Develop Reference

Exiting from Activity with only fragments

My app contains one empty activity and a couple of fragments. The onCreate of the activity replaces the empty view in activity_main.xml with a MainFragment that contains some buttons. Each button launches a separate fragment, and user can navigate from one fragment to another, etc.
On the press of back key, the current fragment correctly gets replaced with the previous fragment, until you get to the MainFragment. When user presses back from MainFragment, it hides the main fragment and you see the white empty background of the main activity. But I want to exit from the activity at this point, as that would be the sensible behaviour.
I am able to achieve this by calling super.onBackPressed() for a second time from onBackPressed if there are no fragments left in the fragment manager.
#Override
public void onBackPressed() {
super.onBackPressed();
FragmentManager manager = getSupportFragmentManager();
List<Fragment> fragments = manager.getFragments();
if (fragments == null || fragments.size() == 0) {
Log.d(TAG, "No more fragments: exit");
super.onBackPressed();
}
}
Is this acceptable thing to do - would it create any issues in the activity workflow? Is there a better/standard way to handle this scenario?

There is no problem to do that, but probably it would be easier if when you add the main fragment to the activity you do NOT call .addToBackStack()

You don't really need to override onBackPressed in your Activity. I would suggest implementing a method for adding fragments in your Activity:
protected void addFragment(Fragment fragment, boolean addToBackStack) {
String tag = fragment.getClass().getName(); //It's optional, may be null
FragmentTransaction transaction = getSupportFragmentManager()
.beginTransaction()
.add(R.id.your_container_id, fragment, tag);
if (addToBackStack) {
transaction.addToBackStack(tag);
}
transaction.commit();
}
And modify your onCreate method of activity like in the following snippet:
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
if (savedInstanceState == null) {
// Add your fragment only if it is a first launch,
// otherwise it will be restored by system
addFragment(new YourFirstFragment(), false);
}
}
For all other fragments use:
addFragment(new OtherFragment(), true);

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.

Fragment calling fragments loosing state on screen rotation

Hi i created a project with a default "Navigation Drawer Activity".
So i have a MainActivity with a fragment with is replaced for each item on menu.
One of the menus is "Customers" with shows a list of customers.
From customers fragment i can see the Interests of this customers, with is a Fragment(CustomerListFragment) calling the interests(InterestsListFragment).
There is even more levels, but to be short that's enough.
This is the code on MainActivity that i use to call fragment from fragment and pass data between
public void passData(Object[] data, Fragment f) {
Bundle args = new Bundle();
args.putSerializable("PASSED_DATA", data);
f.setArguments(args);
FragmentManager fragmentManager = getSupportFragmentManager();
fragmentManager.beginTransaction()
.replace(R.id.container, f)
.addToBackStack("")
.commit();
}
And i use like :
mCallbacks.passData(new Object[]{c}, new OpportunityListFragment());
The problem is that when i rotate the phone does not matter from wich level of activity i have, it comes back to the first fragment called(CustomerListFragment), and if i click "Back" on cellphone it gets back to where i was when i rotate the phone.
What do i have to do, to avoid this kind of problem? why it gets back to the first activity evoked if i am replacing fragments?

The answer from ste-fu is correct but let's explore programmatically. There is a good working code in Google documentation # Handling Runtime Changes. There are 2 code snippets that you have to do.
1) Code snippet:
public class MyActivity extends Activity {
private RetainedFragment dataFragment;
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.main);
// find the retained fragment on activity restarts
FragmentManager fm = getFragmentManager();
dataFragment = (DataFragment) fm.findFragmentByTag(“data”);
// create the fragment and data the first time
if (dataFragment == null) {
Note: Code uses FragmentManager to find the current Fragment. If fragment is null, then the UI or app has not been executed. if not null, then you can get data from RetainedFragment object.
2) Need to retain the Fragment state.
public class RetainedFragment extends Fragment {
// data object we want to retain
private MyDataObject data;
// this method is only called once for this fragment
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
// retain this fragment
setRetainInstance(true);
}
Note: setRetainInstance is used in OnCreate. And subclassing the Fragment is recommended, naming it RetainedFragment, used on snippet 1.

