UNIT -4 ANDROID ACTIVITY

Unit -4
Android Activity
The Activity Life Cycle
Every instance of Activity has a lifecycle. During this lifecycle, an activity transitions
between three possible states: running, paused, and stopped. For each transition, there is
an Activity method that notifies the activity of the change in its state.
As a user navigates through, out of, and back to your app, the Activity instances in your app
transition through different states in their lifecycle. The Activity class provides a number of
callbacks that allow the activity to know that a state has changed: that the system is
creating, stopping, or resuming an activity, or destroying the process in which the activity
resides.
Within the lifecycle callback methods, you can declare how your activity behaves when the
user leaves and re-enters the activity. For example, if you're building a streaming video
player, you might pause the video and terminate the network connection when the user
switches to another app. When the user returns, you can reconnect to the network and
allow the user to resume the video from the same spot. In other words, each callback
allows you to perform specific work that's appropriate to a given change of state. Doing
the right work at the right time and handling transitions properly make your app more
robust and performant. For example, good implementation of the lifecycle callbacks can
help ensure that your app avoids:
 Crashing if the user receives a phone call or switches to another app while using
your app.
 Consuming valuable system resources when the user is not actively using it.
 Losing the user's progress if they leave your app and return to it at a later time.
 Crashing or losing the user's progress when the screen rotates between landscape
and portrait orientation.

To navigate transitions between stages of the activity lifecycle, the Activity class provides
a core set of six callbacks: onCreate(), onStart(), onResume(), onPause(), onStop(), and
onDestroy(). The system invokes each of these callbacks as an activity enters a new state.

Figure 4-1 shows the activity lifecycle, states, and methods.

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Figure 4-1. A simplified illustration of the activity lifecycle

onCreate()
You must implement this callback, which fires when the system first creates the activity.
On activity creation, the activity enters the Created state. In the onCreate() method, you
perform basic application startup logic that should happen only once for the entire life of
the activity.
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle b) {
super.onCreate(b);
//your stuffs
}

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onStart()
When the activity enters the Started state, the system invokes this callback. The onStart()
call makes the activity visible to the user, as the app prepares for the activity to enter the
foreground and become interactive. For example, this method is where the app initializes
the code that maintains the UI.
The onStart() method completes very quickly and, as with the Created state, the activity
does not stay resident in the Started state. Once this callback finishes, the activity enters
the Resumed state, and the system invokes the onResume() method.

@Override
protected void onStart()
{
super.onStart();
//your stuffs
}

onResume()
When the activity enters the Resumed state, it comes to the foreground, and then the
system invokes the onResume() callback. This is the state in which the app interacts with
the user. The app stays in this state until something happens to take focus away from the
app. Such an event might be, for instance, receiving a phone call, the user’s navigating to
another activity, or the device screen’s turning off.

@Override
protected void onResume() {
super.onResume();
//your stuffs
}

onPause()
The system calls this method as the first indication that the user is leaving your activity
(though it does not always mean the activity is being destroyed); it indicates that the
activity is no longer in the foreground (though it may still be visible if the user is in multi -
window mode). Use the onPause() method to pause or adjust operations that should not
continue (or should continue in moderation) while the Activity is in the Paused state, and
that you expect to resume shortly. There are several reasons why an activity may enter this
state. For example:
 Some event interrupts app execution, as described in the onResume() section. This
is the most common case.
 In Android 7.0 (API level 24) or higher, multiple apps run in multi-window mode.
Because only one of the apps (windows) has focus at any time, the system pauses
all of the other apps.
 A new, semi-transparent activity (such as a dialog) opens. As long as the activity is
still partially visible but not in focus, it remains paused.

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@Override
protected void onPause() {
super.onPause();
//your stuffs
}

onStop()
When your activity is no longer visible to the user, it has entered the Stopped state, and
the system invokes the onStop() callback. This may occur, for example, when a newly
launched activity covers the entire screen. The system may also call onStop() when the
activity has finished running, and is about to be terminated.
You should also use onStop() to perform relatively CPU-intensive shutdown operations. For
example, if you can't find a more opportune time to save information to a database, you
might do so during onStop().

