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Get last fragment by tag

I add fragments to back stack. For instance: A, B, C, A, D. Then from D I want to update the second A.
If I use supportFragmentManager.findFragmentByTag("A"), I have a reference to the first A, that is in a bottom of the back stack.
I tried to search through fragments collection, getBackStackEntryAt(i), but with no success.

Sorry, looking at get the latest fragment in backstack I understood that findFragmentByTag(tag) finds the last fragment with required tag. In my case after adding many fragments it sometimes found not last fragment with tag, but a previous to last (with the same tag). Maybe there is a bug in my code, I don't know, why is that.
First I tried to use callbacks, then tried to use parentFragment and childFragmentManager, see getParentFragment returning null. In fragment D I called parentFragment and accessed to methods of A and could update the last A fragment. This solution has two problems.
1) Child fragment (D) inherits a toolbar from parent (A) and adds own buttons. And after clicking Back button we return not to a parent, but even quit parent (A).
2) If we want to update not previous fragment (so that between A and D are also 3 fragments), it seems to be impossible.
So, I cancelled that solution and changed the application behaviour. I clear a backstack where it is possible. So that we cannot have two A fragments in backstack. I use supportFragmentManager.popBackStack(null, FragmentManager.POP_BACK_STACK_INCLUSIVE). Yes, that's a workaround, but I don't know, how to deal with that bug.

Fragment does not call lifecycle methods

I've a fragment A. I add() it with tag like this:
fragmentTransaction.addToBackStack(special_tag);
Then I simply add() fragment B on top of fragment A. After that, I decide to remove fragment B and go back to fragment A using:
activity.fragmentManager.popBackStackImmediate(special_tag, 0)
When I reach the fragment A, it seems that fragment doesn't re-run it's lifecycle methods: onAttach(), onResume(), onCreate() ect.
Can someone explain this behavior and maybe suggest an alternative?
(I need to "refresh" the data when I come back to fragment A second time)
What is causing this result?
Is there a clean solution/work-around?
Update
Fragment B is GuidedStepFragment and does not have a .replace() function. I found that it has finishGuidedStepFragments(), but it behaves the same (it does not call fragment life cycle functions)
Situation (again):
Fragment A (Simple fragment) -> .add(Fragment B) (GuidedStepFragment) -> popBackStackImmediate() or finishGuidedStepFragments()
I add Fragment B like this:
GuidedStepFragment.add(activity.fragmentManager, fragmentB.createInstance())

Using fragmentTransaction.add(Fragment) doesn't remove Fragment A. What is actually happening is that Fragment A is still running behind Fragment B. Since Fragment A never stopped running, it's lifecycle has no need to retrigger.
Consider using fragmentTransaction.replace(Fragment) and replace the fragment in the container (fragment A) with fragment B. If you pop that transaction from the back stack, then Fragment A will reattach and follow your expected lifecycle.
Update
Since you seem to be using GuidedStepFragments from the leanback library, this is a little tricky. GuidedStepFragment actually performs replace(...) under the hood, but you're adding fragment B to a different container so the original behavior I mentioned doesn't apply.
I'm not super familiar with leanback (since it's usually only used for android tv), but I do know that you can at least do the following. If you keep track of your backstack size, when all of the GuidedStepFragments have been popped, you will have returned to your original fragment. For example, let's assume your backstack starts at zero:
activity.fragmentManager.addOnBackStackChangedListener(new FragmentManager.OnBackStackChangedListener() {
#Override
public void onBackStackChanged() {
if (activity.fragmentManager.getBackStackEntryCount() == 0){
// handle your updates
}
}
});
// the next line of code will add an entry to the backstack
GuidedStepFragment.add(activity.fragmentManager, fragmentB.createInstance());
// eventually when back is pressed and the guided fragment is removed, the backstack listener should trigger

How to avoid multiple instances of fragments in Activity after app is killed and resumed?

