Why is my reference to ProgressDialog wrong after onStop >> onStart?

Question

I create a ProgressDialog in my onStart and then later on, after an async task returns, I hide/dismiss it.

When I jump to the homescreen and back, and re-instantiate a new ProgressDialog to the variable, the code later on still references the old memory address of the last time I set ProgressDialog.

I have tried a multitude of different approaches but I'm stumped. I can't seem to get a ProgressDialog to behave properly after the first start of the app. Could someone guide me in how to fix this, or suggest a different approach?

Thanks.

EDIT: I should mention that I tried using the same variable I set initially, instead of re-instantiating it, but hide/dismiss did nothing.

In onStart()

mProgressDialog = new ProgressDialog(this);
mProgressDialog.show();

Then later in my updateMap()

mProgressDialog.dismiss(); // Or hide()

This works fine the first run. But when the activity is stopped and restarted, the second block does not execute as expected.

EDIT 2:

private ProgressDialog mProgressDialog;

onCreate()

mProgressDialog = new ProgressDialog(this);

onResume()

mProgressDialog.show();

updateMap()

mProgressDialog.hide();

It works the first run, but when the I jump to the homescreen and back, the ProgressDialog never hides. What's going on?!

Answer 1

Try setting the ProgressDialog variable to static. When the activity is recreated, it should reference the same ProgressDialog attached to that activity class, rather than a new one in a new instance of the class.