Develop Reference

Saving states of multiple fragments in activity

I am working on an application and there is one specific thing that is bothering me. Let's just say I have one activity and 2 fragments.FragmentA and FragmentB and FragmentA gets attached when activity starts.
I want to save the fragment data and fragment state when orientation changes occur.I have successfully saved fragment data using OnSavedInstanceState method. Now I want to save fragment state in the activity so that if orientation change occurs I want to be on the fragment I was (in my case either FragmentA or FragmentB depends on which was showing before config changes occur).
This is how I am saving the fragment state in the Activity:
#Override
protected void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState) {
// Save the values you need into "outState"
super.onSaveInstanceState(outState);
outState.putLong(SS_DATE, userDate.getTime());
android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager manager = getSupportFragmentManager();
Fragment currentFragment = this.getSupportFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.content_container);
manager.putFragment(outState, "currentFragment", currentFragment);
}
And this is how I am retrieving on which fragment I was when the orientation change occurred:
#Override
protected void onRestoreInstanceState(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onRestoreInstanceState(savedInstanceState);
FragmentManager manager = getSupportFragmentManager();
#SuppressLint("CommitTransaction")
FragmentTransaction transaction = manager.beginTransaction();
if (savedInstanceState != null) {
Fragment MyFragment = (Fragment) manager.getFragment(savedInstanceState, "currentFragment");
if (MyFragment instanceof FragListStudentsAttendance) {
Log.v("onRestore", FragListStudentsAttendance.TAG);
}else if (MyFragment instanceof FragGetClassesForAttendance){
Log.v("onRestore", FragGetClassesForAttendance.TAG);
if(MyFragment!=null) {
mFragGetClassesForAttendance = (FragGetClassesForAttendance) MyFragment;
}else{
mFragGetClassesForAttendance = new FragGetClassesForAttendance();
FragmentTransaction transaction = getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
// mFragGetClassesForAttendanceNew.setRetainInstance(true);
// transaction.replace(R.id.content_ssadmin_container, mFragGetClassesForAttendanceNew, "FragGetClassesForAttendance").addToBackStack(null);
transaction.add(R.id.content_ssadmin_container, mFragGetClassesForAttendance, FragGetClassesForAttendance.TAG);
//transaction.replace(R.id.newEnrollmentMainContainer, mFragNewEnrollmentResults).addToBackStack("FragNewEnrollments");
transaction.commit();
mFragGetClassesForAttendance.setDate(userDate);
}
}
}
}
Now
Scenario 1:
If I am on fragment A and I rotate the device every thing works fine as it should. Like fragment have web services which loads the data into listview so I check if data exist then there is no need to run the web service and that working for now
Scenario 2:
If I am on fragment B and orientation change occurs everything works fine as it is supposed to be on fragment B. Now When I press back button Fragment A gets called again and all the data also comes from service. I think this shouldn't happen because it was supposed to be in BackStack and it's data was saved. So what Should I do now here?
Scenario 3: On FragmentB I have noticed that when I rotates the device the saveInstanceState function of FragmentA also gets called. Why it is so? where as I was replacing the FragmentB with FragmentA ?
Some Confusions:
Let me talk about some of the confusions also , maybe someone clear it to me although I have searched and read a lot about fragment and activity life cycle,
Actually I want to save the data per activity and fragment on device rotation. I know how to do it with activity(how to save states) so I also know how to do it in the fragment (save state of fragment views) now I am confused how to tell activity which fragment was showing and which to go after config changes(rotation) ? also what happens to FragmentA if I am on FragmentB Does its get attach and detach again and again in background?

I got your problems and confusions. I think the life cycle of fragment is confusing you. and indeed it will confuse you.
You need to learn different situations.
1. Fragment Life cycle when it is in foreground (attaching and detaching with activity) . Please keenly observe all the methods that will call i.e OnSaveInstance,onCreateView,OnDestroyView,onDestroy
2. Fragment life cycle when it is in background (observe the methods stated above)
3. Fragment life cycle when it is added to backstack (and not in foreground)
I am quite sure you are confused with the point number 3. As when the fragment is added to backstack it never gets destroy. So rotating device twice will set the ffragment data to null. I think you are restoring data on ActivityCreated or on onViewCreated ,
Ill suggest you to restore the fragment data in the oncreate. this will work for you when your fragment is coming back to foreground from the backstack .
Example
private List<String> mCountries;</pre>
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
if (savedInstanceState != null)
{
// Populate countries from bundle
}
}
#Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_countries, container, false);
if (mCountries == null)
{
// Populate countries by calling AsyncTask
}
return view;
}
public void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState)
{
// Save countries into bundle
}
Hope this will clear your confusions.

