Question

I’m trying to pass an ArrayList of Parcelable objects plus a string value between two activities. This is the code to add the data to the intent and pass it through:

Intent intent = new Intent(this, DisplayLotListActivity.class);
Bundle dataBundle = new Bundle();
dataBundle.putParcelableArrayList(DisplayLotListActivity.EXTRA_LOT_ARRAY, lotList);
dataBundle.putString(EXTRA_LOT_NUMBER, lotNumber);
intent.putExtra(DisplayLotListActivity.EXTRA_DATA, dataBundle);
startActivity(intent);

This is the code that I’m using to get the data out of the intent on the target activity:

Intent intent = getIntent();
Bundle dataBundle = intent.getBundleExtra(EXTRA_DATA);
lotList = dataBundle.getParcelableArrayList(EXTRA_LOT_ARRAY);
lotNumber = dataBundle.getString(LotInquiryActivity.EXTRA_LOT_NUMBER);

When I check the debugger the data structures look correct before the activity is called but when I get into the target activity the data structure has been corrupted. Specifically the ArrayList as 3 elements and it is still 3 elements in size but the second element is null. There is then an additional extra in the bundle which contains the missing element object with a null key. I have images of the debugger before and after but can’t put them in the post because of anti-spam rules.

Before: https://i.stack.imgur.com/vDipq.png
After: https://i.stack.imgur.com/JqbF7.png

Is there something I’m missing? This issue occurs whether I use a Bundle or add the ArrayList directly to the intent. This is being run on a Samsung Tab 2 running 4.0.3. This also occurs with a 4.0 emulator.

[Edit]
This is the Parcelable object being used (I’ve just left the getter and setter methods off the bottom)

public class Lot implements Parcelable{

private String lotn;

private String dsc1;
private String dsc2;
private String litm;
private long itm;
private String locn;
private String mcu;
private String uom1;
private String uom2;
private BigDecimal pqav;
private BigDecimal pqoh;
private BigDecimal sqoh;
private long vend;
private String rlot;
private String ldsc;
private String lots;
private String lot1;
private String lot2;
private String lot3;
private String lotsdsc;
private XMLGregorianCalendar mmej;
private XMLGregorianCalendar ohdj;

public Lot(){

}

public Lot(Parcel source){
    lotn = source.readString();
    dsc1 = source.readString();
    dsc2 = source.readString();
    litm = source.readString();
    locn = source.readString();
    mcu = source.readString();
    uom1 = source.readString();
    uom2 = source.readString();
    itm = source.readLong();
    pqav = new BigDecimal(source.readString());
    pqoh = new BigDecimal(source.readString());
    sqoh = new BigDecimal(source.readString());
    vend = source.readLong();
    rlot = source.readString();
    ldsc = source.readString();
    lots = source.readString();
    lot1 = source.readString();
    lot2 = source.readString();
    lot3 = source.readString();
    lotsdsc = source.readString();
    try{
        mmej = DatatypeFactory.newInstance().newXMLGregorianCalendar(source.readString());
    }catch (Exception exc){
        mmej = null;
    }
    try{
        ohdj = DatatypeFactory.newInstance().newXMLGregorianCalendar(source.readString());
    }catch (Exception exc){
        ohdj = null;
    }
}

public void writeToParcel(Parcel dest, int flags) {
    dest.writeString(lotn);
    dest.writeString(dsc1);
    dest.writeString(dsc2);
    dest.writeString(litm);
    dest.writeString(locn);
    dest.writeString(mcu);
    dest.writeString(uom1);
    dest.writeString(uom2);
    dest.writeLong(itm);
    if(pqav != null){
        dest.writeString(pqav.toPlainString());
    } else {
        dest.writeString("0");
    }
    if(pqoh != null){
        dest.writeString(pqoh.toPlainString());
    } else {
        dest.writeString("0");
    }
    if(sqoh != null){
        dest.writeString(sqoh.toPlainString());
    } else {
        dest.writeString("0");
    }
    dest.writeLong(vend);
    dest.writeString(rlot);
    dest.writeString(ldsc);
    dest.writeString(lots);
    dest.writeString(lot1);
    dest.writeString(lot2);
    dest.writeString(lot3);
    dest.writeString(lotsdsc);
    if(mmej != null){
        dest.writeString(mmej.toXMLFormat());
    } else {
        dest.writeString("");
    }
    if(ohdj != null){
        dest.writeString(ohdj.toXMLFormat());
    } else {
        dest.writeString("");
    }
}

/**
 *
 */
public static final Parcelable.Creator<Lot> CREATOR
         = new Parcelable.Creator<Lot>() {
     public Lot createFromParcel(Parcel in) {
         return new Lot(in);
     }

     public Lot[] newArray(int size) {
         return new Lot[size];
     }
 };

Answer 1

OK, for anyone that comes back to this question there’s two problems that I found which I assume combined to cause this behavior. The issues all related to the Parcelable object I was using so thanks to Todd for at least pointing me in this direction.

Firstly, I had a simple error where I had missed a readString() in my constructor of the Parcelable object. So basically I was writing out n elements and reading in n – 1 elements. The second issue is that Android does not implement the javax.xml.datatype library which means that XMLGregorianCalendar is not available. As I didn’t need the features of this class on the client side (there’s a Java Web Application that it talks to which does use it) I just converted over to a simple java.util.Date object instead.