Question

I’m trying to create a new CheckBoxPreference under a PreferenceGroup for displaying tags. The plan is to add the tags with code like this:

  for(Tag t : tags) {
        pref = new CheckBoxPreference(FoodhunterCredentials.this);
        boolean isChecked = wasChecked(t.getName());

        pref.setTitle(t.getName());
        pref.setSummary(t.getDescription());
        pref.setChecked(isChecked);
        pref.setPersistent(true);

        Log.d("Credentials", String.format("Adding checkbox %s -%schecked", t, isChecked ? " " : " not "));

        tagsGroup.addPreference(pref);
   }

But after closing the activity the new checkboxes are gone. Is there a way for persisting the newly created preferences? To be clear: This is not about storing a new value in a defined preference, this is about storing a new created preference.

Answer 1

You can use DB to store all your tags (this is preferable).

Or, if you don’t want to use DB for some reason, you can hack with SharedPreferneces in a next way:

1. Create empty string preference named “tags” (this should not be visible in your PreferenceActivity).
2. When user adds new tag, your will add tag name to “tags” string preference and save it.

For example, your “tags” string may look like “java;android;helper;europe”. You’ll need to make duplication checks and parsing yourself. Of cause you’ll need to automatically populate your PreferenceScreen in onCreate() method with CheckBoxPreference for each tag, but you already know how to do it.

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Yes, and in API level 11 (Android 3.0) and higher you can use String Sets in SharedPrefernces. See getStringSet and putStringSet for more details.