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Android APIs
public class

Fragment

extends Object
implements ComponentCallbacks2 View.OnCreateContextMenuListener
java.lang.Object
   ↳ android.app.Fragment
Known Direct Subclasses

Class Overview

A Fragment is a piece of an application's user interface or behavior that can be placed in an Activity. Interaction with fragments is done through FragmentManager, which can be obtained via Activity.getFragmentManager() and Fragment.getFragmentManager().

The Fragment class can be used many ways to achieve a wide variety of results. In its core, it represents a particular operation or interface that is running within a larger Activity. A Fragment is closely tied to the Activity it is in, and can not be used apart from one. Though Fragment defines its own lifecycle, that lifecycle is dependent on its activity: if the activity is stopped, no fragments inside of it can be started; when the activity is destroyed, all fragments will be destroyed.

All subclasses of Fragment must include a public empty constructor. The framework will often re-instantiate a fragment class when needed, in particular during state restore, and needs to be able to find this constructor to instantiate it. If the empty constructor is not available, a runtime exception will occur in some cases during state restore.

Topics covered here:

  1. Older Platforms
  2. Lifecycle
  3. Layout
  4. Back Stack

Developer Guides

For more information about using fragments, read the Fragments developer guide.

Older Platforms

While the Fragment API was introduced in HONEYCOMB, a version of the API at is also available for use on older platforms through FragmentActivity. See the blog post Fragments For All for more details.

Lifecycle

Though a Fragment's lifecycle is tied to its owning activity, it has its own wrinkle on the standard activity lifecycle. It includes basic activity lifecycle methods such as onResume(), but also important are methods related to interactions with the activity and UI generation.

The core series of lifecycle methods that are called to bring a fragment up to resumed state (interacting with the user) are:

  1. onAttach(Activity) called once the fragment is associated with its activity.
  2. onCreate(Bundle) called to do initial creation of the fragment.
  3. onCreateView(LayoutInflater, ViewGroup, Bundle) creates and returns the view hierarchy associated with the fragment.
  4. onActivityCreated(Bundle) tells the fragment that its activity has completed its own Activity.onCreate().
  5. onStart() makes the fragment visible to the user (based on its containing activity being started).
  6. onResume() makes the fragment interacting with the user (based on its containing activity being resumed).

As a fragment is no longer being used, it goes through a reverse series of callbacks:

  1. onPause() fragment is no longer interacting with the user either because its activity is being paused or a fragment operation is modifying it in the activity.
  2. onStop() fragment is no longer visible to the user either because its activity is being stopped or a fragment operation is modifying it in the activity.
  3. onDestroyView() allows the fragment to clean up resources associated with its View.
  4. onDestroy() called to do final cleanup of the fragment's state.
  5. onDetach() called immediately prior to the fragment no longer being associated with its activity.

Layout

Fragments can be used as part of your application's layout, allowing you to better modularize your code and more easily adjust your user interface to the screen it is running on. As an example, we can look at a simple program consisting of a list of items, and display of the details of each item.

An activity's layout XML can include <fragment> tags to embed fragment instances inside of the layout. For example, here is a simple layout that embeds one fragment:

<FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent">
    <fragment class="com.example.android.apis.app.FragmentLayout$TitlesFragment"
            android:id="@+id/titles"
            android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent" />
</FrameLayout>

The layout is installed in the activity in the normal way:

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    setContentView(R.layout.fragment_layout);
}

The titles fragment, showing a list of titles, is fairly simple, relying on ListFragment for most of its work. Note the implementation of clicking an item: depending on the current activity's layout, it can either create and display a new fragment to show the details in-place (more about this later), or start a new activity to show the details.

public static class TitlesFragment extends ListFragment {
    boolean mDualPane;
    int mCurCheckPosition = 0;

    @Override
    public void onActivityCreated(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onActivityCreated(savedInstanceState);

        // Populate list with our static array of titles.
        setListAdapter(new ArrayAdapter<String>(getActivity(),
                android.R.layout.simple_list_item_activated_1, Shakespeare.TITLES));

