使用ActionBar导航返回上一个活动

Question

In my app, I model Lists of items. In MainActivity, I see ListView containing Lists. I can click on each list to see its items (DisplayListActivity). On DisplayListActivity, I have button in the ActionBar to display the list properties. This launches the third activity (EditListPropertiesActivity).

              Main
              | ^
              V |
      DisplayListActivity (listId is passed with Intent, default=1)
              | ^
              V |
   EditListPropertiesActivity (listId is passed with Intent, default=1)

The problem appears, when I select List id=2 on the MainActivity, and then I select the properties button on the DisplayListActivity. Once I am done with the EditListPropertiesActivity, i click '<' (back) on the ActionBar: .

I return to the DisplayListActivity, but instead of going back to the list id=2, I see the list with id=1 (which is default).

How to pass the ListId back form EditListPropertiesActivity to the DisplayListActivity?

1. startActivityForResult and return the id - would work, but I see it ugly
2. use the SharedPreferences and store sth like lastVisitedList - ugly
3. store the lastVisitedList information in the db - even uglier

What is the usual solution for that problem?

Code snippets below.

MainActivity

public class MainActivity extends Activity {
...
listView.setOnItemClickListener(
            new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener() {
                @Override
                public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> adapterView, View view, int i, long l) {
                    MetaList mlist = (MetaList) listView.getItemAtPosition(i);

                    final Intent intent;
                    intent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), DisplayListActivity.class);
                    intent.putExtra(META_LIST_SELECTED, mlist.getId());
                    startActivity(intent);
                }
            }
    );
...

DisplayListActivity

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.single_list);

    intent = getIntent();
    metaListId = intent.getLongExtra(MainActivity.META_LIST_SELECTED, 1); //read the data or take 1 as default
    ...
    //start the third activity
    final Intent intent;
    intent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), EditListPropertiesActivity.class);
    intent.putExtra(META_LIST_SELECTED, metaListId);
    startActivity(intent);
    ....

EditListPropertiesActivity

public class EditListPropertiesActivity extends Activity {

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.edit_list_parameters);

    getActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);  //this enables the '<' (back) button 

    intent = getIntent();
    metaListId = intent.getLongExtra(DisplayMetaListActivity.META_LIST_SELECTED, 1);
    ...

Manifest

<application>
    <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity">
    </activity>
    <activity
            android:name="com.example.tutorial1.DisplayListActivity"
            android:parentActivityName="com.example.tutorial1.MainActivity" >
        <meta-data
                android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
                android:value="com.example.tutorial1.MainActivity" />
    </activity>
    <activity
            android:name="com.example.tutorial1.EditListPropertiesActivity"
            android:parentActivityName="com.example.tutorial1.DisplayListActivity" >
        <meta-data
                android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
                android:value="com.example.tutorial1.DisplayListActivity" />
    </activity>
</application>

Answer 1

try this to finish an activity

Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.putExtra(EXTRA, value);
setResult(RESULT_OK, output);
finish();

and this for getting the result in the previous activity

@Override
protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
    super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);

    if(data.getExtras().containsKey(EXTRA)){

       // do stuff with data from finished activity

       String bla = data.getStringExtra(EXTRA)

    }
}

EDIT: read comments! need to use startActivityForResult

Answer 2

try to call finish(); that you should call on destroy of the current activity and display the previous activity.

Answer 3

I have found the solution that works. I post it here, because it is cleaner (in my opinion) and different than the other proposed. I set the launch mode of the second activity to singleTask in the manifest file: android:launchMode="singleTask"

    ...
    <activity
        android:name="com.example.tutorial1.DisplayListActivity"
        android:label="Meta List"
        android:parentActivityName="com.example.tutorial1.MainActivity"
        android:launchMode="singleTask">
        <meta-data
                android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
                android:value="com.example.tutorial1.MainActivity" />
    </activity>
    ...

If there is a better solution for the stated problem, I am open for discussion :)