docs/html/training/basics/activity-lifecycle/recreating.jd

page.title=Recreating an Activity
parent.title=Managing the Activity Lifecycle
parent.link=index.html

trainingnavtop=true
previous.title=Stopping and Restarting an Activity
previous.link=stopping.html

@jd:body

<div id="tb-wrapper">
  <div id="tb">
    
    <h2>This lesson teaches you to</h2>
    <ol>
      <li><a href="#SaveState">Save Your Activity State</a></li>
      <li><a href="#RestoreState">Restore Your Activity State</a></li>
    </ol>
    
    <h2>You should also read</h2>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="{@docRoot}training/basics/supporting-devices/screens.html">Supporting
Different Screens</a></li>
      <li><a
href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/resources/runtime-changes.html">Handling Runtime Changes</a></li>
      <li><a href="{@docRoot}guide/components/activities.html">Activities</a>
      </li>
    </ul>

  </div>
</div>

<p>There are a few scenarios in which your activity is destroyed due to normal app behavior, such as
when the user presses the <em>Back</em> button or your activity signals its own destruction by
calling {@link android.app.Activity#finish()}. The system may also destroy your activity if it's
currently stopped and hasn't been used in a long time or the foreground activity requires more
resources so the system must shut down background processes to recover memory.</p>

<p>When your activity is destroyed because the user presses <em>Back</em> or the activity finishes
itself, the system's concept of that {@link android.app.Activity} instance is gone forever because
the behavior indicates the activity is no longer needed. However, if the system destroys
the activity due to system constraints (rather than normal app behavior), then although the actual
{@link android.app.Activity} instance is gone, the system remembers that it existed such that if
the user navigates back to it, the system creates a new instance of the activity using a set of
saved data that describes the state of the activity when it was destroyed. The saved data that the
system uses to restore the previous state is called the "instance state" and is a collection of
key-value pairs stored in a {@link android.os.Bundle} object.</p>

<p class="caution"><strong>Caution:</strong> Your activity will be destroyed and recreated each time
the user rotates the screen. When the screen changes orientation, the system destroys and recreates
the foreground activity because the screen configuration has changed and your activity might need to
load alternative resources (such as the layout).</p>

<p>By default, the system uses the {@link android.os.Bundle} instance state to save information
about each {@link android.view.View} object in your activity layout (such as the text value entered
into an {@link android.widget.EditText} object). So, if your activity instance is destroyed and
recreated, the state of the layout is restored to its previous state with no
code required by you. However, your
activity might have more state information that you'd like to restore, such as member variables that
track the user's progress in the activity.</p>

<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> In order for the Android system to restore the state of
the views in your activity, <strong>each view must have a unique ID</strong>, supplied by the
<a href="{@docRoot}reference/android/view/View.html#attr_android:id">{@code
android:id}</a> attribute.</p>

<p>To save additional data about the activity state, you must override
the {@link android.app.Activity#onSaveInstanceState onSaveInstanceState()} callback method.
The system calls this method when the user is leaving your activity
and passes it the {@link android.os.Bundle} object that will be saved in the
event that your activity is destroyed unexpectedly. If
the system must recreate the activity instance later, it passes the same {@link
android.os.Bundle} object to both the {@link android.app.Activity#onRestoreInstanceState
onRestoreInstanceState()} and {@link android.app.Activity#onCreate onCreate()}
methods.</p>

<img src="{@docRoot}images/training/basics/basic-lifecycle-savestate.png" />
<p class="img-caption"><strong>Figure 2.</strong> As the system begins to stop your activity, it
calls {@link android.app.Activity#onSaveInstanceState onSaveInstanceState()} (1) so you can specify
additional state data you'd like to save in case the {@link android.app.Activity} instance must be
recreated.
If the activity is destroyed and the same instance must be recreated, the system passes the state
data defined at (1) to both the {@link android.app.Activity#onCreate onCreate()} method
(2) and the {@link android.app.Activity#onRestoreInstanceState onRestoreInstanceState()} method
(3).</p>



