Understanding Fragment's setRetainInstance(boolean)

Question

Starting with the documentation:

public void setRetainInstance (boolean retain)

Control whether a fragment instance is retained across Activity re

Answer 1

SetRetainInstance(true) allows the fragment sort of survive. Its members will be retained during configuration change like rotation. But it still may be killed when the activity is killed in the background. If the containing activity in the background is killed by the system, it's instanceState should be saved by the system you handled onSaveInstanceState properly. In another word the onSaveInstanceState will always be called. Though onCreateView won't be called if SetRetainInstance is true and fragment/activity is not killed yet, it still will be called if it's killed and being tried to be brought back.

Here are some analysis of the android activity/fragment hope it helps. http://ideaventure.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/android-activityfragment-life-cycle.html