Replacing ViewPager with Fragment - Then Navigating Back

Question

I've got an activity which initially hosts a ViewPager, hooked up to a FragmentPagerAdapter.

When the user clicks on an item inside the ViewPager's child fragment, I'm using a FragmentTransaction to replace an empty container view with a new Fragment which I want to navigate to.

If I use addToBackStack() on the transaction, commit the transaction and then navigate back, I am not returned to the ViewPager's views (the initial layout).

If I don't use addToBackStack() on the transaction, commit the transaction and then navigate back, the application exits.

It seems apparent that the ViewPager is not added to the backstack (which is not that surprising as it isn't a fragment in itself).. But I would expect the default behaviour would be that the back press takes me back to that activities initial View (the ViewPager).

Based on what I've read, it seems that perhaps because a fragment transaction is taking place, the ViewPager or PagerAdapter loses track of which fragment should be on display.

I'm really confused with this, but I ended up creating a huge mess of code overriding the onBackPress and showing and hiding the viewpager views. I would've thought there is a simpler way to use default behaviours to perform the appropriate navigation.

tl;dr

A is a Viewpager hosting fragments. B is a new Fragment.

When I replace A with B, and then press back, I expect to navigate back to A, but that is not happening.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Code:

MainActivity:

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

        headingLayout = (RelativeLayout) findViewById(R.id.headingLayout);
        headingLayout.setVisibility(View.GONE);

        // Set up the ViewPager, attaching the adapter and setting up a listener
        // for when the
        // user swipes between sections.
        mViewPager = (ViewPager) findViewById(R.id.pager);

        mViewPager.setPageMargin(8);

        /** Getting fragment manager */
        FragmentManager fm = getSupportFragmentManager();

        /** Instantiating FragmentPagerAdapter */
        MyFragmentPagerAdapter pagerAdapter = new MyFragmentPagerAdapter(fm);

        /** Setting the pagerAdapter to the pager object */
        mViewPager.setAdapter(pagerAdapter);
.
.
.
}

    public void onListItemClicked(Fragment fragment) {
        fromPlayer = false;
        InitiateTransaction(fragment, true);

    }


    public void InitiateTransaction(Fragment fragment, boolean addToBackStack) {

        invalidateOptionsMenu();

        FragmentManager fm = getSupportFragmentManager();
        FragmentTransaction ft = fm.beginTransaction();

        ft.replace(R.id.fragmentContainer, fragment).addToBackStack(null)
                .commit();

    }

PagerAdapter:

package another.music.player;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentPagerAdapter;
import another.music.player.fragments.AlbumListFragment;
import another.music.player.fragments.ArtistListFragment;
import another.music.player.fragments.SongListFragment;

public class MyFragmentPagerAdapter extends FragmentPagerAdapter {

    final int PAGE_COUNT = 3;

    /** Constructor of the class */
    public MyFragmentPagerAdapter(FragmentManager fm) {
        super(fm);
    }

    /** This method will be invoked when a page is requested to create */
    @Override
    public Fragment getItem(int i) {
        switch (i) {
        case 0:
            ArtistListFragment artistListFragment = new ArtistListFragment();
            Bundle artistData = new Bundle();
            artistData.putInt("current_page", i + 1);
            artistListFragment.setArguments(artistData);
            return artistListFragment;

        case 1:
            AlbumListFragment albumListFragment = new AlbumListFragment();
            Bundle albumData = new Bundle();
            albumData.putInt("current_page", i + 1);
            albumData.putBoolean("showHeader", false);
            albumListFragment.setArguments(albumData);
            return albumListFragment;

        default:

            SongListFragment songListFragment = new SongListFragment();
            Bundle songData = new Bundle();
            songData.putInt("current_page", i + 1);
            songListFragment.setArguments(songData);
            return songListFragment;
        }
    }

    /** Returns the number of pages */
    @Override
    public int getCount() {
        return PAGE_COUNT;
    }

    @Override
    public CharSequence getPageTitle(int position) {
        switch (position) {
        case 0:
            return "Artists";

        case 1:
            return "Albums";

        default:
            return "Songs";
        }
    }
}

main xml (containing fragmentContainer & ViewPager):

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:id="@+id/main_layout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="@drawable/app_background_ics" >

    <RelativeLayout
        android:id="@+id/headingLayout"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="56dp" >
    </RelativeLayout>

    <FrameLayout
        android:id="@+id/fragmentContainer"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent"
        android:layout_below="@+id/headingLayout" />

    <android.support.v4.view.ViewPager
        android:id="@+id/pager"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent" >

        <android.support.v4.view.PagerTabStrip
            android:id="@+id/pager_title_strip"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:background="#33b5e5"
            android:paddingBottom="4dp"
            android:paddingTop="4dp"
            android:textColor="#fff" />
    </android.support.v4.view.ViewPager>

</RelativeLayout>

Answer 1

I also had this very same problem for a long time. The solution turns out to be very simple, and you don't need any hacks with the ViewPager Visibility. I is described in this other SO related question: Fragment in ViewPager not restored after popBackStack

However, to make it simple, all you need is to use getChildFragmentManager() in your ViewPager adapter, instead of getSupportFragmentManager(). So, instead of this:

    /** Getting fragment manager */
    FragmentManager fm = getSupportFragmentManager();

    /** Instantiating FragmentPagerAdapter */
    MyFragmentPagerAdapter pagerAdapter = new MyFragmentPagerAdapter(fm);

    /** Setting the pagerAdapter to the pager object */
    mViewPager.setAdapter(pagerAdapter);

You do this:

    /** Getting fragment manager */
    FragmentManager fm = getChildFragmentManager();

    /** Instantiating FragmentPagerAdapter */
    MyFragmentPagerAdapter pagerAdapter = new MyFragmentPagerAdapter(fm);

    /** Setting the pagerAdapter to the pager object */
    mViewPager.setAdapter(pagerAdapter);