        // Check to see if we have a frame in which to embed the details
        // fragment directly in the containing UI.
        View detailsFrame = getActivity().findViewById(R.id.details);
        mDualPane = detailsFrame != null && detailsFrame.getVisibility() == View.VISIBLE;

        if (savedInstanceState != null) {
            // Restore last state for checked position.
            mCurCheckPosition = savedInstanceState.getInt("curChoice", 0);
        }

        if (mDualPane) {
            // In dual-pane mode, the list view highlights the selected item.
            getListView().setChoiceMode(ListView.CHOICE_MODE_SINGLE);
            // Make sure our UI is in the correct state.
            showDetails(mCurCheckPosition);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState) {
        super.onSaveInstanceState(outState);
        outState.putInt("curChoice", mCurCheckPosition);
    }

    @Override
    public void onListItemClick(ListView l, View v, int position, long id) {
        showDetails(position);
    }

    /**
     * Helper function to show the details of a selected item, either by
     * displaying a fragment in-place in the current UI, or starting a
     * whole new activity in which it is displayed.
     */
    void showDetails(int index) {
        mCurCheckPosition = index;

        if (mDualPane) {
            // We can display everything in-place with fragments, so update
            // the list to highlight the selected item and show the data.
            getListView().setItemChecked(index, true);

            // Check what fragment is currently shown, replace if needed.
            DetailsFragment details = (DetailsFragment)
                    getFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.details);
            if (details == null || details.getShownIndex() != index) {
                // Make new fragment to show this selection.
                details = DetailsFragment.newInstance(index);

                // Execute a transaction, replacing any existing fragment
                // with this one inside the frame.
                FragmentTransaction ft = getFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
                ft.replace(R.id.details, details);
                ft.setTransition(FragmentTransaction.TRANSIT_FRAGMENT_FADE);
                ft.commit();
            }

        } else {
            // Otherwise we need to launch a new activity to display
            // the dialog fragment with selected text.
            Intent intent = new Intent();
            intent.setClass(getActivity(), DetailsActivity.class);
            intent.putExtra("index", index);
            startActivity(intent);
        }
    }
}

The details fragment showing the contents of a selected item just displays a string of text based on an index of a string array built in to the app:

public static class DetailsFragment extends Fragment {
    /**
     * Create a new instance of DetailsFragment, initialized to
     * show the text at 'index'.
     */
    public static DetailsFragment newInstance(int index) {
        DetailsFragment f = new DetailsFragment();

        // Supply index input as an argument.
        Bundle args = new Bundle();
        args.putInt("index", index);
        f.setArguments(args);

        return f;
    }

    public int getShownIndex() {
        return getArguments().getInt("index", 0);
    }

    @Override
    public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
            Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        if (container == null) {
            // We have different layouts, and in one of them this
            // fragment's containing frame doesn't exist.  The fragment
            // may still be created from its saved state, but there is
            // no reason to try to create its view hierarchy because it
            // won't be displayed.  Note this is not needed -- we could
            // just run the code below, where we would create and return
            // the view hierarchy; it would just never be used.
            return null;
        }

        ScrollView scroller = new ScrollView(getActivity());
        TextView text = new TextView(getActivity());
        int padding = (int)TypedValue.applyDimension(TypedValue.COMPLEX_UNIT_DIP,
                4, getActivity().getResources().getDisplayMetrics());
        text.setPadding(padding, padding, padding, padding);
        scroller.addView(text);
        text.setText(Shakespeare.DIALOGUE[getShownIndex()]);
        return scroller;
    }
}

In this case when the user clicks on a title, there is no details container in the current activity, so the titles fragment's click code will launch a new activity to display the details fragment:

public static class DetailsActivity extends Activity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        if (getResources().getConfiguration().orientation
                == Configuration.ORIENTATION_LANDSCAPE) {
            // If the screen is now in landscape mode, we can show the
            // dialog in-line with the list so we don't need this activity.
            finish();
            return;
        }

        if (savedInstanceState == null) {
            // During initial setup, plug in the details fragment.
            DetailsFragment details = new DetailsFragment();
            details.setArguments(getIntent().getExtras());
            getFragmentManager().beginTransaction().add(android.R.id.content, details).commit();
        }
    }
}