How to listen when a fragment is on the screen

What I need is exactly an onResume method (as it works for activities) for a specific fragment. I'm adding the fragment (let's say fragment A) to the back stack, and opening another fragment (fragment B) (again adding to back stack) from fragment A. I want to update toolbar when fragment B is closed and fragment A is on screen again. I expect onCreateView to get called but it's not getting called when I pop fragment B. I also tried adding an OnBackStackChangedListener to fragment A but then I cannot track which fragment is on the screen when the back stack changes.
So my question is how to make onCreateView get called when I turn back to fragment A. And if this is not a good practice, how else can I track this event?
Edit
I'm showing new fragments with this code:
getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction()
.add(R.id.content, fragment)
.addToBackStack(tag)
.commit();
Should I change it somehow to make onCreateView get called? Since I'm adding new fragment B on existing fragment A (I can even click on a button which is in fragment A when B is on the screen), when I pop fragment B, nothing changes with fragment A's situation.

Override this method in the Fragment and check the boolean value
#Override
public void setUserVisibleHint(boolean isVisibleToUser) {
super.setUserVisibleHint(isVisibleToUser);
//Log.e("setUserVisibleHint", "isVisibleToUser " + isVisibleToUser);
}
Put the code that you need to be executed whenever the fragment becomes visible/is hidden in this method, according to the isVisibleToUser boolean value

Did you try OnBackStackChangedListener this way?
public class BlankFragment2 extends Fragment {
public BlankFragment2() {
// Required empty public constructor
}
#Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
Bundle savedInstanceState) {
getFragmentManager().addOnBackStackChangedListener(new FragmentManager.OnBackStackChangedListener() {
#Override
public void onBackStackChanged() {
if(getFragmentManager()==null)
return;
Fragment fr = getFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.container)//id of your container;
if (fr instanceof BlankFragment2) {
//On resume code goes here
}
}
});
return inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_blank_fragment2, container, false);
}
}

I hope this solution will works.
1) Put/call addOnBackStackChangedListener on your Activity
getSupportFragmentManager().addOnBackStackChangedListener(backStacklistener);
2) Define backStacklistener inside your Activity
FragmentManager.OnBackStackChangedListener backStacklistener = new FragmentManager.OnBackStackChangedListener() {
public void onBackStackChanged() {
FragmentManager manager = getSupportFragmentManager();
if (manager != null) {
Fragment fragment = manager.findFragmentById(R.id.fragment);
if(fragment instanceof OutboxFragment) {
OutboxFragment currFrag = (OutboxFragment) fragment;
currFrag.onFragmentResume();
}
}
}
};
3) Provide a method on your fragment that you want to be triggered. In this case I create method named onFragmentResume()
public void onFragmentResume() {
MainActivity activity = (MainActivity) getActivity();
activity.showFab();
// or do another thing here
}
Good luck!

Android: keep Fragment running

Is it possible to keep a Fragment running while I call replace from FragmentManager to open a new Fragment?
Basically I don't want to pause a Fragment when navigating (via replace method) to another Fragment.
Is it possible?
Or the correct approach is, always, instantiate a new Fragment every time I need to open it and restore its previous state?
Thanks!