I have an app with a Home screen that has 2 fragments (for now) and a navigation drawer. Currently I load the fragment A (Explore) on startup and load fragment B when clicked. From then on, I show and hide fragments. It's faster than recreating fragments on every click and my fragment A takes some time to load.
I've noticed that when I go to fragment B and go to another activity (let's call it activity 2) from there and leave the app and wait for it to be killed (or do something crazy like change the device language), and then come back to the same activity, it's still there. When I press back to go back to fragment B, sometimes (50% of times) the fragment B is drawn over fragment A. On clicking fragment A in the drawer, fragment A appears fine, but on clicking fragment B, there's another instance of fragment A and on top of that fragment B.
I've spent more than 2 days on this problem and got nowhere.
Here's my code for selecting the fragment:
private void selectItem(int position, boolean addExploreFragment) {
Log.d(tag, "selectItem: " + position);
FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction = getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
fragmentTransaction.setTransition(FragmentTransaction.TRANSIT_FRAGMENT_OPEN);
//add explore fragment - this is called on app startup, but also when the app is killed and resumed which results in 2 explore fragments
if (addExploreFragment){
fragmentTransaction.replace(R.id.content_frame, mExploreFragment, EXPLORE_FRAGMENT_TAG);
Log.d(tag, "Replaced frame and added "+ mFragmentTags[position]);
} else {
//add fragment for the first time
if (getSupportFragmentManager().findFragmentByTag(mFragmentTags[position]) == null && position != 0) {
fragmentTransaction.add(R.id.content_frame, mFragments[position], mFragmentTags[position]);
Log.d(tag, "Added Fragment: "+ mFragmentTags[position]);
}
//shows and hides fragments
for (int i = 0; i < mFragments.length; i++) {
if (i == position) {
fragmentTransaction.show(mFragments[i]);
Log.d(tag, "Showing Fragment: "+ mFragmentTags[i]);
} else {
if (getSupportFragmentManager().findFragmentByTag(mFragmentTags[i]) != null) {
fragmentTransaction.hide(mFragments[i]);
Log.d(tag, "Hid Fragment: "+ mFragmentTags[i]);
}
}
}
}
fragmentTransaction.commit();
//not null check for calling selectItem(0) before loading the drawer
if (mDrawerList != null){
mDrawerList.setItemChecked(position, true);
}
}
I know for sure, the explore fragment is getting created twice and the two instances behave independently of each other (just sharing).
I'm lost what to do next. This is an issue which can be reproduced very easily on low end devices but on a device like Nexus 4 (my test device), the issue can be reproduced by changing the device language.
Has anyone got any ideas about this? Basically if the addExploreFragment block doesn't get called when there is already an exploreFragment, this issue could be solved, I think, but I've been unable to do so. Also, I tried removing all the fragments and then adding the exploreFragment but same thing happens (50% of times).
Thanks! and sorry for the long post, I felt I should share all the details.
Update: When I change the device language and come back to the app on Activity 2 and go back to Home activity, it has the fragment B open which is good, but fragment A get recreated because it's a heavy fragment and the system probably removed it from memory. Again, that's ok that it gets recreated IF it got removed by the system but why does it get recreated when it's not removed. I believe it's something with my code, on every 2nd attempt (without closing the app) this happens, 2 instances of the heavy fragment A. Out of ideas.
But shouldn't fragmentTransaction.replace remove all the previously added fragments and then add exploreFragment. It's not working like that. Neither fragment A nor Fragment B are getting removed.

I found out something new and rather odd to me. When you use fragmentTransaction.add, the listeners you have, like DrawerItemClickListener, on the previous fragment, are still active. And this is even if you use fragmentTransaction.commit.
So...I suspect when the add method is used, you actually clicked on another hidden button or hidden UI that has an event listener on the previous fragment. I don't like this of course and the effect may be very confusing. Yes, this happened to me and I didn't understand why for a while.
For now, I think the easiest code fix would be to use the replace method instead of add. The replace() makes listeners inactive. If it works, then you can make a better/elegant fix.
Let me know what happens....

I started to notice your post
when I go to fragment B and go to another activity
When you interact or start another Activity, you start a new set of Fragments. Look at this Google webpage # Fragments Lifecycle.
For clarification of my claim, there is a quote saying
A fragment must always be embedded in an activity and the fragment's
lifecycle is directly affected by the host activity's lifecycle.
You might as well read few paragraphs of it, at least.
I am not sure what your solution should be. Perhaps make the fragments distinctive, different and clear between the two Activities you have.

Android Fragment View State Loss When Using FragmentTransaction.replace()

I am having a pretty big issue and I am not quite understanding what is happening. I am developing an application that uses Fragments (from the support library) and am using FragmentTransaction.replace() to place new Fragments on to the back stack and replace the old one. The code looks as follows:
FragmentManager fm = getSupportFragmentManager();
FragmentTransaction ft = ft.beginTransaction();
// Animations in my res/anim folder
ft.setCustomAnimations(R.anim.slide_in_right, R.anim.slide_out_left, R.anim.slide_in_left, R.anim.slide_out_right);
ft.replace(R.id.fragment_container, newFragment, tag);
ft.addToBackStack(null);
ft.commit();
This is successful in replacing my fragment. My issue is the following. In one Fragment, I have a list of items that is built from user input. Now, when the user clicks next and then clicks the back button (to return to the list), the list is empty because the view is destroyed. Now, I have noted the following:
onSaveInstanceState is not called. I believe this is because that is only called when the parent Activity tells it to. Based on the docs: " There are many situations where a fragment may be mostly torn down (such as when placed on the back stack with no UI showing), but its state will not be saved until its owning activity actually needs to save its state.". Apparently, performing a replace on the FragmentTransaction is not one of those times. Does anyone have confirmation on this or a better explanation?
setOnRetainInstanceState(true) is not helpful in this situation. Again, I believe this has to do with info from the docs: "Control whether a fragment instance is retained across Activity re-creation (such as from a configuration change)". I am not performing any action in re-creating the activity so this is of no use.
So, I guess my main question is: is there a way to preserve the View state (simply retain the Fragment) when using replace? There is FragmentTransaction.add(), but there are a few issues with this as well. One being that the exit animation is not performed, thus the animation is not correct. Another is that the new Fragment that the old fragment (the one that is being put into a non-visible state) is still clickable. For example, if I have a ListFragment, and I place a content fragment on top of that by using add, I can still click the list items in the ListFragment.

