Programming convention on Anonymous Class vs Implementing Interface

Question

From the android development perspective, while you are programming which way do you prefer to implement for listener? Or which way do you think is the best for readable code? I gave two example about these things but think more complex classes such as which has more than one Listener:)

First example which is an Anonymous Class:

public class SenderReceiverActivity extends Activity {

Button cancelButton;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.sending);
    cancelButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button1);
    cancelButton.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

        public void onClick(View v) {

        }
    });
}}

Second example which is implementing interface :

public class SenderReceiverActivity extends Activity implements OnClickListener {

Button cancelButton;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.sending);
    cancelButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button1);
    cancelButton.setOnClickListener(this);
}

public void onClick(View v) {

}
}

+1 for the well-asked question. However, you should know that there are many similar question on this site. — , May 30 '12 at 06:55

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered May 30 '12 at 06:53

if you have single button then first approch is right because there are no any complexity in your code but when you have many button then second is more clear ,just one onClick method for many buttons and check id of button using v.getId()

But there are no any change in functionality both are identical.

Dheeresh Singh · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-30T07:27:05.733

3

I think 2nd approch is good as

1- you can handle multiple Views click at one place...

2- it make code shorter and easy to read..

3- it is easy in maintenance.

4- if you are using the Base Activity like concept in your project then it is also useful.

edited May 30 '12 at 07:27

answered May 30 '12 at 06:52

Dheeresh Singh

15,643
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Moreover, I think implementing interface within Activity also shows which listener are you interested in at a first sight. – Omer Faruk Celebi May 30 '12 at 08:54

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 30 '12 at 06:58

0

Well, there isn't really much differences between both except one: in second case you have access to onClick(View v) method from outside the class.

If it comes to me I prefer first approach, because not often more than one component have at the same time the same behaviour on click.

answered May 30 '12 at 06:58

joval

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I think it won't be a good practice to invoke such methods which are system-like methods(I'm talking about android case). If you need to call these kind of method explicitly something should be wrong. However your suggestion showed another aspect of implementing interface. Thanks :) – Omer Faruk Celebi May 30 '12 at 07:23
I did not say that I would do that. I only said there is such possibility =] – joval May 30 '12 at 07:54

Programming convention on Anonymous Class vs Implementing Interface

3 Answers3