How to send an object from one Android Activity to another using Intents?

Question

How can I pass an object of a custom type from one Activity to another using the putExtra() method of the class Intent?

Answer 1

I use Gson with its so powerful and simple api to send objects between activities,

Example

// This is the object to be sent, can be any object
public class AndroidPacket {

    public String CustomerName;

   //constructor
   public AndroidPacket(String cName){
       CustomerName = cName;
   }   
   // other fields ....


    // You can add those functions as LiveTemplate !
    public String toJson() {
        Gson gson = new Gson();
        return gson.toJson(this);
    }

    public static AndroidPacket fromJson(String json) {
        Gson gson = new Gson();
        return gson.fromJson(json, AndroidPacket.class);
    }
}

2 functions you add them to the objects that you want to send

Usage

Send Object From A to B

    // Convert the object to string using Gson
    AndroidPacket androidPacket = new AndroidPacket("Ahmad");
    String objAsJson = androidPacket.toJson();

    Intent intent = new Intent(A.this, B.class);
    intent.putExtra("my_obj", objAsJson);
    startActivity(intent);

Receive In B

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {        
    Bundle bundle = getIntent().getExtras();
    String objAsJson = bundle.getString("my_obj");
    AndroidPacket androidPacket = AndroidPacket.fromJson(objAsJson);

    // Here you can use your Object
    Log.d("Gson", androidPacket.CustomerName);
}

I use it almost in every project i do and I have no performance issues.