FragmentManger replace method will destroy the previous fragment completely, So in each transaction onDestroyView(), onDestroy() and onDetach() will get called on previous fragment. If you want to keep your fragment running you can instead use FragmentManger hide() and show() methods! It hides and shows the fragments without destroying them.
so first add both fragments to fragment manager and also hide the second fragment.
fragmentManager.beginTransaction()
.add(R.id.new_card_container, FragmentA)
.add(R.id.new_card_container,FragmentB)
.hide(FragmentB)
.commit();
Note that you can only call show() on hidden fragment. So here you can't call show() on FragmentA but it's not a problem because by hiding and showing FragmentB you can get replacement effect you want.
And here is a method to go back and forth between your fragments.
public void showOtherFragment() {
if(FragmentB.isHidden()){
fragmentManager.beginTransaction()
.show(FragmentB).commit();
} else {
fragmentManager.beginTransaction()
.hide(FragmentB).commit();
}
}
Now if you put log message in fragment callback method you will see there is no destruction (except for screen orientation change!), even view will not get destroyed since onDistroyView doesn't get called.
There is only one problem and that is, first time when application starts onCreateView() method get called one time for each fragment (and it should be!) but when the orientation changes onCreateView() gets called twice for each fragment and that's because fragments once created as usual and once because of there attachment to FragmentManger (saved on bundle object) To avoid that you have two options 1) detach fragments in onSaveInstaneState() callback.
#Override
protected void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState) {
fragmentManager.beginTransaction()
.detach(FragmentA)
.detach(FragmentB)
.commit();
super.onSaveInstanceState(outState);
}
It's working but view state will not get updated automatically, for example if you have a EditText its text will erase each time orientation change happens. of course you can fix this simply by saving states in the fragment but you don't have to if you use the second option!
first i save a Boolean value in onSaveInstaneState() method to remember witch fragment is shown.
#Override
protected void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState) {
boolean isFragAVisible = true;
if(!FragmentB.isHidden())
isFragAVisible = false;
outState.putBoolean("isFragAVisible",isFragAVisible);
super.onSaveInstanceState(outState);
}
now in activity onCreate method i check to see if savedInstanceState == null. if yes do as usual if not activity is created for second time. so fragment manager already contains the fragments. So instead i'm getting a reference to my fragments from fragment manager. also i make sure correct fragment is shown since its not recovered automatically.
fragmentManager = getFragmentManager();
if(savedInstanceState == null){
FragmentA = new FragmentA();
FragmentB = new FragmentB();
fragmentManager.beginTransaction()
.add(R.id.new_card_container, FragmentA, "fragA")
.add(R.id.new_card_container, FragmentB, "fragB")
.hide(FragmentB)
.commit();
} else {
FragmentA = (FragmentA) fragmentManager.findFragmentByTag("fragA");
FragmentB = (FragmentB) fragmentManager.findFragmentByTag("fragB");
boolean isFragAVisible = savedInstanceState.getBoolean("isFragAVisible");
if(isFragAVisible)
fragmentManager.beginTransaction()
.hide(FragmentB)
.commit();
else
fragmentManager.beginTransaction()
.hide(FragmetA) //only if using transaction animation
.commit();
}
By now your fragment will work perfectly if are not using transaction animation. If you do, you also need to show and hide FragmentA. So when you want to show FragmentB first hide FragmentA then show FragmentB (in the same transaction) and when you want to hide FragmentB hide it first and also show FragmentA (again in the same transaction). Here is my code for card flip animation (downloaded from developer.goodle.com)
public void flipCard(String direction) {
int animationEnter, animationLeave;
if(direction == "left"){
animationEnter = R.animator.card_flip_right_in;
animationLeave = R.animator.card_flip_right_out;
} else {
animationEnter = R.animator.card_flip_left_in;
animationLeave = R.animator.card_flip_left_out;
}
if(cardBack.isHidden()){
fragmentManager.beginTransaction()
.setCustomAnimations(animationEnter, animationLeave)
.hide(cardFront)
.show(cardBack)
.commit();
} else {
fragmentManager.beginTransaction()
.setCustomAnimations(animationEnter,animationLeave)
.hide(cardBack)
.show(cardFront)
.commit();
}
}

Detaching a Fragment not triggering onSaveInstanceState()

My Android application has an ActionBar that changes which Fragment occupies a certain FrameLayout. I am trying to use onSaveInstanceState to save the state of a Fragment when the tab is changed, so that it can be recovered in onCreateView.
The problem is, onSaveInstanceState is never called. The Fragment's onDestroyView and onCreateView methods are called, but the Bundle supplied to onCreateView remains null.
Can someone please explain to me when onSaveInstanceState is actually called, how I can make sure it gets called when switching tabs, or the best practice for saving and restoring the state of a Fragment when it is detached and re-attached?
Fragment:
#Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
Bundle savedInstanceState) {
View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.event_log, container, false);
// Retrieve saved state
if (savedInstanceState != null){
System.out.println("log retrieved");
} else {
System.out.println("log null");
}
return view;
}
#Override
public void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState) {
System.out.println("log saved");
super.onSaveInstanceState(outState);
// more code
}
Activity:
/**
* Detach the current Fragment, because another one is being attached.
*/
#Override
public void onTabUnselected(Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
if (tab.getText().equals(getString(R.string.tab_events))){
if (frEventLog != null) {
ft.detach(frEventLog);
}
}