When you change screen orientation your parent Activity is destroyed and recreated. Unless you persist the level structure in some fashion, it will always appear as when you first started the activity. You can either use the bundle object, or for more complicated objects you need to persist it to a database.
Either way, onSaveInstanceState is your friend. Then in your onCreate method you need to check the bundle or database, and the set the fragment accordingly.

Android Fragment, going back without recreating/reloading Fragment

I've seen quite a few questions on SO about Fragments and I still can't seem to figure out if what I want to do is possible, and more so if my design pattern is just flawed and I need to re-work the entire process. Basically, like most questions that have been asked, I have an ActionBar with NavigationTabs (using ActionBarSherlock), then within each Tab there is a FragementActivity and then the FragmentActivities push new Fragments when a row is selected (I'm trying to re-create an iOS Project in Android and it's just a basic Navigation based app with some tabs that can drill down into specific information). When I click the back button on the phone the previous Fragment is loaded but the Fragment re-creates itself (so the WebServices are called again for each view) and this isn't needed since the information won't change in a previous view when going backwards. So basically what I want to figure out is how do I setup my Fragments so that when I push the back button on the phone, the previous Fragment is just pulled up with the previous items already created. Below is my current code :
//This is from my FragmentActivity Class that contains the ActionBar and Tab Selection Control
#Override
public void onTabSelected(ActionBar.Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
int selectedTab = tab.getPosition();
if (selectedTab == 0) {
SalesMainScreen salesScreen = new SalesMainScreen();
ft.replace(R.id.content, salesScreen);
}
else if (selectedTab == 1) {
ClientMainScreen clientScreen = new ClientMainScreen();
ft.replace(R.id.content, clientScreen);
}.....
//This is within the ClientMainScreen Fragment Class, which handles moving to the Detail Fragment
row.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
#Override
public void onClick(View view) {
//Do something if Row is clicked
try{
String selectedClientName = clientObject.getString("ClientName");
String selectedClientID = clientObject.getString("ClientID");
String selectedValue = clientObject.getString("ClientValue");
transaction = getFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
ClientDetailScreen detailScreen = new ClientDetailScreen();
detailScreen.clientID = selectedClientID;
detailScreen.clientName = selectedClientName;
detailScreen.clientValue = selectedValue;
int currentID = ((ViewGroup)getView().getParent()).getId();
transaction.replace(currentID,detailScreen);
transaction.addToBackStack(null);
transaction.commit();
}
catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
});....
//And then this is the Client Detail Fragment, with the method being called to Call the Web Service and create thew (since what is displayed on this screen is dependent on what is found in the Web Service
#Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup group, Bundle saved) {
return inflater.inflate(R.layout.clientdetailscreen, group, false);
}
#Override
public void onActivityCreated (Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onActivityCreated(savedInstanceState);
//Setup Preferences File Link
this.preferences = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(getActivity());
//initialize the table object
mainTable = (TableLayout)getActivity().findViewById(R.id.mainTable);
//setup the detail table
setupRelatedClientSection();
}
The Client Detail Screen can then drill down one more time, using the same method as the Client Main Screen but when I go back from that new screen to the Detail Screen the seuptRelatedClientSection() method is called again and so the entire Fragment is rebuilt when really I just want to pull up a saved version of that screen. Is this possible with my current setup, or did I approach this the wrong way?

Try using fragementTransaction.add instead of replace

I believe that you are looking for show() and hide().
I think you can still add them to the backstack.
transaction.hide(currentFragment);
transaction.show(detailScreen);
transaction.addToBackStack(null);
transaction.commit();
I didnt have my code to look at but i believe this is how it would go... Try it out unless someone else has a better way.
I have not tried the backstack with show() hide() but i believe that it takes the changes that are made before the transactions commit and will undo them if the back button is pressed. Please get back to me on this cause i am interested to know.
You also have to make sure that the detail fragment is created before you call this. Since it is based on the click of someitem then you should probably create the details fragment every time you click to make sure the correct details fragment is created.