However the screen may be large enough to show both the list of titles and details about the currently selected title. To use such a layout on a landscape screen, this alternative layout can be placed under layout-land:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <fragment class="com.example.android.apis.app.FragmentLayout$TitlesFragment"
            android:id="@+id/titles" android:layout_weight="1"
            android:layout_width="0px" android:layout_height="match_parent" />

    <FrameLayout android:id="@+id/details" android:layout_weight="1"
            android:layout_width="0px" android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:background="?android:attr/detailsElementBackground" />

</LinearLayout>

Note how the prior code will adjust to this alternative UI flow: the titles fragment will now embed the details fragment inside of this activity, and the details activity will finish itself if it is running in a configuration where the details can be shown in-place.

When a configuration change causes the activity hosting these fragments to restart, its new instance may use a different layout that doesn't include the same fragments as the previous layout. In this case all of the previous fragments will still be instantiated and running in the new instance. However, any that are no longer associated with a <fragment> tag in the view hierarchy will not have their content view created and will return false from isInLayout(). (The code here also shows how you can determine if a fragment placed in a container is no longer running in a layout with that container and avoid creating its view hierarchy in that case.)

The attributes of the <fragment> tag are used to control the LayoutParams provided when attaching the fragment's view to the parent container. They can also be parsed by the fragment in onInflate(Activity, AttributeSet, Bundle) as parameters.

The fragment being instantiated must have some kind of unique identifier so that it can be re-associated with a previous instance if the parent activity needs to be destroyed and recreated. This can be provided these ways:

  • If nothing is explicitly supplied, the view ID of the container will be used.
  • android:tag can be used in <fragment> to provide a specific tag name for the fragment.
  • android:id can be used in <fragment> to provide a specific identifier for the fragment.

Back Stack

The transaction in which fragments are modified can be placed on an internal back-stack of the owning activity. When the user presses back in the activity, any transactions on the back stack are popped off before the activity itself is finished.

For example, consider this simple fragment that is instantiated with an integer argument and displays that in a TextView in its UI:

public static class CountingFragment extends Fragment {
    int mNum;

    /**
     * Create a new instance of CountingFragment, providing "num"
     * as an argument.
     */
    static CountingFragment newInstance(int num) {
        CountingFragment f = new CountingFragment();

        // Supply num input as an argument.
        Bundle args = new Bundle();
        args.putInt("num", num);
        f.setArguments(args);

        return f;
    }

    /**
     * When creating, retrieve this instance's number from its arguments.
     */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        mNum = getArguments() != null ? getArguments().getInt("num") : 1;
    }

    /**
     * The Fragment's UI is just a simple text view showing its
     * instance number.
     */
    @Override
    public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
            Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        View v = inflater.inflate(R.layout.hello_world, container, false);
        View tv = v.findViewById(R.id.text);
        ((TextView)tv).setText("Fragment #" + mNum);
        tv.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(android.R.drawable.gallery_thumb));
        return v;
    }
}

A function that creates a new instance of the fragment, replacing whatever current fragment instance is being shown and pushing that change on to the back stack could be written as:

void addFragmentToStack() {
    mStackLevel++;

    // Instantiate a new fragment.
    Fragment newFragment = CountingFragment.newInstance(mStackLevel);

    // Add the fragment to the activity, pushing this transaction
    // on to the back stack.
    FragmentTransaction ft = getFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
    ft.replace(R.id.simple_fragment, newFragment);
    ft.setTransition(FragmentTransaction.TRANSIT_FRAGMENT_OPEN);
    ft.addToBackStack(null);
    ft.commit();
}

After each call to this function, a new entry is on the stack, and pressing back will pop it to return the user to whatever previous state the activity UI was in.

