onCreate() called while Activity is stopped (but not destroyed). Only after installation

Question

I\'m working on an app that targets Api 19, and that is basically a Processing sketch.

The problem I\'m facing is that the first time my app is run, right after inst

Answer 1

In above diagram may OnDestroy method never called because other application need memory.

Answer 2

onStop() is the last method which is guarantied to be called. After this method Android is allowed to kill your activity at any time. Check out the table in the activity's lifecycle table. There is a "Killable" column describing the time, when activity can be killed.

If you don't use static variables and you initialize everything properly in onCreate(), then you should have no issues with this behavior. Just never expect onDestroy() to be called.

Answer 3

Ok, this is how I solved it, in case anyone else bumps into this wall.

This might affect especially people coming from the Processing Developing Environment, as it converts a "Processing sketch" into the only activity of the project.

The original problem (Android managing apps in a different -wrong?- way when launching them from the Package Installer) is well explained here: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=26658

Solutions posted there might solve most cases,but if -like me- your launcher activity is the one that carries out all the work, you will need to create a specific launcher activity that just starts the main one... and commits suicide when the Android bug happens.

Add this bit to the onCreate() method of the launcher activity:

if (!isTaskRoot()) {
 finish();
 return;
} 

I hope this helps.

Answer 4

This looks like a valid application lifecycle, you put your app to background, android is then allowed to destroy your app. onDestroy is not guaranteed to be called, you have to be prepared for that, as you say onPause is called so you can use it. Why it happens only once after install is hard to explain, but in my opinion you should not actually care about it and prepare your app to be killed any time it is in background.