Without being able to see the code of your fragments this is a bit of a guess, but in the past I've run into this same issue and I've found that resetting the adapter in your ListFragment in onViewStateRestored seems to do the trick.
public void onViewStateRestored (Bundle savedInstanceState)
{
super.onViewStateRestored (savedInstanceState);
setListAdapter(new ArrayAdapter(Activity, R.layout.nav_item, objects));
}
Which is weird considering the documentation states that this method is called after onActivityCreated but before onStart. But it seems that it is also called at other times because when the most recent fragment transaction is popped off the back stack this method is called before the previously replaced fragment is displayed. The activity that owns the fragments has not been paused or obscured in any way, so according to the docs onViewStateRestored should not be called since just the fragments were modified. But this seems to work anyway.

It sounds like you simply need to make sure you have properly implemented onCreateView and onDestroyView. The situation you are describing seems to indicate that when the list fragment is put on the back stack (as a result of the replace transaction) Android is calling onDestroyView to free up some resources. However, it apparently has not destroyed the list fragment because when you tap back you are getting back the same instance of the fragment.
Assuming this is all true then, when the user taps back Android will call onCreateView. Any state that you have stored in the fragment's instance variables should still be there and all you need to do is repopulate the view...perhaps set the adapter on the ListView or whatever.
Also make sure your onSaveInstanceState() callback actually does save any instance state that you need to rebuild the view. That way if the fragment actually does get completely destroyed the FragmentManager can restore the state when it needs to recrete the fragment later.

How to pop back stack for Activity with multiple Fragments?

Assume I have an Activity which contains two FrameLayouts (let's call them FrameA and FrameB) which in turn each contain a Fragment (let's call them FragmentA1 and FragmentB1 respectively). Now, I commit a series of individual fragment transactions using code similar to the following...
getFragmentManager()
.beginTransaction()
.replace(frameId, fragment)
.addToBackStack(null)
.commit();
... such that I replace FragmentA1 in FrameA with FragmentA2, then I replace FragmentB1 in FrameB with FragmentB2, then I replace FragmentA2 in FrameA with FragmentA3, then I replace FragmentB2 in Frame2 with FragmentB3, and the final state looks like the picture above (where only FragmentA3 and FragmentB3 are visible).
If I understood correctly how the back stack works, pressing 'back' will interleave popping of the Fragments between FrameA and FrameB (reflecting how I added them).
Does anyone know if it is possible to pop the last transaction on FrameA or FrameB selectively? (i.e. if I pressed 'Pop FrameA' then FrameA would be transitioned back from FragmentA3 to FragmentA2 and, instead, if I pressed 'Pop FrameB' then FrameB would be transitioned back from FragmentB3 to FragmentB2)
Supplement: I know I can get the Fragment last added to a given FrameLayout using the FragmentManager.findFragmentById(int framelayoutId) method, but calling FragmentTransaction.remove(fragment).commit() only removes the Fragment from the View and does not transition the View back to the Fragment it previously displayed.

Basically, no, there is only one back stack for an activity.
You will just need to implement your own separate back stacks.
As of Android 4.0 (and the associated support library) there are APIs that should make this relatively easy -- FragmentTransaction.detach(Fragment) lets you put a fragment into the same state it is when in the back stack, and FragmentManager.saveFragmentInstanceState(Fragment) lets you go further and completely throw away the Fragment object. Not coincidentally, these are used to implement ViewPager's FragmentPagerAdapter and FragmentStatePagerAdapter, respectively, so you could look at the code for these as an example of how to use them.

FragmentManager.popBackStack(String name, FragmentManager.POP_BACK_STACK_INCLUSIVE)
Here is the simplest answer, and the explanation is very clear: Well there are a few ways to go about this depending on the intended behavior, but this link should give you all the best solutions and not surprisingly is from Dianne Hackborn...