Activity's savedInstanceState() not being called when going to new Activity via ActionBar

Question

Any Help would be appreciated because I am almost finished and this one little thing is bugging me so much!

I have 1 of three activities that in onCreate() it populates a TextView from a query of a database. This activity is also the main activity. The other 2 activities you travel through via the action Bar like the code below shows. I have both savedInstanceState() and onRestoreInstanceState() in play here and they only work when you exit out of the application completely, which is good but I also want it so that when you go to another Activity from the actionBar then the TextView Won't have to re-query the database. I want the textview to be the same as when you leave because every time you leave with the Actionbar the textView fires off a completely new query and I don't want that. I want it to still have the result of the first query when the user first arrived.

I tried using the finish() and the onStop() methods to help terminate the activity so that saveOnInstanceState() would be called when the Activity is destroyed but it either isn't working or I am not placing it in the right place. Any Thoughts Please?!?!?!

applying savedInstanceState in onCreate():

if(savedInstanceState != null){
        String SavedStory = savedInstanceState.getString(SavedStoryHere);
        String SavedTitle = savedInstanceState.getString(SavedTitleHere);
        OpenningTextView.setText(SavedStory);
        TitleTextView.setText(SavedTitle);
    }
    else{
        OpenningTextView.setText(StoryText);
        TitleTextView.setText(TitleString);
    }

The onSavedInstanceState() and the onRestoreInstanceState():

protected void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onSaveInstanceState(savedInstanceState);
    String text = OpenningTextView.getText().toString();
    String titleText = TitleTextView.getText().toString();
    savedInstanceState.putString(SavedStoryHere, text);
    savedInstanceState.putString(SavedTitleHere, titleText);
}

protected void onRestoreInstanceState(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onRestoreInstanceState(savedInstanceState);
    OpenningTextView.setText(savedInstanceState.getString(SavedStoryHere));
    TitleTextView.setText(savedInstanceState.getString(SavedTitleHere));        
}

Going to Different Activities via the ActionBar:

public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
    switch (item.getItemId()){
        case R.id.Openning_Screen:
            Toast.makeText(this, "This is the Story of the Day", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT)
             .show();
            return true;
        case R.id.The_List:
            Intent A_ListIntent = new Intent(this, A_Where_List.class);
            startActivity(A_ListIntent);
            return true;
        case R.id.Settings:
            Intent SavedStoriesIntent = new Intent(this, Settings.class);
            startActivity(SavedStoriesIntent);
            return true;
        default:
            return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 15 '15 at 18:48

I think your problem is your Launch Mode defined for your activities. By default it allows multiple instances, and in this case I think you want one instance. So when you "go back" to the original activity, it's a new instance and the onRestoreInstanceState() will not be called.

Try setting the launchMode to singleInstance for your activites in the manifest.

android:launchMode="singleInstance"

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 15 '15 at 18:40

2

What you're seeing is expected behaviour.

Calling startActivity(intent) does not finish/destroy your current Activity - that's why you're not getting onSaveInstanceState called. When the user presses the back button, your Activity will be in the state it was in when they left the page.

What you should be seeing is onPause/onResume called for leaving & re-entering your primary Activity.

answered Apr 15 '15 at 18:40

Adam S

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Thanks for responding! so when I call `onPause()` or `onResume` (or both!) what would be the best way to save the values so I can have `onCreate` do with that container what it did with `onSavedInstanceState()`? SharedPreferences? just a regular list or String array? – KellysOnTop23 Apr 15 '15 at 18:54
`onPause` and `onResume` are called automatically for you. Looking at your code, you shouldn't have to do anything to have your text fields repopulated on Activity recreation. You can delete your `onRestoreInstanceState` method too - you're already handling everything in `onCreate`! – Adam S Apr 15 '15 at 19:00
Note that I assume by this, you mean when you leave the Activity and then re-enter it by _pressing the back button_: "when you go to another Activity from the actionBar then the TextView will still be the same" – Adam S Apr 15 '15 at 19:02
Im dumb.....I meant that the textView ISN'T the same when you go to another activity via the ActionBar....Im so sorry. I'll edit that right now – KellysOnTop23 Apr 15 '15 at 19:11

Activity's savedInstanceState() not being called when going to new Activity via ActionBar

2 Answers2