Separate Back Stack for each tab in Android using Fragments

Question

I\'m trying to implement tabs for navigation in an Android app. Since TabActivity and ActivityGroup are deprecated I would like to implement it using Fragments instead.

Answer 1

I had exactly the same problem and implemented an open source github project that covers stacked tab, back and up navigation and is well tested and documented:

https://github.com/SebastianBaltesObjectCode/PersistentFragmentTabs

This is a simple and small framework for navigation tabs and fragment switching and handling of up and back navigation. Each tab has its own stack of fragments. It uses ActionBarSherlock and is compatible back to API level 8.

Answer 2

I am terribly late to this question . But since this thread has been very informative and helpful to me I thought I better post my two pence here.

I needed a screen flow like this (A minimalistic design with 2 tabs and 2 views in each tab),

tabA
    ->  ScreenA1, ScreenA2
tabB
    ->  ScreenB1, ScreenB2

I had the same requirements in the past, and I did it using TabActivityGroup (which was deprecated at that time too) and Activities. This time I wanted to use Fragments.

So this is how I done it.

1. Create a base Fragment Class

public class BaseFragment extends Fragment {
    AppMainTabActivity mActivity;

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        mActivity = (AppMainTabActivity) this.getActivity();
    }

    public void onBackPressed(){
    }

    public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data){
    }
}

All fragments in your app can extend this Base class. If you want to use special fragments like ListFragment you should create a base class for that too. You will be clear about the usage of onBackPressed() and onActivityResult() if you read the post in full..

2. Create some Tab identifiers, accessible everywhere in project

public class AppConstants{
    public static final String TAB_A  = "tab_a_identifier";
    public static final String TAB_B  = "tab_b_identifier";

    //Your other constants, if you have them..
}

nothing to explain here..

3. Ok, Main Tab Activity- Please go through comments in code..

public class AppMainFragmentActivity extends FragmentActivity{
    /* Your Tab host */
    private TabHost mTabHost;

    /* A HashMap of stacks, where we use tab identifier as keys..*/
    private HashMap<String, Stack<Fragment>> mStacks;

    /*Save current tabs identifier in this..*/
    private String mCurrentTab;

    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.app_main_tab_fragment_layout);

        /*  
         *  Navigation stacks for each tab gets created.. 
         *  tab identifier is used as key to get respective stack for each tab
         */
        mStacks             =   new HashMap<String, Stack<Fragment>>();
        mStacks.put(AppConstants.TAB_A, new Stack<Fragment>());
        mStacks.put(AppConstants.TAB_B, new Stack<Fragment>());

        mTabHost                =   (TabHost)findViewById(android.R.id.tabhost);
        mTabHost.setOnTabChangedListener(listener);
        mTabHost.setup();

        initializeTabs();
    }


    private View createTabView(final int id) {
        View view = LayoutInflater.from(this).inflate(R.layout.tabs_icon, null);
        ImageView imageView =   (ImageView) view.findViewById(R.id.tab_icon);
        imageView.setImageDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(id));
        return view;
    }

    public void initializeTabs(){
        /* Setup your tab icons and content views.. Nothing special in this..*/
        TabHost.TabSpec spec    =   mTabHost.newTabSpec(AppConstants.TAB_A);
        mTabHost.setCurrentTab(-3);
        spec.setContent(new TabHost.TabContentFactory() {
            public View createTabContent(String tag) {
                return findViewById(R.id.realtabcontent);
            }
        });
        spec.setIndicator(createTabView(R.drawable.tab_home_state_btn));
        mTabHost.addTab(spec);


        spec                    =   mTabHost.newTabSpec(AppConstants.TAB_B);
        spec.setContent(new TabHost.TabContentFactory() {
            public View createTabContent(String tag) {
                return findViewById(R.id.realtabcontent);
            }
        });
        spec.setIndicator(createTabView(R.drawable.tab_status_state_btn));
        mTabHost.addTab(spec);
    }