@Override
protected void onStop() {
super.onStop();
//your stuffs
}

onDestroy()
onDestroy() is called before the activity is destroyed. The system invokes this callback
either because:
 the activity is finishing (due to the user completely dismissing the activity or due to
finish() being called on the activity), or
 the system is temporarily destroying the activity due to a configuration change
(such as device rotation or multi-window mode)

If the activity is finishing, onDestroy() is the final lifecycle callback the activity receives. If
onDestroy() is called as the result of a configuration change, the system immediately
creates a new activity instance and then calls onCreate() on that new instance in the new
configuration. The onDestroy() callback should release all resources that have not yet been
released by earlier callbacks such as onStop().

@Override
protected void onDestroy() {
super.onDestroy();
//your stuffs
}

Following example will demonstrate lifecycle of android:

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import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.Log;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
//displaying message in Log
Log.d("Lifecycle Test", "Activity Created");
}

@Override
protected void onStart()
{
super.onStart();
Log.d("Lifecycle Test", "Activity Started");
}

@Override
protected void onResume() {
super.onResume();
Log.d("Lifecycle Test", "Activity Resumed");
}

@Override
protected void onRestart() {
super.onRestart();
Log.d("Lifecycle Test", "Activity Restarted");
}

@Override
protected void onPause() {
super.onPause();
Log.d("Lifecycle Test", "Activity Paused");
}

@Override
protected void onStop() {
super.onStop();
Log.d("Lifecycle Test", "Activity Stopped");
}

@Override
protected void onDestroy() {
super.onDestroy();
Log.d("Lifecycle Test", "Activity Destroyed");
}

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Now go to Logcat present inside Android Monitor: Scroll up and you will notice three
methods which were called: Activity Created, Activity started and Activity resumed.

Now press the back button on the Emulator and exit the App. Go to Logcat again and scroll
down to bottom. You will see 3 more methods were called: Activity paused, Activity
stopped and Activity is being destroyed.

Creating Multiple Activities

So far we have created and tested only a single activity. Now we are going to create
multiple activities and also going to learn about linking different activities.
For this purpose, I am going create two activities having the name “FirstActivity” and
“SecondActivity”. FirstActivity contains TextView and Button. On the other hand,
SecondActivity contains a TextView.

FirstActivity.java

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;

public class FirstActivity extends Activity {

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.first_activity);
}
}

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SecondActivity.java

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;

public class SecondActivity extends Activity {

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle b){
super.onCreate(b);
setContentView(R.layout.second_activity);
}
}

first_activity.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical">

<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="This is First Activity"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:layout_marginTop="100dp"
android:id="@+id/text1"
/>

<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Click Me"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:id="@+id/button1"
/>

</LinearLayout>

second_activity.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical">

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<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="This is Second Activity"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:layout_marginTop="100dp"
android:id="@+id/text2"
/>

</LinearLayout>

Above xml code produces following design:

Figure 4-2. Representing FirstActivity and SecondActivity

Declaring Activities in Manifest

Since we have already discussed about declaring activity in manifest file. Previously we got
only single activity to be declared in manifest file. But now we are going to discuss about
the process of declaring both the activities “FirstActivity” and “SecondActivity” in manifest
file.

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AndroidManifest.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.example.raazu.myapplication">

<application
android:allowBackup="true"
android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
android:label="@string/app_name"
android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
android:supportsRtl="true"
android:theme="@style/AppTheme">

<activity android:name=".FirstActivity">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER"/>
</intent-filter>
</activity>

<activity android:name=".SecondActivity"/>

</application>

</manifest>

In above manifest file, FirstActivity contains <intent-filter> so, FirstActivity will be

launched first when we run our application.

Connecting Activities with Intents

An intent is an object that a component can use to communicate with the OS . The only
components you have seen so far are activities, but there are also services, broadcast
receivers, and content providers.

Intents are multi-purpose communication tools, and the Intent class provides different
constructors depending on what you are using the intent to do.

In this case, you are using an intent to tell the ActivityManager which activity to start, so
you will use this constructor:
public Intent(Context packageContext, Class<?> cls)

The Class object specifies the activity that the ActivityManager should start. The Context
object tells the ActivityManager which package the Class object can be found in.

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Figure 4-3. The intent: telling ActivityManager what to do

Following code snippet opens SecondActivity using Intent when user clicks Button in
FirstActivity:

Button btn=findViewById(R.id.button1);
btn.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
@Override
public void onClick(View view) {
Intent i=new Intent(FirstActivity.this,SecondActivity.class);
startActivity(i);
}
});

Passing Data Between Activities

Between activities data can be passed and received by using Intent extras. Extras are
arbitrary data that the calling activity can include with an intent . The OS forwards the
intent to the recipient activity, which can then access the extra and retrieve the data.

