Android Fragment lifecycle over orientation changes

Question

Using the compatibility package to target 2.2 using Fragments.

After recoding an activity to use fragments in an app I could not get the orientation changes/state management working so I've created a small test app with a single FragmentActivity and a single Fragment.

The logs from the orientation changes are weird, with multiple calls to the fragments OnCreateView.

I'm obviously missing something - like detatching the fragment and reattaching it rather than creating a new instance, but I can't see any documentation which would indicate where I'm going wrong.

Can anyone shed some light on what I'm doing wrong here please. Thanks

The log is as follows after orientation changes.

Initial creation
12-04 11:57:15.808: D/FragmentTest.FragmentTestActivity(3143): onCreate
12-04 11:57:15.945: D/FragmentTest.FragmentOne(3143): OnCreateView
12-04 11:57:16.081: D/FragmentTest.FragmentOne(3143): OnCreateView->SavedInstanceState null


Orientation Change 1
12-04 11:57:39.031: D/FragmentTest.FragmentOne(3143): onSaveInstanceState
12-04 11:57:39.031: D/FragmentTest.FragmentTestActivity(3143): onCreate
12-04 11:57:39.031: D/FragmentTest.FragmentOne(3143): OnCreateView
12-04 11:57:39.031: D/FragmentTest.FragmentOne(3143): OnCreateView->SavedInstanceState not null
12-04 11:57:39.031: D/FragmentTest.FragmentOne(3143): OnCreateView
12-04 11:57:39.167: D/FragmentTest.FragmentOne(3143): OnCreateView->SavedInstanceState null


Orientation Change 2
12-04 11:58:32.162: D/FragmentTest.FragmentOne(3143): onSaveInstanceState
12-04 11:58:32.162: D/FragmentTest.FragmentOne(3143): onSaveInstanceState
12-04 11:58:32.361: D/FragmentTest.FragmentTestActivity(3143): onCreate
12-04 11:58:32.361: D/FragmentTest.FragmentOne(3143): OnCreateView
12-04 11:58:32.361: D/FragmentTest.FragmentOne(3143): OnCreateView->SavedInstanceState not null
12-04 11:58:32.361: D/FragmentTest.FragmentOne(3143): OnCreateView
12-04 11:58:32.361: D/FragmentTest.FragmentOne(3143): OnCreateView->SavedInstanceState not null
12-04 11:58:32.498: D/FragmentTest.FragmentOne(3143): OnCreateView
12-04 11:58:32.498: D/FragmentTest.FragmentOne(3143): OnCreateView->SavedInstanceState null

Main Activity (FragmentActivity)

public class FragmentTestActivity extends FragmentActivity {
/** Called when the activity is first created. */

private static final String TAG = "FragmentTest.FragmentTestActivity";


FragmentManager mFragmentManager;

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

    Log.d(TAG, "onCreate");

    mFragmentManager = getSupportFragmentManager();
    FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction = mFragmentManager.beginTransaction();

    FragmentOne fragment = new FragmentOne();

    fragmentTransaction.add(R.id.fragment_container, fragment);
    fragmentTransaction.commit();
}

And the fragment

public class FragmentOne extends Fragment {

private static final String TAG = "FragmentTest.FragmentOne";

EditText mEditText;

@Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
        Bundle savedInstanceState) {

    Log.d(TAG, "OnCreateView");

    View v = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragmentonelayout, container, false);

    // Retrieve the text editor, and restore the last saved state if needed.
    mEditText = (EditText)v.findViewById(R.id.editText1);

    if (savedInstanceState != null) {

        Log.d(TAG, "OnCreateView->SavedInstanceState not null");

        mEditText.setText(savedInstanceState.getCharSequence("text"));
    }
    else {
        Log.d(TAG,"OnCreateView->SavedInstanceState null");
    }
    return v;
}

@Override
public void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState) {
    super.onSaveInstanceState(outState);

    Log.d(TAG, "FragmentOne.onSaveInstanceState");

    // Remember the current text, to restore if we later restart.
    outState.putCharSequence("text", mEditText.getText());
}

Manifest

<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="8" />

<application
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name" >
    <activity
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:name=".activities.FragmentTestActivity" 
        android:configChanges="orientation">
        <intent-filter >
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
</application>

Answer 1

You're layering your Fragments one on top of the other.

When a config change occurs the old Fragment adds itself to the new Activity when it's recreated. This is a massive pain in the rear most of the time.

You can stop errors occurring by using the same Fragment rather than recreating a new one. Simply add this code:

if (savedInstanceState == null) {
    // only create fragment if activity is started for the first time
    mFragmentManager = getSupportFragmentManager();
    FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction = mFragmentManager.beginTransaction();

    FragmentOne fragment = new FragmentOne();

    fragmentTransaction.add(R.id.fragment_container, fragment);
    fragmentTransaction.commit();
} else {        
    // do nothing - fragment is recreated automatically
}

Be warned though: problems will occur if you try and access Activity Views from inside the Fragment as the lifecycles will subtly change. (Getting Views from a parent Activity from a Fragment isn't easy).