Is there any good solution for searching in TabActivity for each activity in tab respectively?

Question

I have problem with Activities navigation, searching works good.

Activities hierarchy looks like that:

                              /  MyListActivityA -- ItemActivityA
MainActivity -- MyTabActivity -- MyListActivityB -- ItemActivityB
                              \  MyListActivityB -- ItemActivityC

Tabs in TabActivity are created using Intents with MyListActivity.

MyListActivities are declared in manifest like below:

    <activity
        android:name=".views.OrderListView">
        <intent-filter>
            <action
                android:name="android.intent.action.SEARCH" />
        </intent-filter>
        <meta-data
            android:name="android.app.searchable"
            android:resource="@xml/searchable_orders" />
    </activity>

Every MyListActivity has own SearchRecentSuggestionsProvider.

First resolved problem

When invoked search on any of MyListActivity I got the activity outside the MyTabActivity. Therefore implemented redirecting to MyTabActivity.
In onCreate() of MyListActivity intent action is checked. If it's

Intent.ACTION_SEARCH

then start TabActivity and finish current, like below:

    if(Intent.ACTION_SEARCH.equals(intent.getAction())) {
        String query = intent.getStringExtra(SearchManager.QUERY);
        intent.setClass(context, MyTabActivity.class);
        intent.setAction(MyTabActivity.ACTION_SEARCH_PROXY);

        Bundle appData = intent.getBundleExtra(SearchManager.APP_DATA);

        if(appData != null) {
            intent.putExtras(appData);
        }

        intent.putExtra(Constants.ACTIVITY_TYPE, activityType);
        intent.putExtra(ActivityTabView.EXTRA_SEARCH_QUERY, query);

        context.startActivity(intent);
        context.finish();
    }

When MyListActivity find

ActivityTabView.EXTRA_SEARCH_QUERY

it makes search query on list. And problem resolved.

Second resolved problem

Clicking "Back" button clears search query - that's ok. But clicking "Back" again shows past searches.

That's why I put noHistory to MyTabActivity:

<activity
    android:name=".views.MyTabActivity"
    android:noHistory="true">
</activity>

Third UNresolved problem

Now, for example, going from MyListActivityA to ItemActivityA and clicking "Back" redirects to MainActivity. I can't do back to MyTabActivity because of noHistory parameter.

Is there any good solution for using Android searching in TabActivity for each activity in tab respectively?

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 25 '11 at 17:12

I recommend to read Tasks and Back Stack. It gave me better understandings of activities stack in android.

My solution:

Invoked Quick Search Dialog starts the activity by which it was invoked, in this example it is MyListActivity. That makes TabActivity dissapear, that's why there is no visible TabWidget. Therefore in MyListActivity is implemented redirection to MyTabActivity (see First resolved problem). MyTabActivity just redirects extras, with search query, included in intent to specific MyListActivity.

All you have to do now is add one line. Set FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP flag on intent that starts MyTabActivity.

if(Intent.ACTION_SEARCH.equals(intent.getAction())) {
    String query = intent.getStringExtra(SearchManager.QUERY);
    intent.setClass(context, MyTabActivity.class);
    intent.setAction(MyTabActivity.ACTION_SEARCH_PROXY);

    Bundle appData = intent.getBundleExtra(SearchManager.APP_DATA);

    if(appData != null) {
        intent.putExtras(appData);
    }

    intent.putExtra(Constants.ACTIVITY_TYPE, activityType);
    intent.putExtra(ActivityTabView.EXTRA_SEARCH_QUERY, query);

    //added line
    intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);

    context.startActivity(intent);
    context.finish();
}

Then normal activities navigation is preserved.

You know... I am starting to hate android so much right now... :)) they REALLY messed up the Tab parts... and now with the fragments...DISASTER. — Ovidiu Latcu, Apr 12 '12 at 09:08

Is there any good solution for searching in TabActivity for each activity in tab respectively?

First resolved problem

Second resolved problem

Third UNresolved problem

1 Answers1