Fragment#onSaveInstanceState is only called when the Activity hosting the Fragment is destroyed AND there is a chance that you can come back to the same activity AND the fragment is still added to the FragmentManager. The most common case would be screen rotation.
I think your Fragment will also need to do setRetainInstance(true) in onCreate for example. Not exactly sure about that point though.
You should also see this method being called when you press the home button for example. That will destroy the activity but you can go back to it by using the task list for example.
If you just detach() the fragment all you need to do to get it back is to ask the FragmentManager for it.
There are two examples you should have a look at:
ActionBar FragmentTabs and TabHost FragmentTabs
The TabHost example uses
ft.add(containerId, fragment, tag);
// later
fragment = mActivity.getSupportFragmentManager().findFragmentByTag(tag);
to find the instances of previously added Fragments, works until you remove() a Fragment
Regarding onCreateView / onDestroyView: That is called once a fragment gets detached because the next time you attach it needs to create a new View. Note that Fragment#onDetached() is not called when you detach() the fragment because it is still attached to the Activity. It is only detached from the view-hierarchy.
There is another nice example on how to retain fragment state / how to use fragments to retain state in Android Training - Caching Bitmaps.
That example is missing a critical line though:
public static RetainFragment findOrCreateRetainFragment(FragmentManager fm) {
RetainFragment fragment = (RetainFragment) fm.findFragmentByTag(TAG);
if (fragment == null) {
fragment = new RetainFragment();
fm.beginTransaction().add(fragment, TAG).commit(); // << add this
}
return fragment;
}

savedInstanceState when restoring fragment from back stack

Can I use savedInstanceState() to save the state when removing a fragment, then restore the state when I pop the fragment off the back stack? When I restore the fragment from the back stack, savedInstanceState bundle is always null.
Right now, the app flow is: fragment created -> fragment removed (added to back stack) -> fragment restored from back stack (savedInstanceState bundle is null).
Here is the relevant code:
public void onActivityCreated(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
Bundle bundle = getArguments();
Long playlistId = bundle.getLong(Constants.PLAYLIST_ID);
int playlistItemId = bundle.getInt(Constants.PLAYLISTITEM_ID);
if (savedInstanceState == null) {
selectedVideoNumber = playlistItemId;
} else {
selectedVideoNumber = savedInstanceState.getInt("SELECTED_VIDEO");
}
}
public void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState) {
super.onSaveInstanceState(outState);
outState.putInt(Constants.SELECTED_VIDEO, selectedVideoNumber);
}
I think the problem is that onSavedInstanceState() is never called when being removed and being added to back stack. If I cant use onsavedInstanceState(), is there another way to fix this?

onSaveInstanceState is (unfortunately) not called in normal back-stack re-creation of a fragment. Check out http://developer.android.com/guide/components/fragments.html#Creating and the answer on How can I maintain fragment state when added to the back stack?

I like to store the View I return in onCreateView as a global variable and then when I return I simply check this:
if(mBaseView != null) {
// Remove the view from the parent
((ViewGroup)mBaseView.getParent()).removeView(mBaseView);
// Return it
return mBaseView;
}

The problem is that the fragment needs to have an Id or Tag associated with it in order for the FragmentManager to keep track of it.
There are at least 3 ways to do this:
In xml layout declare an Id for your fragment:
android:id=#+id/<Id>
If your fragments container View has an Id, use FragmentTransaction:
FragmentTransaction add (int containerViewId, Fragment fragment)
If your fragment is not associated with any View (e.g. headless fragment), give it a Tag:
FragmentTransaction add (Fragment fragment, String tag)
Also, see this SO answer.

FWIW, I hit this as well, but in my case onSaveInstanceState was called properly and I pushed in my state data when a new activity fragment was brought up on the smartphone. Same as you, the onActivityCreated was called w/ savedInstanceState always null. IMHO, I think it's a bug.
I worked around it by creating a static MyApplication state and putting the data there for the equivalent of "global variables"...