    /*Comes here when user switch tab, or we do programmatically*/
    TabHost.OnTabChangeListener listener    =   new TabHost.OnTabChangeListener() {
      public void onTabChanged(String tabId) {
        /*Set current tab..*/
        mCurrentTab                     =   tabId;

        if(mStacks.get(tabId).size() == 0){
          /*
           *    First time this tab is selected. So add first fragment of that tab.
           *    Dont need animation, so that argument is false.
           *    We are adding a new fragment which is not present in stack. So add to stack is true.
           */
          if(tabId.equals(AppConstants.TAB_A)){
            pushFragments(tabId, new AppTabAFirstFragment(), false,true);
          }else if(tabId.equals(AppConstants.TAB_B)){
            pushFragments(tabId, new AppTabBFirstFragment(), false,true);
          }
        }else {
          /*
           *    We are switching tabs, and target tab is already has atleast one fragment. 
           *    No need of animation, no need of stack pushing. Just show the target fragment
           */
          pushFragments(tabId, mStacks.get(tabId).lastElement(), false,false);
        }
      }
    };


    /* Might be useful if we want to switch tab programmatically, from inside any of the fragment.*/
    public void setCurrentTab(int val){
          mTabHost.setCurrentTab(val);
    }


    /* 
     *      To add fragment to a tab. 
     *  tag             ->  Tab identifier
     *  fragment        ->  Fragment to show, in tab identified by tag
     *  shouldAnimate   ->  should animate transaction. false when we switch tabs, or adding first fragment to a tab
     *                      true when when we are pushing more fragment into navigation stack. 
     *  shouldAdd       ->  Should add to fragment navigation stack (mStacks.get(tag)). false when we are switching tabs (except for the first time)
     *                      true in all other cases.
     */
    public void pushFragments(String tag, Fragment fragment,boolean shouldAnimate, boolean shouldAdd){
      if(shouldAdd)
          mStacks.get(tag).push(fragment);
      FragmentManager   manager         =   getSupportFragmentManager();
      FragmentTransaction ft            =   manager.beginTransaction();
      if(shouldAnimate)
          ft.setCustomAnimations(R.anim.slide_in_right, R.anim.slide_out_left);
      ft.replace(R.id.realtabcontent, fragment);
      ft.commit();
    }


    public void popFragments(){
      /*    
       *    Select the second last fragment in current tab's stack.. 
       *    which will be shown after the fragment transaction given below 
       */
      Fragment fragment             =   mStacks.get(mCurrentTab).elementAt(mStacks.get(mCurrentTab).size() - 2);

      /*pop current fragment from stack.. */
      mStacks.get(mCurrentTab).pop();

      /* We have the target fragment in hand.. Just show it.. Show a standard navigation animation*/
      FragmentManager   manager         =   getSupportFragmentManager();
      FragmentTransaction ft            =   manager.beginTransaction();
      ft.setCustomAnimations(R.anim.slide_in_left, R.anim.slide_out_right);
      ft.replace(R.id.realtabcontent, fragment);
      ft.commit();
    }   


    @Override
    public void onBackPressed() {
        if(mStacks.get(mCurrentTab).size() == 1){
          // We are already showing first fragment of current tab, so when back pressed, we will finish this activity..
          finish();
          return;
        }

        /*  Each fragment represent a screen in application (at least in my requirement, just like an activity used to represent a screen). So if I want to do any particular action
         *  when back button is pressed, I can do that inside the fragment itself. For this I used AppBaseFragment, so that each fragment can override onBackPressed() or onActivityResult()
         *  kind of events, and activity can pass it to them. Make sure just do your non navigation (popping) logic in fragment, since popping of fragment is done here itself.
         */
        ((AppBaseFragment)mStacks.get(mCurrentTab).lastElement()).onBackPressed();

        /* Goto previous fragment in navigation stack of this tab */
            popFragments();
    }


    /*
     *   Imagine if you wanted to get an image selected using ImagePicker intent to the fragment. Ofcourse I could have created a public function
     *  in that fragment, and called it from the activity. But couldn't resist myself.
     */
    @Override
    protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
        if(mStacks.get(mCurrentTab).size() == 0){
            return;
        }

        /*Now current fragment on screen gets onActivityResult callback..*/
        mStacks.get(mCurrentTab).lastElement().onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);
    }
}

4. app_main_tab_fragment_layout.xml (In case anyone interested.)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TabHost
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@android:id/tabhost"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">

    <LinearLayout
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent">

        <FrameLayout
            android:id="@android:id/tabcontent"
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="0dp"
            android:layout_weight="0"/>

        <FrameLayout
            android:id="@+android:id/realtabcontent"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="0dp"
            android:layout_weight="1"/>

        <TabWidget
            android:id="@android:id/tabs"
            android:orientation="horizontal"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="0"/>

    </LinearLayout>
</TabHost>

5. AppTabAFirstFragment.java (First fragment in Tab A, simliar for all Tabs)

public class AppTabAFragment extends BaseFragment {
    private Button mGotoButton;

