Save ArrayList to SharedPreferences

Question

I have an ArrayList with custom objects. Each custom object contains a variety of strings and numbers. I need the array to stick around even if the user leaves

Answer 1

You could refer the serializeKey() and deserializeKey() functions from FacebookSDK's SharedPreferencesTokenCache class. It converts the supportedType into the JSON object and store the JSON string into SharedPreferences. You could download SDK from here

private void serializeKey(String key, Bundle bundle, SharedPreferences.Editor editor)
    throws JSONException {
    Object value = bundle.get(key);
    if (value == null) {
        // Cannot serialize null values.
        return;
    }

    String supportedType = null;
    JSONArray jsonArray = null;
    JSONObject json = new JSONObject();

    if (value instanceof Byte) {
        supportedType = TYPE_BYTE;
        json.put(JSON_VALUE, ((Byte)value).intValue());
    } else if (value instanceof Short) {
        supportedType = TYPE_SHORT;
        json.put(JSON_VALUE, ((Short)value).intValue());
    } else if (value instanceof Integer) {
        supportedType = TYPE_INTEGER;
        json.put(JSON_VALUE, ((Integer)value).intValue());
    } else if (value instanceof Long) {
        supportedType = TYPE_LONG;
        json.put(JSON_VALUE, ((Long)value).longValue());
    } else if (value instanceof Float) {
        supportedType = TYPE_FLOAT;
        json.put(JSON_VALUE, ((Float)value).doubleValue());
    } else if (value instanceof Double) {
        supportedType = TYPE_DOUBLE;
        json.put(JSON_VALUE, ((Double)value).doubleValue());
    } else if (value instanceof Boolean) {
        supportedType = TYPE_BOOLEAN;
        json.put(JSON_VALUE, ((Boolean)value).booleanValue());
    } else if (value instanceof Character) {
        supportedType = TYPE_CHAR;
        json.put(JSON_VALUE, value.toString());
    } else if (value instanceof String) {
        supportedType = TYPE_STRING;
        json.put(JSON_VALUE, (String)value);
    } else {
        // Optimistically create a JSONArray. If not an array type, we can null
        // it out later
        jsonArray = new JSONArray();
        if (value instanceof byte[]) {
            supportedType = TYPE_BYTE_ARRAY;
            for (byte v : (byte[])value) {
                jsonArray.put((int)v);
            }
        } else if (value instanceof short[]) {
            supportedType = TYPE_SHORT_ARRAY;
            for (short v : (short[])value) {
                jsonArray.put((int)v);
            }
        } else if (value instanceof int[]) {
            supportedType = TYPE_INTEGER_ARRAY;
            for (int v : (int[])value) {
                jsonArray.put(v);
            }
        } else if (value instanceof long[]) {
            supportedType = TYPE_LONG_ARRAY;
            for (long v : (long[])value) {
                jsonArray.put(v);
            }
        } else if (value instanceof float[]) {
            supportedType = TYPE_FLOAT_ARRAY;
            for (float v : (float[])value) {
                jsonArray.put((double)v);
            }
        } else if (value instanceof double[]) {
            supportedType = TYPE_DOUBLE_ARRAY;
            for (double v : (double[])value) {
                jsonArray.put(v);
            }
        } else if (value instanceof boolean[]) {
            supportedType = TYPE_BOOLEAN_ARRAY;
            for (boolean v : (boolean[])value) {
                jsonArray.put(v);
            }
        } else if (value instanceof char[]) {
            supportedType = TYPE_CHAR_ARRAY;
            for (char v : (char[])value) {
                jsonArray.put(String.valueOf(v));
            }
        } else if (value instanceof List<?>) {
            supportedType = TYPE_STRING_LIST;
            @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
            List<String> stringList = (List<String>)value;
            for (String v : stringList) {
                jsonArray.put((v == null) ? JSONObject.NULL : v);
            }
        } else {
            // Unsupported type. Clear out the array as a precaution even though
            // it is redundant with the null supportedType.
            jsonArray = null;
        }
    }

    if (supportedType != null) {
        json.put(JSON_VALUE_TYPE, supportedType);
        if (jsonArray != null) {
            // If we have an array, it has already been converted to JSON. So use
            // that instead.
            json.putOpt(JSON_VALUE, jsonArray);
        }

        String jsonString = json.toString();
        editor.putString(key, jsonString);
    }
}

private void deserializeKey(String key, Bundle bundle)
        throws JSONException {
    String jsonString = cache.getString(key, "{}");
    JSONObject json = new JSONObject(jsonString);