An extra is structured as a key-value pair. To add an extra to an intent, you use

Intent.putExtra(…). In particular, you will be calling

public Intent putExtra(String name, boolean value)

Intent.putExtra(…) comes in many flavors, but it always has two arguments. The first
argument is always a String key, and the second argument is the value, whose type will
vary.

Let’s learn this with the help of an example. Suppose if we want to pass data like id, name
and address of student from FirstActivity to SecondActivity then we can use Intent extras
as follows:

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FirstActivity.java

public class FirstActivity extends Activity {

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.first_activity);

Button btn=findViewById(R.id.button1);
btn.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
@Override
public void onClick(View view) {
Intent i=new Intent(FirstActivity.this,
SecondActivity.class);
//passing data using putExtra
i.putExtra("id",001);
i.putExtra("name","Ram");
i.putExtra("address","KTM");
startActivity(i);
}
});
}
}

SecondActivity.java

public class SecondActivity extends Activity {

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle b){
super.onCreate(b);
setContentView(R.layout.second_activity);

//receiving data
Intent i=getIntent();
int id=i.getIntExtra("id",0);
//second argument is default value
String name=i.getStringExtra("name");
String address=i.getStringExtra("address");

//Displaying received data in TextView

TextView txt=findViewById(R.id.text2);

txt.setText("Id="+id+"\n"+"Name="+name+"\n"+"Address="+
address);
}
}

Following output will be displayed in SecondActivity.

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Figure 4-4. Output displayed in SecondActivity

Getting Result Back form Child Activity

In previous example, we pass data from FirstActivity to SecondActivity. Now if we want to
pass data from SecondActivity back to FirstActivity then we should use following
procedure:
 First open SecondActivity form FirstActivity using following Activity method:
public void startActivityForResult(Intent intent, int requestCode)

The first parameter is the same intent as before. The second parameter is the
request code. The request code is a user-defined integer that is sent to the child
activity and then received back by the parent. It is used when an activity starts more
than one type of child activity and needs to tell who is reporting back.

 Now pass data from SecondActivity to FirstActivity using following methods. There
are two methods you can call in the child activity to send data back to the parent:
public final void setResult(int resultCode)
public final void setResult(int resultCode, Intent data)

 And finally, receive data in FirstActivity by overriding onActivityResult(…) method.

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Following example will demonstrate this procedure. Here we are adding a Button in
SecondActivity. When user clicks this Button a message “Hello First Activity!” will be sent
to FirstActivity. This message will be displayed in TextView of FirstActivity.

FirstActivity.java

public class FirstActivity extends Activity {

TextView txt;
Button btn;
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.first_activity);

txt=findViewById(R.id.text1);
btn=findViewById(R.id.button1);

btn.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
@Override
public void onClick(View view) {
Intent i=new Intent(FirstActivity.this,
SecondActivity.class);
//starting activity with result code 2
startActivityForResult(i,2);
}
});
}

// Call Back method to get the Message form other Activity

@Override
protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int
resultCode, Intent data)
{
super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);
// check if the request code is same as what is passed
here it is 2
if(requestCode==2)
{
String message=data.getStringExtra("message");
txt.setText(message);
}
}
}

SecondActivity.java

public class SecondActivity extends Activity {

Button btn;
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle b){
super.onCreate(b);
setContentView(R.layout.second_activity);

btn=findViewById(R.id.button2);
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btn.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
@Override
public void onClick(View view) {
Intent i=new Intent();
i.putExtra("message","Hello First Activity!");
setResult(2,i);
finish();//finishing activity
}
});

}
}

first_activity.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical">

<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="This is First Activity"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:layout_marginTop="100dp"
android:id="@+id/text1"
/>

<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Go to Second"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:id="@+id/button1"
/>

</LinearLayout>

second_activity.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<LinearLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical">

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<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="This is Second Activity"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:layout_marginTop="100dp"
android:id="@+id/text2"
/>

<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Go to First"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:layout_gravity="center"
android:id="@+id/button2"
/>

</LinearLayout>

After clicking Button in SecondActivity following output will be produced in FirstActivity:

Figure 4-5. Output displayed in FirstActivity after Button click in SecondActivity

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Getting and Setting Data to/from Layout File

To demonstrate this topic, now we are going to create an activity containing some
important widgets like TextView, Button, EditText, RadioButton and Spinner. First we try
to get all data that we have inputted using these widgets. After getting all data we will
display all received data in a TextView.

