Transition from 3rd fragment tab to 2nd/1st fragment tab , breaks the app

Question

I am able to do transition between 3 tabs where each class is extending Fragment.

My fragment A holds the map , fragment B and C are blank with some default background. When I run my application , Fragment A loads with the map and upon transition to fragment b and c background color changes indicating a success . But on transition back to fragment a crashes the app .

Fragment A:

package com.example.hspot2;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;

import com.google.android.gms.common.GooglePlayServicesNotAvailableException;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.CameraUpdateFactory;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.GoogleMap;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.MapFragment;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.MapView;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.MapsInitializer;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.SupportMapFragment;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.model.BitmapDescriptorFactory;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.model.LatLng;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.model.Marker;
import com.google.android.gms.maps.model.MarkerOptions;

public class FragmentA extends Fragment{

    static final LatLng HAMBURG = new LatLng(53.558, 9.927);
    GoogleMap map;
    MapView mapView;
    SupportMapFragment fragment;

    @Override
    public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {     
        View v =  inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_a, container, false);
        map = ((SupportMapFragment) getFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.map)).getMap();
        return v;
    }
}

fragment B :

package com.example.hspot2;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;

public class FragmentB extends Fragment {

        @Override

        public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
                Bundle savedInstanceState) {
            return inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_b, container, false);

    }
}

fragment c:

package com.example.hspot2;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;

public class FragmentC extends Fragment {
        public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
                Bundle savedInstanceState) {
            return inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_c, container, false);
        }


}

mainactivity.java :

package com.example.hspot2;

import java.util.Locale;

import android.app.ActionBar;
import android.app.FragmentTransaction;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentPagerAdapter;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentStatePagerAdapter;
import android.support.v4.app.NavUtils;
import android.support.v4.view.ViewPager;
import android.view.Gravity;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class MainActivity extends FragmentActivity implements
        ActionBar.TabListener {

    SectionsPagerAdapter mSectionsPagerAdapter;
    ViewPager mViewPager;
    ActionBar actionBar;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        mViewPager = (ViewPager) findViewById(R.id.pager);

        actionBar = getActionBar();
        actionBar.setNavigationMode(ActionBar.NAVIGATION_MODE_TABS);


        mSectionsPagerAdapter = new SectionsPagerAdapter(getSupportFragmentManager());
        mViewPager.setAdapter(mSectionsPagerAdapter);

        for (int i = 0; i < mSectionsPagerAdapter.getCount(); i++) {
            actionBar.addTab(actionBar.newTab()
                    .setText(mSectionsPagerAdapter.getPageTitle(i))
                    .setTabListener(this));
        }
        // When swiping between different sections, select the corresponding
        // tab. We can also use ActionBar.Tab#select() to do this if we have
        // a reference to the Tab.
        mViewPager
                .setOnPageChangeListener(new ViewPager.SimpleOnPageChangeListener() {
                    @Override
                    public void onPageSelected(int position) {
                        actionBar.setSelectedNavigationItem(position);
                    }
                });


    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public void onTabSelected(ActionBar.Tab tab,
            FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction) {
        // When the given tab is selected, switch to the corresponding page in
        // the ViewPager.
        mViewPager.setCurrentItem(tab.getPosition());
    }

    @Override
    public void onTabUnselected(ActionBar.Tab tab,
            FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction) {
    }

    @Override
    public void onTabReselected(ActionBar.Tab tab,
            FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction) {
    }

    /**
     * A {@link FragmentPagerAdapter} that returns a fragment corresponding to
     * one of the sections/tabs/pages.
     */
    public class SectionsPagerAdapter extends FragmentStatePagerAdapter {

        public SectionsPagerAdapter(FragmentManager fm) {
            super(fm);
        }

        @Override
        public Fragment getItem(int i) {
            Fragment fragment = null;
            if(i==0){
                   fragment = new FragmentA(); 

            }
            if(i==1){
                  fragment = new FragmentB();
            }
            if(i==2){
                   fragment = new FragmentC();
            }
            return fragment;
        }

        @Override
        public int getCount() {
            return 3;
        }

        @Override
        public CharSequence getPageTitle(int position) {
            Locale l = Locale.getDefault();
            switch (position) {
            case 0:
                return getString(R.string.title_section1).toUpperCase(l);
            case 1:
                return getString(R.string.title_section2).toUpperCase(l);
            case 2:
                return getString(R.string.title_section3).toUpperCase(l);
            }
            return null;
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

When a Tab is selected ViewPager load the associated Fragment and the Fragments close to it (tab-1 and tab+1) for caching purpose. So passing from third one to second/one tab means ViewPAger load always both fragments (1 and 2) . Because 2 is a void Fragment I suggest to concentrate on first Fragment and I suppose your findFragmentById(R.id.map)) return null and so getMap throw exception. You have to identify differently your Fragment

Answer 2

try : mViewPager.setOffScreenPageLimit(4); // since 3 is the toal no. of swipe tabs above

Don't know if this is really efficient way to solve this problem. Any comment and discussion ?