<h2 id="SaveState">Save Your Activity State</h2>

<p>As your activity begins to stop, the system calls {@link android.app.Activity#onSaveInstanceState
onSaveInstanceState()} so your activity can save state information with a collection of key-value
pairs. The default implementation of this method saves information about the state of the activity's
view hierarchy, such as the text in an {@link android.widget.EditText} widget or the scroll position
of a {@link android.widget.ListView}.</p>

<p>To save additional state information for your activity, you must
implement {@link android.app.Activity#onSaveInstanceState onSaveInstanceState()} and add
key-value pairs to the {@link android.os.Bundle} object. For example:</p>

<pre>
static final String STATE_SCORE = "playerScore";
static final String STATE_LEVEL = "playerLevel";
...

&#64;Override
public void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    // Save the user's current game state
    savedInstanceState.putInt(STATE_SCORE, mCurrentScore);
    savedInstanceState.putInt(STATE_LEVEL, mCurrentLevel);
    
    // Always call the superclass so it can save the view hierarchy state
    super.onSaveInstanceState(savedInstanceState);
}
</pre>

<p class="caution"><strong>Caution:</strong> Always call the superclass implementation of {@link
android.app.Activity#onSaveInstanceState onSaveInstanceState()} so the default implementation
can save the state of the view hierarchy.</p>



<h2 id="RestoreState">Restore Your Activity State</h2>

<p>When your activity is recreated after it was previously destroyed, you can recover your saved
state from the {@link android.os.Bundle} that the system
passes your activity. Both the {@link android.app.Activity#onCreate onCreate()} and {@link
android.app.Activity#onRestoreInstanceState onRestoreInstanceState()} callback methods receive
the same {@link android.os.Bundle} that contains the instance state information.</p>

<p>Because the {@link android.app.Activity#onCreate onCreate()} method is called whether the
system is creating a new instance of your activity or recreating a previous one, you must check
whether the state {@link android.os.Bundle} is null before you attempt to read it. If it is null,
then the system is creating a new instance of the activity, instead of restoring a previous one
that was destroyed.</p>

<p>For example, here's how you can restore some state data in {@link android.app.Activity#onCreate
onCreate()}:</p>

<pre>
&#64;Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); // Always call the superclass first
   
    // Check whether we're recreating a previously destroyed instance
    if (savedInstanceState != null) {
        // Restore value of members from saved state
        mCurrentScore = savedInstanceState.getInt(STATE_SCORE);
        mCurrentLevel = savedInstanceState.getInt(STATE_LEVEL);
    } else {
        // Probably initialize members with default values for a new instance
    }
    ...
}
</pre>

<p>Instead of restoring the state during {@link android.app.Activity#onCreate onCreate()} you
may choose to implement {@link
android.app.Activity#onRestoreInstanceState onRestoreInstanceState()}, which the system calls
after the {@link android.app.Activity#onStart()} method. The system calls {@link
android.app.Activity#onRestoreInstanceState onRestoreInstanceState()} only if there is a saved
state to restore, so you do not need to check whether the {@link android.os.Bundle} is null:</p>
        
<pre>
public void onRestoreInstanceState(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    // Always call the superclass so it can restore the view hierarchy
    super.onRestoreInstanceState(savedInstanceState);
   
    // Restore state members from saved instance
    mCurrentScore = savedInstanceState.getInt(STATE_SCORE);
    mCurrentLevel = savedInstanceState.getInt(STATE_LEVEL);
}
</pre>

<p class="caution"><strong>Caution:</strong> Always call the superclass implementation of {@link
android.app.Activity#onRestoreInstanceState onRestoreInstanceState()} so the default implementation
can restore the state of the view hierarchy.</p>

<p>To learn more about recreating your activity due to a
restart event at runtime (such as when the screen rotates), read <a
href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/resources/runtime-changes.html">Handling Runtime Changes</a>.</p>