Android global variable

Question

How can I create global variable keep remain values around the life cycle of the application regardless which activity running.

Answer 1

There are a few different ways you can achieve what you are asking for.

1.) Extend the application class and instantiate your controller and model objects there.

public class FavoriteColorsApplication extends Application {

    private static FavoriteColorsApplication application;
    private FavoriteColorsService service;

    public FavoriteColorsApplication getInstance() {
        return application;
    }

    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();
        application = this;
        application.initialize();
    }

    private void initialize() {
        service = new FavoriteColorsService();
    }

    public FavoriteColorsService getService() {
        return service;
    }

}

Then you can call the your singleton from your custom Application object at any time:

public class FavoriteColorsActivity extends Activity {

private FavoriteColorsService service = null;
private ArrayAdapter adapter;
private List favoriteColors = new ArrayList();

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_favorite_colors);

    service = ((FavoriteColorsApplication) getApplication()).getService();
    favoriteColors = service.findAllColors();

    ListView lv = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.favoriteColorsListView);
    adapter = new ArrayAdapter(this, R.layout.favorite_colors_list_item,
            favoriteColors);
    lv.setAdapter(adapter);
}

2.) You can have your controller just create a singleton instance of itself:

public class Controller {
    private static final String TAG = "Controller";
    private static sController sController;
    private Dao mDao;

    private Controller() {
        mDao = new Dao();    
    }

    public static Controller create() {
        if (sController == null) {
            sController = new Controller();
        }
        return sController;
    }
}

Then you can just call the create method from any Activity or Fragment and it will create a new controller if one doesn't already exist, otherwise it will return the preexisting controller.

3.) Finally, there is a slick framework created at Square which provides you dependency injection within Android. It is called Dagger. I won't go into how to use it here, but it is very slick if you need that sort of thing.

I hope I gave enough detail in regards to how you can do what you are hoping for.