first_activity.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">

<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Student Form"
android:textSize="20sp"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
android:layout_marginTop="10dp"
android:id="@+id/txtForm" />

<EditText
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="@+id/txtForm"
android:layout_margin="5dp"
android:hint="Enter Student Id"
android:id="@+id/edtId" />

<EditText
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="@+id/edtId"
android:layout_margin="5dp"
android:hint="Enter Student Name"
android:id="@+id/edtName" />

<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Gender:"
android:textSize="18sp"
android:id="@+id/txtGender"
android:layout_below="@+id/edtName"
android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
android:layout_margin="5dp" />

<RadioGroup
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="@+id/edtName"

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android:id="@+id/radGroup"

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android:orientation="horizontal"
android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/txtGender">

<RadioButton
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Male"
android:id="@+id/radMale" />

<RadioButton
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Female"
android:id="@+id/radFemale" />
</RadioGroup>

<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Program:"
android:textSize="18sp"
android:layout_below="@+id/radGroup"
android:layout_margin="5dp"
android:id="@+id/txtProgram" />

<Spinner
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:entries="@array/programs"
android:layout_below="@+id/radGroup"
android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/txtProgram"
android:layout_marginTop="5dp"
android:id="@+id/spProgram" />

<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="@+id/txtProgram"
android:layout_marginTop="10dp"
android:text="Submit"
android:id="@+id/btnSubmit"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" />

<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Result"
android:textSize="18sp"
android:id="@+id/txtResult"
android:layout_below="@+id/btnSubmit"
android:layout_margin="5dp"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" />

</RelativeLayout>

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FirstActivity.java

public class FirstActivity extends Activity {

EditText edtId,edtName;
RadioButton radMale,radFemale;
Spinner spProgram;
Button btnSubmit;
TextView txtResult;
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.first_activity);

edtId=findViewById(R.id.edtId);
edtName=findViewById(R.id.edtName);
radMale=findViewById(R.id.radMale);
radFemale=findViewById(R.id.radFemale);
spProgram=findViewById(R.id.spProgram);
btnSubmit=findViewById(R.id.btnSubmit);
txtResult=findViewById(R.id.txtResult);

btnSubmit.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
@Override
public void onClick(View view) {
//getting data from edit text
String id=edtId.getText().toString();
String name=edtName.getText().toString();
//getting data from radio button
String gender="";
if(radMale.isChecked())
gender="Male";
else
gender="Female";
//getting data from spinner
String program=spProgram.getSelectedItem().toString();

//displaying data in text view

txtResult.setText("Student Id="+id+"\n"+"Student Name="
+name+"\n"+"Gender="+gender+"\n"+"Program="+program);
}
});

}
}

Above code will produce following output:

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Figure 4-6. Output demonstrating getting and setting data to/from xml file

Now we are going to look another example where user input two numbers using EditText.
When user clicks a Button then our application performs addition of two numbers and
displays result in a TextView.

first_activity.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<RelativeLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">

<EditText
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_margin="5dp"
android:hint="Enter First Number"
android:inputType="number"
android:id="@+id/edtFirst" />

<EditText
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="@+id/edtFirst"

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android:layout_margin="5dp"
android:hint="Enter Second Number"
android:inputType="number"
android:id="@+id/edtSecond" />

<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_below="@+id/edtSecond"
android:layout_marginTop="10dp"
android:text="Calculate"
android:id="@+id/btnCalculate"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" />

<TextView
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Result"
android:textSize="18sp"
android:id="@+id/txtResult"
android:layout_below="@+id/btnCalculate"
android:layout_margin="5dp"
android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" />

</RelativeLayout>

FirstActivity.java

public class FirstActivity extends Activity {

EditText edtFirst,edtSecond;
Button btnCalculate;
TextView txtResult;
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.first_activity);

edtFirst=findViewById(R.id.edtFirst);
edtSecond=findViewById(R.id.edtSecond);
btnCalculate=findViewById(R.id.btnCalculate);
txtResult=findViewById(R.id.txtResult);

btnCalculate.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener()
{
@Override
public void onClick(View view) {
//getting data from edit text
int first,second,result;
first=Integer.parseInt(edtFirst.getText().toString());
second=Integer.parseInt(edtSecond.getText().toString());
result=first+second;
//displaying result in TextView
txtResult.setText("Result="+result);
}
});
}
}

Above code will produce following output:

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Figure 4-7. Output demonstrating addition of two numbers

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