I'm posting this answer for people who may refer this question in future.
Following code will demonstrate how to open FragmentB from FragmentA and going back to FragmentA from FragmentB (without refreshing FragmentA) by pressing back button.
public class FragmentA extends Fragment{
...
void openFragmentB(){
FragmentManager fragmentManager =
getActivity().getSupportFragmentManager();
FragmentB fragmentB = FragmentB.newInstance();
if (fragmentB.isAdded()) {
return;
} else {
fragmentManager.
beginTransaction().
add(R.id.mainContainer,fragmentB).
addToBackStack(FragmentB.TAG).
commit();
}
}
}
public class FragmentB extends Fragment{
public static final String TAG =
FragmentB.class.getSimpleName();
...
public static FragmentB newInstance(){
FragmentB fragmentB = new FragmentB();
return fragmentB;
}
#Override
public void onResume() {
super.onResume();
// add this piece of code in onResume method
this.getView().setFocusableInTouchMode(true);
this.getView().requestFocus();
}
}
In your MainActivity override onBackPressed()
class MainActivity extends Activity{
...
#Override
public void onBackPressed() {
if (getFragmentManager().getBackStackEntryCount() > 0) {
getFragmentManager().popBackStack();
} else {
super.onBackPressed();
}
}
}

You're right, there has been a number of previous questions / documentation on the topic ;)
The documentation on Fragments, specifically the section about Transactions and Saving State, will guide you to the answer.
http://developer.android.com/guide/components/fragments.html#Transactions
http://developer.android.com/guide/components/activities.html#SavingActivityState
Android - Fragment onActivityResult avoid reloading
Fragments can have support for onSaveInstanceState but not onRestoreInstanceState, so if you want to save a reference to the table views, save them to the Bundle and you can access the saved view in your onActivityCreated method. You could also use the Fragments back stack.
This guide/tutorial has very detailed instructions/examples on the back stack and retaining fragment state.
Good luck

OnCreateView called multiple times / Working with ActionBar and Fragments

I switched part of my App from Activities to Fragments so that I can use the neat ActionBar tabs.
However, after completing the transition I ran into an issue: whenever I switch to another tab, that Fragment gets created all over again. Both onCreate and onCreateView get called every time I get to a tab.
I have 4 tabs, each of which is meant to open one of these fragments:
Fragment ShopFragment = new WebActivity();
Fragment SearchFragment = new SearchActivity(context);
Fragment StoreFragment = new StoreLocatorActivity(context, this);
Fragment BlogsFragment = new BlogsActivity(context, this);
Here's my code for the listener:
class MyTabsListener implements ActionBar.TabListener {
public Fragment fragment;
public MyTabsListener(Fragment fragment) {
this.fragment = fragment;
}
#Override
public void onTabReselected(Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
ft.hide(fragment);
}
#Override
public void onTabSelected(Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
ft.replace(R.id.fragment_container, fragment);
}
#Override
public void onTabUnselected(Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
}
}
Could someone please point me in the right direction?

When you call FragmentTransaction.replace(...), Android will effectively perform a sequence of FragmentTransaction.remove(...) (for all Fragments currently added to that container) and FragmentTransaction.add(...) (for your supplied Fragment). Removing a Fragment from the FragmentManager will cause the Fragment to be destroyed and its state will no longer be managed. Most noticeably, when you re-add the Fragment all of the views will have been reset. Note: since you are reusing the same Fragment instance, the Fragment will still keep the value any instance variables.
One solution to this problem would be to use FragmentTransaction.detach(Fragment) and FragmentTransaction.attach(Fragment) when switching. This will cause the Fragment views to be recreated (onDestroyView() & onCreateView() will be called), but the instance state bundle will be saved and given back to you between calls and so the view state can be maintained. This is the approach taken by FragmentPagerAdapter when it tries to switch between Fragments.
Alternatively, you could allow the Fragments to be destroyed, but maintain their saved state for them independently. This would use less memory, at the expense of a slower switching time. Methods of note would be FragmentManager.saveFragmentInstanceState(Fragment) and FragmentManager.setInitialSavedState(Fragment.SavedState), in conjuction with adding/removing. This is the approach taken by FragmentStatePagerAdapter.
You can have a look at the source for FragmentPagerAdapter and the source for FragmentStatePagerAdapter for implementation hints.

There is the show/hide option just so the fragments would not need to be repainted/recreated and the onCreate() and onCreateView() won't be reinvoked.