Hello, Mark!

hello Lucy!

how can I help you today?

I searched StackOverflow and other places but I didn't find a way to do this...but do you know if its possible to retrieve all <string-array> names from strings.xml programmatically without having to know all of them? For example, "For each <string-array> in strings.xml get me the names, in a list"

you should be able to use reflection to find the array resources

however, all arrays are in the same R space (R.array.*)

so you would not be able to tell a string array apart from an int array, for example

Oh! I see. I'll look into it.

I am calling startActivityWithResult to start ActivityB from FragmentA which is in ActivityA. I'm calling getContext().startActivityWithResult on ActivityB and I want ActivityA to receive the result. I saw some different answers on S.O. on this topic. Most said do not use getContext() but it doesn't work if I don't use it.

I assume you mean getActivity(), not getContext()

Fragment does not have a getContext() method IIRC

and Context does not know how to call startActivityForResult(), only Activity does

the only way to literally do what you want would be to call getActivity().startActivityForResult() on the fragment

Sorry, you are correct. I'm calling: getActivity().startActivityForResult().

that being said, I'm not a fan

fragments should not be starting activities

fragments should not be doing *anything* outside the views of the fragment itself

anything that transcends the fragment is the responsibility of the activity, not the fragment

so, have the fragment ask the activity to handle such-and-so event

and, perhaps today, the right answer is for the activity to call startActivityForResult)

but in the future, you might substitute in something else (FragmentTransaction for an inline fragment, DialogFragment, etc.)

I see! OK, I will add a call to the Interface used for Fragment<-->Activity communication.

yes, if you're using that sort of "contract pattern" already, I'd definitely go that route

BTW, with respect to your earlier question, you'd call R.array.class.getFields(), I think: https://stackoverflow.com/a/11519091/115145

OK cool, I'll add a small method to my interface.

That's terrific info, thanks! I had not found that answer.

So, I do have a short series of Activities, all containing Fragments, and I pass extras to each one along the way. I considered whether I should do it all in one or two Activities. Is that what you mean above by using FragmentTransactions instead?

well, I was thinking more of phone-vs.-tablet scenarios

For tablet devices, I'll use less Activities and will use the Item/Detail pattern.

OK, good, I will do that for phone vs. tablet.

for phones, there are two dominant patterns:

1. the Google approach, in terms of their project templates, which says that if you have Fragments fA and fB, and you're showing one at a time on phones, that you have activities aA and aB, each showing one fragment

2. the "WTF Google?" approach, where you still have fA and fB, but only one activity, that runs a FragmentTransaction to replace fA with fB (or vice-versa) as needed

in my experiments, in most cases, they are a wash in terms of complexity

where #2 wins is if using extras is a problem (your data cannot be put in an extra due to data type, or your data is too big)

This is excellent information. I wondered if starting more Activities would be less performant just because they're Activities.

So far I'm able to use extras and the data passed is small (a couple of String or Date)

Is it OK to explicitly call finish() in order to stop the current Activity so that the Result will then be sent back to startActivityWithResult? I saw this pattern on S.O. and its working for me. I just wondered if its conventional?

yes, that's conventional

as soon as the user makes their choice, you call setResult() and finish()

So far I'm calling it from the Fragment using: getActivity().finish()

that's another thing that I would delegate to the activity

It works but perhaps I should move this call to the Activity the same as the other one.

agreed

Super!

That was all my questions for today. As always, this is very helpful!

glad it is proving useful for you