I have an app with 4 activities int the sequence say A->B->C->D and a service S that is started by A when the app is started. Now on a particular condition this service triggers a notification which again should start activity C withing my app and with the arguments that C usually needs from B. Also to function properly, C needs to use a static variable from the activity A. That was the setup.
Now what happens is when the notification is triggered from the service S and I click on it, activities A and B are automatically destroyed resulting in a force close(Since my activity C depends on a static variable in A). Why does this happen. I have used a TaskStackBuilder to place C’s parent activity(i.e B) onto the stack so that normal back behavior takes me back to activity B.
Can anyone tell me the reason of this behavior. I do not want to run my Activity C as an interdependent task. I want it to be the same instance as that already in the app.
Please help me understand the problem here.
This is happening because the Activity Lifecycle behaves differenty from ICS onwards. This fact answers this question, however I am yet to find out why this is happening. If someone wants to see the code and verify this behavior for themselves, HERE