    @Override
    public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
            Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        View view       =   inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_one_layout, container, false);

        mGoToButton =   (Button) view.findViewById(R.id.goto_button);
        mGoToButton.setOnClickListener(listener);

        return view;
    }

    private OnClickListener listener        =   new View.OnClickListener(){
        @Override
        public void onClick(View v){
            /* Go to next fragment in navigation stack*/
            mActivity.pushFragments(AppConstants.TAB_A, new AppTabAFragment2(),true,true);
        }
    }
}

This might not be the most polished and correct way. But it worked beautifully in my case. Also I only had this requirement in portrait mode. I never had to use this code in a project supporting both orientation. So can't say what kind of challenges I face there..

EDIT :

If anyone want a full project, I have pushed a sample project to github.

Answer 3

The framework won't currently do this for you automatically. You will need to build and manage your own back stacks for each tab.

To be honest, this seems like a really questionable thing to do. I can't imagine it resulting in a decent UI -- if the back key is going to do different things depending on the tab I am, especially if the back key also has its normal behavior of closing the entire activity when at the top of the stack... sounds nasty.

If you are trying to build something like a web browser UI, to get a UX that is natural to the user is going to involve a lot of subtle tweaks of behavior depending on context, so you'll definitely need to do your own back stack management rather than rely on some default implementation in the framework. For an example try paying attention to how the back key interacts with the standard browser in the various ways you can go in and out of it. (Each "window" in the browser is essentially a tab.)

Answer 4

Disclaimer:

---

I feel this is the best place to post a related solution I have worked on for a similar type of problem that seems to be pretty standard Android stuff. It's not going to solve the problem for everyone, but it may help some.

---

If the primary difference between your fragments is only the data backing them up (ie, not a lot of big layout differences), then you may not need to actually replace the fragment, but merely swap out the underlying data and refresh the view.

Here's a description of one possible example for this approach:

I have an app that uses ListViews. Each item in the list is a parent with some number of children. When you tap the item, a new list needs to open with those children, within the same ActionBar tab as the original list. These nested lists have a very similar layout (some conditional tweaks here and there perhaps), but the data is different.

This app has several layers of offspring beneath the initial parent list and we may or may not have data from the server by the time a user attempts to access any certain depth beyond the first. Because the list is constructed from a database cursor, and the fragments use a cursor loader and cursor adapter to populate the list view with list items, all that needs to happen when a click is registered is:

1) Create a new adapter with the appropriate 'to' and 'from' fields that will match new item views being added to the list and the columns returned by the new cursor.

2) Set this adapter as the new adapter for the ListView.

3) Build a new URI based on the item that was clicked and restart the cursor loader with the new URI (and projection). In this example, the URI is mapped to specific queries with the selection args passed down from the UI.

4) When the new data has been loaded from the URI, swap the cursor associated with the adapter to the new cursor, and the list will then refresh.

There is no backstack associated with this since we aren't using transactions, so you will have to either build your own, or play the queries in reverse when backing out of the hierarchy. When I tried this, the queries were fast enough that I just perform them again in oNBackPressed() up until I am at the top of hierarchy, at which point the framework takes over the back button again.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, make sure to read the docs: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/layout/listview.html

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/support/v4/app/LoaderManager.LoaderCallbacks.html

I hope this helps someone!

Answer 5

This is a complex problem as Android only handles 1 back stack, but this is feasible. It took me days to create a library called Tab Stacker that does exactly what you are looking for: a fragment history for each tab. It is open source and fully documented, and can be included easily with gradle. You can find the library on github: https://github.com/smart-fun/TabStacker

You can also download the sample app to see that the behaviour corresponds to your needs:

https://play.google.com/apps/testing/fr.arnaudguyon.tabstackerapp

If you have any question don't hesitate to drop a mail.

Answer 6

A simple solution:

Every time you change tab/root view call:

fragmentManager.popBackStack(null, FragmentManager.POP_BACK_STACK_INCLUSIVE);

It will clear the BackStack. Remember to call this before you change the root fragment.

And add fragments with this:

FragmentTransaction transaction = getFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
NewsDetailsFragment newsDetailsFragment = NewsDetailsFragment.newInstance(newsId);
transaction.add(R.id.content_frame, newsDetailsFragment).addToBackStack(null).commit();

Note the .addToBackStack(null) and the transaction.add could e.g. be changed with transaction.replace.