How to use interface to communicate between two activities

Question

I am trying to make listener interface between two activities Act1 and Act2 . Act1 will start Act2 . If there is some event occurred in Act2 , it will inform it to Act1 . Problem is that I am starting new activity using Intent, so how Act1 will assign itself as listener to Act2's interface?

Act1.java

public class Act1 extends ActionBarActivity implements
        ActionBar.OnNavigationListener {

    ActionBar actionbar;
    Intent pizzaIntent;
    boolean visibleFirstTime = true;

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

        //set actionbar here
    }

@Override
    public boolean onNavigationItemSelected(int arg0, long arg1)// item pos,
                                                                // itemid
    {
        switch (arg0) {
        case 0:
            if(this.visibleFirstTime == false)
            {
            if(pizzaIntent == null)
            {
                pizzaIntent = new Intent(this,Act2.class);
                //how to call setChangeListener?
            }
            startActivity(pizzaIntent);
            }
            else
                this.visibleFirstTime = false;
            break;
        case 1:
            System.out.println("selected: " + arg0);
            break;
        case 2:
            System.out.println("selected: " + arg0);
            break;
        case 3:
            System.out.println("selected: " + arg0);
            break;
        default:
            break;
        }
        return true;
    }
}

Act2.java

public class Act2 extends Activity {

     selectionChangeListener listener;

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

    public void setChangeListener(selectionChangeListener listener)
    {
        this.listener = listener;
    }

    private interface selectionChangeListener
    {
        public void selectionMadeAtIndex(int index);
    }
}

Note: Please don't suggest me to use fragments. I want to use activities currently.

Answer 1

I would suggest to create a model class. Let me give you an example:

Model class:

public class CustomModel {

    public interface OnCustomStateListener {
        void stateChanged();
    }

    private static CustomModel mInstance;
    private OnCustomStateListener mListener;
    private boolean mState;

    private CustomModel() {}

    public static CustomModel getInstance() {
        if(mInstance == null) {
            mInstance = new CustomModel();
        }
        return mInstance;
    }

    public void setListener(OnCustomStateListener listener) {
        mListener = listener;
    }

    public void changeState(boolean state) {
        if(mListener != null) {
            mState = state;
            notifyStateChange();
        }
    }

    public boolean getState() {
        return mState;
    }

    private void notifyStateChange() {
        mListener.stateChanged();
    }
}

And here's how you would use this:

// Imports
public class MainActivity extends Activity implements OnCustomStateListener {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        CustomModel.getInstance().setListener(this);

        boolean modelState = CustomModel.getInstance().getState();
        Log.d(TAG, "Current state: " + String.valueOf(modelState));

        Intent intent = new Intent(this, SecondActivity.class);
        startActivity(intent);
    }

    @Override
    public void stateChanged() {
        boolean modelState = CustomModel.getInstance().getState();
        Log.d(TAG, "MainActivity says: Model state changed: " + 
            String.valueOf(modelState));
    }
}

Changing the member state in second activity:

// Imports
public class SecondActivity extends Activity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        CustomModel.getInstance().changeState(true);
    }
}

---

LogCat output:

Current state: false

MainActivity says: Model state changed: true

Answer 2

Have you considered using LocalBroadcastManager ?

In Act1's onCreate:

act2InitReceiver= new BroadcastReceiver()
    {

        @Override
        public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent)
        {
            // do your listener event stuff
        }
    };
LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(this).registerReceiver(act2InitReceiver, new IntentFilter("activity-2-initialized"));

In Act1's onDestroy:

LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(this).unregisterReceiver(act2InitReceiver);

In Act2's onCreate:

LocalBroadcastManager.getInstance(this).sendBroadcast(new Intent("activity-2-initialized"));

Give me a comment if the code doesn't compile, I'm writing it by hand.

Answer 3

The best, shortest and the easiest way to do this is to use static variables, like this:

class Main extends Activity {
  static String message = "Hi";
}

class Another extends Activity {
  public onCreate() {
     Log.i(Main.message); // implementation of the message, 'Hi' 
  }
}