Summary

Nested Classes
class Fragment.InstantiationException Thrown by instantiate(Context, String, Bundle) when there is an instantiation failure. 
class Fragment.SavedState State information that has been retrieved from a fragment instance through FragmentManager.saveFragmentInstanceState
[Expand]
Inherited Constants
From interface android.content.ComponentCallbacks2
Public Constructors
Fragment()
Default constructor.
Public Methods
void dump(String prefix, FileDescriptor fd, PrintWriter writer, String[] args)
Print the Fragments's state into the given stream.
final boolean equals(Object o)
Subclasses can not override equals().
final Activity getActivity()
Return the Activity this fragment is currently associated with.
final Bundle getArguments()
Return the arguments supplied when the fragment was instantiated, if any.
final FragmentManager getFragmentManager()
Return the FragmentManager for interacting with fragments associated with this fragment's activity.
final int getId()
Return the identifier this fragment is known by.
LoaderManager getLoaderManager()
Return the LoaderManager for this fragment, creating it if needed.
final Resources getResources()
Return getActivity().getResources().
final boolean getRetainInstance()
final String getString(int resId)
Return a localized string from the application's package's default string table.
final String getString(int resId, Object... formatArgs)
Return a localized formatted string from the application's package's default string table, substituting the format arguments as defined in Formatter and format(String, Object...).
final String getTag()
Get the tag name of the fragment, if specified.
final Fragment getTargetFragment()
Return the target fragment set by setTargetFragment(Fragment, int).
final int getTargetRequestCode()
Return the target request code set by setTargetFragment(Fragment, int).
final CharSequence getText(int resId)
Return a localized, styled CharSequence from the application's package's default string table.
boolean getUserVisibleHint()
View getView()
Get the root view for the fragment's layout (the one returned by onCreateView(LayoutInflater, ViewGroup, Bundle)), if provided.
final int hashCode()
Subclasses can not override hashCode().
static Fragment instantiate(Context context, String fname)
Like instantiate(Context, String, Bundle) but with a null argument Bundle.
static Fragment instantiate(Context context, String fname, Bundle args)
Create a new instance of a Fragment with the given class name.
final boolean isAdded()
Return true if the fragment is currently added to its activity.
final boolean isDetached()
Return true if the fragment has been explicitly detached from the UI.
final boolean isHidden()
Return true if the fragment has been hidden.
final boolean isInLayout()
Return true if the layout is included as part of an activity view hierarchy via the <fragment> tag.
final boolean isRemoving()
Return true if this fragment is currently being removed from its activity.
final boolean isResumed()
Return true if the fragment is in the resumed state.
final boolean isVisible()
Return true if the fragment is currently visible to the user.
void onActivityCreated(Bundle savedInstanceState)
Called when the fragment's activity has been created and this fragment's view hierarchy instantiated.
void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data)
Receive the result from a previous call to startActivityForResult(Intent, int).
void onAttach(Activity activity)
Called when a fragment is first attached to its activity.
void onConfigurationChanged(Configuration newConfig)
Called by the system when the device configuration changes while your component is running.
boolean onContextItemSelected(MenuItem item)
This hook is called whenever an item in a context menu is selected.
void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
Called to do initial creation of a fragment.
Animator onCreateAnimator(int transit, boolean enter, int nextAnim)
Called when a fragment loads an animation.
void onCreateContextMenu(ContextMenu menu, View v, ContextMenu.ContextMenuInfo menuInfo)
Called when a context menu for the view is about to be shown.
void onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu, MenuInflater inflater)
Initialize the contents of the Activity's standard options menu.
View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState)
Called to have the fragment instantiate its user interface view.
