This course will be retired on June 1, 2025.
Heads up! To view this whole video, sign in with your Courses account or enroll in your free 7-day trial. Sign In Enroll
Preview
Start a free Courses trial
to watch this video
In this video we'll see how we can save the instance state of our activity using a bundle and the onSaveInstanceState method.
GitHub Link to Project
Related Links
Downloads
Related Discussions
Have questions about this video? Start a discussion with the community and Treehouse staff.
Sign upRelated Discussions
Have questions about this video? Start a discussion with the community and Treehouse staff.
Sign up
Before we start coding,
I'd like to talk briefly about our tools.
0:00
Remember, the Android Studio
is constantly evolving, so
0:04
things might be a little different between
these videos and what you're using.
0:07
If you want things to be exactly the same,
0:12
I've provided snapshots of the tools I'm
using as downloads in the teacher's notes.
0:14
If you run into any problems using the
newer version, don't hesitate to ask for
0:20
help from the Treehouse community.
0:24
Or come back and
reinstall these versions of the tools.
0:26
As always, though the tools might change,
the code, and
0:29
concepts, should stay relatively the same.
0:33
If any minor changes or bugs pop up, then
we'll add a visual call-out like this.
0:37
Keep your eyes on the teacher's notes for
any known issues or helpful comments.
0:43
And if you spot a difference somewhere,
check the notes first, and
0:47
then let us know if we've missed it.
0:51
Before we get started, if you
haven't completed the fun facts app,
0:53
you may need to download
the project files we'll be using.
0:57
You can download the project files
from the teacher's links below, and
1:01
then to import them, go to file, open, and
1:04
navigate to the unzipped
folder from the download.
1:08
If you're comfortable using GitHub,
1:12
you can also use the GitHub link
below to import the project.
1:14
There's also a workshop link below
if you'd like to learn more about
1:19
Android Studio and GitHub.
1:22
Also, remember that you'll get
the most from this course, and
1:25
all of our material here at Treehouse
if you follow along with me.
1:29
So, let's fire up the project and
get to it.
1:33
So, how are we going to fix our activity?
1:36
Let's open up the fun facts activity and
1:40
go over how we can handle orientation
changes the little better.
1:42
The first method we need to
know is on save instant state.
1:46
Let's override the on
save instant state method
1:51
by using the control O keyboard shortcut.
1:54
This lets us pick methods
we'd like to override, and
1:57
Android Studio will take care of the rest.
1:59
Then, let's type
onSaveInstanceState to select it.
2:02
And hit enter to override the method.
2:09
OnSaveInstanceState isn't
technically a life cycle method, but
2:13
it does provide us with a bundle where
we can store the instance state.
2:16
We've only used bundles
briefly in earlier projects.
2:23
But remember that a bundle is a way
to pass data between activities
2:26
using key value pairs.
2:31
Before we go on, let's take a moment
to talk about instance state.
2:34
Each time we open an Android
app that isn't already running,
2:38
we get a new instance.
2:41
And as we use the app,
2:43
we typically make several changes
to the state of that instance.
2:45
For example, changing the background
color in the Fun Facts app, or
2:49
navigating to the settings
page in an e-mail app.
2:53
These aren't changes that we
want to permanently save.
2:56
We wouldn't want to be greeting
with the settings page of
2:59
an app right from the start but
since Android can destroy our
3:02
activities when they're in the background
or whenever we rotate our device,
3:05
[SOUND] we should save and
restore our instance state so
3:10
that it all seems like one instance
to the user, [SOUND] start to finish.
3:13
After all, it wasn't the user who
decided to destroy the activity.
3:17
Back to the code.
3:22
Now that we have our bundle, we can use
the put string method to store our fact.
3:24
I'll type it out, and then explain it.
3:29
The PutString method requires us to
provide both the key, and the value.
3:46
But we haven't created the key yet.
3:53
And we also don't have a fact variable
that we can access inside this method.
3:55
Luckily, with Android Studio,
we can just pretend that they exist,
4:02
and then use the quick fix with
Alt+Enter to create them later.
4:07
It's the best practice for
keys to be static final variables.
4:11
And further, for static final
variables to be written in all caps.
4:15
Writing the key in caps, let's
Android Studio know what to create for us.
4:20
Let's hit Alt+Enter on our key and
pick create constant field.
4:26
Constant means it will be
a static final variable.
4:34
And field means it belongs to the class.
4:38
Then let's give our key a value of key
effect just like the name of the variable.
4:41
Back in the on save instant state method,
we can do the same with mFact.
4:52
Hit Alt+Enter, and
4:56
pick field because we want this to be
scoped to the class and not the method.
5:00
Now that we have our in fact field,
we should use it and the on click listener
5:08
instead of creating a new
string variable in each click.
5:15
We'll do that by getting rid of the fact
variable and replacing it with mFact.
5:20
I'll just paste it right over.
5:30
Looks good.
5:37
We should probably save the background
color in our bundle as well.
5:39
The user might notice it changing
back to green on every rotation.
5:43
Let's do that.
5:48
The only difference is, instead of
using PutString, we should use putInt.
5:50
At the bottom of onSaveInstanceState,
5:56
let's add outstate.putInt
key color M color.
6:02
And then use Alt+Enter
to create the variables.
6:10
I'll call the key key color.
6:14
Create mColor as a field.
6:21
And then replace the color variable and
6:29
the on click listener with
our new mColor field.
6:32
All right, we've successfully
saved the state of the activity or
6:43
how it looks to the user using a bundle
and the new method onSaveInstanceState.
6:48
Take a short break and
6:54
then we can see how to retrieve this
state when the activity is created again.
6:55
You need to sign up for Treehouse in order to download course files.
Sign upYou need to sign up for Treehouse in order to set up Workspace
Sign up