addToBackStack("Transaction ID"); // <-- This is key!
fragmentTransaction.commit();
Once that's done, Android will remember the adding of the fragment as a navigation act, and should reverse the transaction when the back button is hit.
If this wasn't what you're looking for, or if it doesn't work, please provide some more detail and some code samples and I can take another look.

Try adding the fragment you want to go back to manually to the backstack.
FragmentTransaction transaction = getFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
YourFragmentName myFragment = new YourFragmentName();
transaction.replace(R.id.fragment_container, myFragment);
//if you with to add it to backStack, do this, otherwise skip the line below
transaction.addToBackStack(null);
transaction.commit();

Android activity and fragments

I've setup a new Android project that comes with an activity. Here's the boiler plate code:
if (savedInstanceState == null) {
getFragmentManager().beginTransaction()
.add(R.id.container, new PlaceholderFragment())
.commit();
}
Can someone explain what this is doing exactly? From what I can see, it checks if the activity hasn't been initliazed and then inflates the layout. But what I don't understand is beginTransaction(), ew PlaceholderFragment(), and commit()
Thanks.

You use fragment transactions to add / replace (etc) fragments within a FrameLayout (R.id.container) and new PlaceholderFragment is a new instance of a fragment to be put into the container

//Check whether we're recreating a previously destroyed instance
if (savedInstanceState == null) {
//Execute a transaction, replacing any existing fragment with this one inside the frame.
//Getting FragmentManager object which will control fragment acvitiy
FragmentManager fm = getFragmentManager()
//Starting a FragmentTransaction which will handle transaction to this fragment activity
FragmentTransaction ft = fragmentManager.beginTransaction();
//Add a fragment to the activity state. This fragment may optionally also have its view (if Fragment.onCreateView returns non-null) into a container view of the activity.
ft.add(R.id.container, new PlaceholderFragment());
//Schedules a commit of this transaction.
ft.commit();
}
There is a good explanation to fragment activity here, here and here

FragmentManager is a class which helps in managing the fragments that an activity may need. So here you are basically getting an instance of it and you are beginning a transaction. You need an instance of transaction because it lets the runtime know that some change is going to happen when this is called. Here 'add()' is that change and finally you commit it to save that change.
The arguments to add are the layout where the fragment needs to be added and the PlaceHolderFragment() is the name of the Fragment you need to put in.

As fragments are the way to go, replacing all of many heavy Activites, Eclipse has also adapted to this change which cause the boiler alert. :)
Starting a fragment (which cant be done via Intents) is treated as a transaction just like in database (not a good example i guess).
getFragmentManager() - gets the Activities FragmentManger which is responsible to initiate FragmentTransaction.
beginTransaction() - creates a new Transaction for this particular fragment job.
new PlaceholderFragment() - is an instance of the PlaceholderFragment which you can find if scroll more in the Activity.
commit - a way to commit this trasaction and bring it to effect.
See Android docs. for more details. :)

It is simple my friend.
In simple Coding Language:
if (savedInstanceState == null) {
FragmentManager fragmentManager = getSupportFragmentManager();
FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction = fragmentManager.beginTransaction();
fragmentTransaction.add(R.id.tab5, new PlaceholderFragment());
fragmentTransaction.commit();
}
If you think that it explain everything, then it is a pleasure for me. Otherwise just ping me to add theory information.

Replacing a Fragment with itself does not show anything

I'm trying to decide and show a fragment in activity's onResume method, but in case a previously added fragment is chosen again, then the activity goes blank.
Sample code (with one fragment):
#Override
protected void onResume(){
FragmentTransaction trans = getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
trans.replace(R.id.myLayout, fragA);
trans.commit();
getSupportFragmentManager().executePendingTransactions();
}
With above code, when the activity is created for the first time, it shows fragA correctly, but in case I press Home Key and then switch back to my activity (in order to provoke onResume again), it all goes blank (seems like fragA is removed).
Is replacing a previously added fragment removes itself? or how not to loose a fragment if it is replaced by itself?

You can't replace a fragment with itself. The first half of a replace is a removal of the previous fragment at that id. Once a fragment is removed it can no longer be added or used by the fragment manager (so the add portion of the replace will not work properly).
Depending on your use case, you have two options:
Create a new fragment instead of reusing the existing instance
Use some other method to see if its necessary to replace your fragment
Finally, you probably don't need to call executePendingTransactions.

You can try:
if( !(getSupportFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.myLayout) instanceof FragmentA) ) {
FragmentTransaction trans = getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
trans.replace(R.id.myLayout, fragA);
trans.commit();
}
And I assume that fragA is FragmentA class object.

Finally, I had to put a check before replacing fragments. In case, an (already added) fragment is requested for replace again, I had to check if its already added then ignore the replacement, else proceed. For example:
#Override
protected void onResume() {
if (!fragA.isAdded()) {
FragmentTransaction trans = getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
trans.replace(R.id.myLayout, fragA);
trans.commit();
//getSupportFragmentManager().executePendingTransactions(); //unnecessary
}
}

When referencing back to a created Fragment please do make sure to try adding the
fragmentTransaction.addToBackStack(null);
method right before committing so that your Fragment is resumed instead of destroyed as mentioned in the developer guides.
If you don't call addToBackStack() when you perform a transaction that removes a fragment, then that fragment is destroyed when the transaction is committed and the user cannot navigate back to it. Whereas, if you do call addToBackStack() when removing a fragment, then the fragment is stopped and is later resumed if the user navigates back.
You can find this at the end of this page.