void onDestroy()
Called when the fragment is no longer in use.
void onDestroyOptionsMenu()
Called when this fragment's option menu items are no longer being included in the overall options menu.
void onDestroyView()
Called when the view previously created by onCreateView(LayoutInflater, ViewGroup, Bundle) has been detached from the fragment.
void onDetach()
Called when the fragment is no longer attached to its activity.
void onHiddenChanged(boolean hidden)
Called when the hidden state (as returned by isHidden() of the fragment has changed.
void onInflate(AttributeSet attrs, Bundle savedInstanceState)
This method is deprecated. Use onInflate(Activity, AttributeSet, Bundle) instead.
void onInflate(Activity activity, AttributeSet attrs, Bundle savedInstanceState)
Called when a fragment is being created as part of a view layout inflation, typically from setting the content view of an activity.
void onLowMemory()
This is called when the overall system is running low on memory, and would like actively running process to try to tighten their belt.
boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item)
This hook is called whenever an item in your options menu is selected.
void onOptionsMenuClosed(Menu menu)
This hook is called whenever the options menu is being closed (either by the user canceling the menu with the back/menu button, or when an item is selected).
void onPause()
Called when the Fragment is no longer resumed.
void onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu)
Prepare the Screen's standard options menu to be displayed.
void onResume()
Called when the fragment is visible to the user and actively running.
void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState)
Called to ask the fragment to save its current dynamic state, so it can later be reconstructed in a new instance of its process is restarted.
void onStart()
Called when the Fragment is visible to the user.
void onStop()
Called when the Fragment is no longer started.
void onTrimMemory(int level)
Called when the operating system has determined that it is a good time for a process to trim unneeded memory from its process.
void onViewCreated(View view, Bundle savedInstanceState)
Called immediately after onCreateView(LayoutInflater, ViewGroup, Bundle) has returned, but before any saved state has been restored in to the view.
void registerForContextMenu(View view)
Registers a context menu to be shown for the given view (multiple views can show the context menu).
void setArguments(Bundle args)
Supply the construction arguments for this fragment.
void setHasOptionsMenu(boolean hasMenu)
Report that this fragment would like to participate in populating the options menu by receiving a call to onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu, MenuInflater) and related methods.
void setInitialSavedState(Fragment.SavedState state)
Set the initial saved state that this Fragment should restore itself from when first being constructed, as returned by FragmentManager.saveFragmentInstanceState.
void setMenuVisibility(boolean menuVisible)
Set a hint for whether this fragment's menu should be visible.
void setRetainInstance(boolean retain)
Control whether a fragment instance is retained across Activity re-creation (such as from a configuration change).
void setTargetFragment(Fragment fragment, int requestCode)
Optional target for this fragment.
void setUserVisibleHint(boolean isVisibleToUser)
Set a hint to the system about whether this fragment's UI is currently visible to the user.
void startActivity(Intent intent)
Call startActivity(Intent) on the fragment's containing Activity.
void startActivity(Intent intent, Bundle options)
Call startActivity(Intent, Bundle) on the fragment's containing Activity.
void startActivityForResult(Intent intent, int requestCode)
Call startActivityForResult(Intent, int) on the fragment's containing Activity.
void startActivityForResult(Intent intent, int requestCode, Bundle options)
Call startActivityForResult(Intent, int, Bundle) on the fragment's containing Activity.
String toString()
Returns a string containing a concise, human-readable description of this object.
void unregisterForContextMenu(View view)
Prevents a context menu to be shown for the given view.
[Expand]
Inherited Methods
From class java.lang.Object
From interface android.content.ComponentCallbacks
From interface android.content.ComponentCallbacks2
From interface android.view.View.OnCreateContextMenuListener

