Question

/**
 * Example Activity to demonstrate the lifecycle callback methods.
 */
public class ActivityA extends Activity {

    private String mActivityName;
    private TextView mStatusView;
    private TextView mStatusAllView;
    private StatusTracker mStatusTracker = StatusTracker.getInstance();
    private AlertDialog alertBox;
    private static int number = 0;

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_a);

        init();

        String output = getString(R.string.on_create) + number++;
        showAlertDialog(alertBox, output);
        mStatusTracker.setStatus(mActivityName, output);
        Utils.printStatus(mStatusView, mStatusAllView);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onStart() {
        super.onStart();
        mStatusTracker.setStatus(mActivityName, getString(R.string.on_start));
        Utils.printStatus(mStatusView, mStatusAllView);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onRestart() {
        super.onRestart();
        mStatusTracker.setStatus(mActivityName, getString(R.string.on_restart));
        Utils.printStatus(mStatusView, mStatusAllView);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        mStatusTracker.setStatus(mActivityName, getString(R.string.on_resume));
        Utils.printStatus(mStatusView, mStatusAllView);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPause() {
        super.onPause();
        mStatusTracker.setStatus(mActivityName, getString(R.string.on_pause));
        Utils.printStatus(mStatusView, mStatusAllView);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onStop() {
        super.onStop();
        mStatusTracker.setStatus(mActivityName, getString(R.string.on_stop));
    }

    @Override
    protected void onDestroy() {
        super.onDestroy();
        mStatusTracker.setStatus(mActivityName, getString(R.string.on_destroy));
        mStatusTracker.clear();
    }

    public void startDialog(View v) {
        Intent intent = new Intent(ActivityA.this, DialogActivity.class);
        startActivity(intent);
    }

    public void startActivityB(View v) {
        Intent intent = new Intent(ActivityA.this, ActivityB.class);
        startActivity(intent);
    }

    public void startActivityC(View v) {
        Intent intent = new Intent(ActivityA.this, ActivityC.class);
        startActivity(intent);
    }

    public void finishActivityA(View v) {
        ActivityA.this.finish();
    }

    private void showAlertDialog(AlertDialog ad, String msg) {
        ad.setTitle("Logging Msg");
        ad.setMessage(msg);
        ad.show();
    }

    private void init() {
        System.out.println("Value = before &&&&&&&&& " + alertBox);
        if (alertBox == null) { // Why always null?
            alertBox = new AlertDialog.Builder(this).create();
            mActivityName = getString(R.string.activity_a);
            mStatusView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.status_view_a);
            mStatusAllView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.status_view_all_a);
            Log.e("ActivityA", "Init done **************************************");
            Log.e("ActivityA", "Init done **************************************");
            System.out.println("Value = after &&&&&&&&&&& " + alertBox);
        }
    }
}

Only the very first time the init is called, I set alertBox and I thought the if block should not be executed any other time. But I am wrong, it runs every time init is being called. Why?

I came from Javascript, if I translate the above code into JS (similar), the if block is only evaluated once.

Answer 1

You should check how your application follows the android activity lifecycle. The onCreate method gets called every time an Activity is created again (even if it existed before). Check if your onDestroy() method gets called. If the answer is yes, you now know how android handles its Activitys. See http://developer.android.com/training/basics/activity-lifecycle/starting.html for an in detail explanation.

However if the answer is no, there is something wrong on your activity handling. Maybe you recreate the same activity every time the user pushes a button etc. Maybe you finish() the activity somewhere. But this is just wild guessing.