    String valueType = json.getString(JSON_VALUE_TYPE);

    if (valueType.equals(TYPE_BOOLEAN)) {
        bundle.putBoolean(key, json.getBoolean(JSON_VALUE));
    } else if (valueType.equals(TYPE_BOOLEAN_ARRAY)) {
        JSONArray jsonArray = json.getJSONArray(JSON_VALUE);
        boolean[] array = new boolean[jsonArray.length()];
        for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
            array[i] = jsonArray.getBoolean(i);
        }
        bundle.putBooleanArray(key, array);
    } else if (valueType.equals(TYPE_BYTE)) {
        bundle.putByte(key, (byte)json.getInt(JSON_VALUE));
    } else if (valueType.equals(TYPE_BYTE_ARRAY)) {
        JSONArray jsonArray = json.getJSONArray(JSON_VALUE);
        byte[] array = new byte[jsonArray.length()];
        for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
            array[i] = (byte)jsonArray.getInt(i);
        }
        bundle.putByteArray(key, array);
    } else if (valueType.equals(TYPE_SHORT)) {
        bundle.putShort(key, (short)json.getInt(JSON_VALUE));
    } else if (valueType.equals(TYPE_SHORT_ARRAY)) {
        JSONArray jsonArray = json.getJSONArray(JSON_VALUE);
        short[] array = new short[jsonArray.length()];
        for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
            array[i] = (short)jsonArray.getInt(i);
        }
        bundle.putShortArray(key, array);
    } else if (valueType.equals(TYPE_INTEGER)) {
        bundle.putInt(key, json.getInt(JSON_VALUE));
    } else if (valueType.equals(TYPE_INTEGER_ARRAY)) {
        JSONArray jsonArray = json.getJSONArray(JSON_VALUE);
        int[] array = new int[jsonArray.length()];
        for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
            array[i] = jsonArray.getInt(i);
        }
        bundle.putIntArray(key, array);
    } else if (valueType.equals(TYPE_LONG)) {
        bundle.putLong(key, json.getLong(JSON_VALUE));
    } else if (valueType.equals(TYPE_LONG_ARRAY)) {
        JSONArray jsonArray = json.getJSONArray(JSON_VALUE);
        long[] array = new long[jsonArray.length()];
        for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
            array[i] = jsonArray.getLong(i);
        }
        bundle.putLongArray(key, array);
    } else if (valueType.equals(TYPE_FLOAT)) {
        bundle.putFloat(key, (float)json.getDouble(JSON_VALUE));
    } else if (valueType.equals(TYPE_FLOAT_ARRAY)) {
        JSONArray jsonArray = json.getJSONArray(JSON_VALUE);
        float[] array = new float[jsonArray.length()];
        for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
            array[i] = (float)jsonArray.getDouble(i);
        }
        bundle.putFloatArray(key, array);
    } else if (valueType.equals(TYPE_DOUBLE)) {
        bundle.putDouble(key, json.getDouble(JSON_VALUE));
    } else if (valueType.equals(TYPE_DOUBLE_ARRAY)) {
        JSONArray jsonArray = json.getJSONArray(JSON_VALUE);
        double[] array = new double[jsonArray.length()];
        for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
            array[i] = jsonArray.getDouble(i);
        }
        bundle.putDoubleArray(key, array);
    } else if (valueType.equals(TYPE_CHAR)) {
        String charString = json.getString(JSON_VALUE);
        if (charString != null && charString.length() == 1) {
            bundle.putChar(key, charString.charAt(0));
        }
    } else if (valueType.equals(TYPE_CHAR_ARRAY)) {
        JSONArray jsonArray = json.getJSONArray(JSON_VALUE);
        char[] array = new char[jsonArray.length()];
        for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
            String charString = jsonArray.getString(i);
            if (charString != null && charString.length() == 1) {
                array[i] = charString.charAt(0);
            }
        }
        bundle.putCharArray(key, array);
    } else if (valueType.equals(TYPE_STRING)) {
        bundle.putString(key, json.getString(JSON_VALUE));
    } else if (valueType.equals(TYPE_STRING_LIST)) {
        JSONArray jsonArray = json.getJSONArray(JSON_VALUE);
        int numStrings = jsonArray.length();
        ArrayList<String> stringList = new ArrayList<String>(numStrings);
        for (int i = 0; i < numStrings; i++) {
            Object jsonStringValue = jsonArray.get(i);
            stringList.add(i, jsonStringValue == JSONObject.NULL ? null : (String)jsonStringValue);
        }
        bundle.putStringArrayList(key, stringList);
    }
}

Answer 2

As @nirav said, best solution is store it in sharedPrefernces as a json text by using Gson utility class. Below sample code:

//Retrieve the values
Gson gson = new Gson();
String jsonText = Prefs.getString("key", null);
String[] text = gson.fromJson(jsonText, String[].class);  //EDIT: gso to gson


//Set the values
Gson gson = new Gson();
List<String> textList = new ArrayList<String>(data);
String jsonText = gson.toJson(textList);
prefsEditor.putString("key", jsonText);
prefsEditor.apply();

Answer 3

//Set the values
intent.putParcelableArrayListExtra("key",collection);

//Retrieve the values
ArrayList<OnlineMember> onlineMembers = data.getParcelableArrayListExtra("key");

Answer 4

Why don't you stick your arraylist on an Application class? It only get's destroyed when the app is really killed, so, it will stick around for as long as the app is available.

Answer 5

don't forget to implement Serializable:

Class dataBean implements Serializable{
 public String name;
}
ArrayList<dataBean> dataBeanArrayList = new ArrayList();

https://stackoverflow.com/a/7635154/4639974

Answer 6

best way is that convert to JSOn string using GSON and save this string to SharedPreference. I also use this way to cache responses.