Public Constructors

public Fragment ()

Since: API Level 11

Default constructor. Every fragment must have an empty constructor, so it can be instantiated when restoring its activity's state. It is strongly recommended that subclasses do not have other constructors with parameters, since these constructors will not be called when the fragment is re-instantiated; instead, arguments can be supplied by the caller with setArguments(Bundle) and later retrieved by the Fragment with getArguments().

Applications should generally not implement a constructor. The first place application code an run where the fragment is ready to be used is in onAttach(Activity), the point where the fragment is actually associated with its activity. Some applications may also want to implement onInflate(Activity, AttributeSet, Bundle) to retrieve attributes from a layout resource, though should take care here because this happens for the fragment is attached to its activity.

Public Methods

public void dump (String prefix, FileDescriptor fd, PrintWriter writer, String[] args)

Since: API Level 11

Print the Fragments's state into the given stream.

Parameters
prefix Text to print at the front of each line.
fd The raw file descriptor that the dump is being sent to.
writer The PrintWriter to which you should dump your state. This will be closed for you after you return.
args additional arguments to the dump request.

public final boolean equals (Object o)

Since: API Level 11

Subclasses can not override equals().

Parameters
o the object to compare this instance with.
Returns
  • true if the specified object is equal to this Object; false otherwise.

public final Activity getActivity ()

Since: API Level 11

Return the Activity this fragment is currently associated with.

public final Bundle getArguments ()

Since: API Level 11

Return the arguments supplied when the fragment was instantiated, if any.

public final FragmentManager getFragmentManager ()

Since: API Level 11

Return the FragmentManager for interacting with fragments associated with this fragment's activity. Note that this will be non-null slightly before getActivity(), during the time from when the fragment is placed in a FragmentTransaction until it is committed and attached to its activity.

public final int getId ()

Since: API Level 11

Return the identifier this fragment is known by. This is either the android:id value supplied in a layout or the container view ID supplied when adding the fragment.

public LoaderManager getLoaderManager ()

Since: API Level 11

Return the LoaderManager for this fragment, creating it if needed.

public final Resources getResources ()

Since: API Level 11

Return getActivity().getResources().

public final boolean getRetainInstance ()

Since: API Level 11

public final String getString (int resId)

Since: API Level 11

Return a localized string from the application's package's default string table.

Parameters
resId Resource id for the string

public final String getString (int resId, Object... formatArgs)

Since: API Level 11

Return a localized formatted string from the application's package's default string table, substituting the format arguments as defined in Formatter and format(String, Object...).

Parameters
resId Resource id for the format string
formatArgs The format arguments that will be used for substitution.

public final String getTag ()

Since: API Level 11

Get the tag name of the fragment, if specified.

public final Fragment getTargetFragment ()

Since: API Level 11

Return the target fragment set by setTargetFragment(Fragment, int).

public final int getTargetRequestCode ()

Since: API Level 11

Return the target request code set by setTargetFragment(Fragment, int).

public final CharSequence getText (int resId)

Since: API Level 11

Return a localized, styled CharSequence from the application's package's default string table.

Parameters
resId Resource id for the CharSequence text

public boolean getUserVisibleHint ()

Since: API Level 15

Returns
  • The current value of the user-visible hint on this fragment.

public View getView ()

Since: API Level 11

Get the root view for the fragment's layout (the one returned by onCreateView(LayoutInflater, ViewGroup, Bundle)), if provided.

Returns
  • The fragment's root view, or null if it has no layout.

public final int hashCode ()

Since: API Level 11

Subclasses can not override hashCode().

Returns
  • this object's hash code.

public static Fragment instantiate (Context context, String fname)

Since: API Level 11

Like instantiate(Context, String, Bundle) but with a null argument Bundle.

public static Fragment instantiate (Context context, String fname, Bundle args)

Since: API Level 11

Create a new instance of a Fragment with the given class name. This is the same as calling its empty constructor.

Parameters
context The calling context being used to instantiate the fragment. This is currently just used to get its ClassLoader.
fname The class name of the fragment to instantiate.
args Bundle of arguments to supply to the fragment, which it can retrieve with getArguments(). May be null.
Returns
  • Returns a new fragment instance.
Throws
InstantiationException If there is a failure in instantiating the given fragment class. This is a runtime exception; it is not normally expected to happen.

public final boolean isAdded ()

Since: API Level 11

Return true if the fragment is currently added to its activity.

public final boolean isDetached ()

Since: API Level 13

Return true if the fragment has been explicitly detached from the UI. That is, FragmentTransaction.detach(Fragment) has been used on it.

public final boolean isHidden ()

Since: API Level 11

Return true if the fragment has been hidden. By default fragments are shown. You can find out about changes to this state with onHiddenChanged(boolean). Note that the hidden state is orthogonal to other states -- that is, to be visible to the user, a fragment must be both started and not hidden.

public final boolean isInLayout ()

Since: API Level 11

Return true if the layout is included as part of an activity view hierarchy via the <fragment> tag. This will always be true when fragments are created through the <fragment> tag, except in the case where an old fragment is restored from a previous state and it does not appear in the layout of the current state.

public final boolean isRemoving ()

Since: API Level 11

Return true if this fragment is currently being removed from its activity. This is not whether its activity is finishing, but rather whether it is in the process of being removed from its activity.

public final boolean isResumed ()

Since: API Level 11

Return true if the fragment is in the resumed state. This is true for the duration of onResume() and onPause() as well.

public final boolean isVisible ()

Since: API Level 11

Return true if the fragment is currently visible to the user. This means it: (1) has been added, (2) has its view attached to the window, and (3) is not hidden.

public void onActivityCreated (Bundle savedInstanceState)

Since: API Level 11

Called when the fragment's activity has been created and this fragment's view hierarchy instantiated. It can be used to do final initialization once these pieces are in place, such as retrieving views or restoring state. It is also useful for fragments that use setRetainInstance(boolean) to retain their instance, as this callback tells the fragment when it is fully associated with the new activity instance. This is called after onCreateView(LayoutInflater, ViewGroup, Bundle) and before onStart().

Parameters
savedInstanceState If the fragment is being re-created from a previous saved state, this is the state.

public void onActivityResult (int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data)

Since: API Level 11

Receive the result from a previous call to startActivityForResult(Intent, int). This follows the related Activity API as described there in onActivityResult(int, int, Intent).

Parameters
requestCode The integer request code originally supplied to startActivityForResult(), allowing you to identify who this result came from.
resultCode The integer result code returned by the child activity through its setResult().
data An Intent, which can return result data to the caller (various data can be attached to Intent "extras").

public void onAttach (Activity activity)

Since: API Level 11

Called when a fragment is first attached to its activity. onCreate(Bundle) will be called after this.

public void onConfigurationChanged (Configuration newConfig)

Since: API Level 11

Called by the system when the device configuration changes while your component is running. Note that, unlike activities, other components are never restarted when a configuration changes: they must always deal with the results of the change, such as by re-retrieving resources.

At the time that this function has been called, your Resources object will have been updated to return resource values matching the new configuration.

Parameters
newConfig The new device configuration.

public boolean onContextItemSelected (MenuItem item)

Since: API Level 11

This hook is called whenever an item in a context menu is selected. The default implementation simply returns false to have the normal processing happen (calling the item's Runnable or sending a message to its Handler as appropriate). You can use this method for any items for which you would like to do processing without those other facilities.

Use getMenuInfo() to get extra information set by the View that added this menu item.

Derived classes should call through to the base class for it to perform the default menu handling.

Parameters
item The context menu item that was selected.
Returns
  • boolean Return false to allow normal context menu processing to proceed, true to consume it here.

public void onCreate (Bundle savedInstanceState)

Since: API Level 11

Called to do initial creation of a fragment. This is called after onAttach(Activity) and before onCreateView(LayoutInflater, ViewGroup, Bundle).

Note that this can be called while the fragment's activity is still in the process of being created. As such, you can not rely on things like the activity's content view hierarchy being initialized at this point. If you want to do work once the activity itself is created, see onActivityCreated(Bundle).

Parameters
savedInstanceState If the fragment is being re-created from a previous saved state, this is the state.

public Animator onCreateAnimator (int transit, boolean enter, int nextAnim)

Since: API Level 11

Called when a fragment loads an animation.

public void onCreateContextMenu (ContextMenu menu, View v, ContextMenu.ContextMenuInfo menuInfo)

Since: API Level 11

Called when a context menu for the view is about to be shown. Unlike onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu, MenuInflater), this will be called every time the context menu is about to be shown and should be populated for the view (or item inside the view for AdapterView subclasses, this can be found in the menuInfo)).

Use onContextItemSelected(android.view.MenuItem) to know when an item has been selected.

The default implementation calls up to Activity.onCreateContextMenu, though you can not call this implementation if you don't want that behavior.

It is not safe to hold onto the context menu after this method returns. Called when the context menu for this view is being built. It is not safe to hold onto the menu after this method returns.

Parameters
menu The context menu that is being built
v The view for which the context menu is being built
menuInfo Extra information about the item for which the context menu should be shown. This information will vary depending on the class of v.

public void onCreateOptionsMenu (Menu menu, MenuInflater inflater)

Since: API Level 11

Initialize the contents of the Activity's standard options menu. You should place your menu items in to menu. For this method to be called, you must have first called setHasOptionsMenu(boolean). See Activity.onCreateOptionsMenu for more information.

Parameters
menu The options menu in which you place your items.

public View onCreateView (LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState)

Since: API Level 11

Called to have the fragment instantiate its user interface view. This is optional, and non-graphical fragments can return null (which is the default implementation). This will be called between onCreate(Bundle) and onActivityCreated(Bundle).

If you return a View from here, you will later be called in onDestroyView() when the view is being released.

Parameters
inflater The LayoutInflater object that can be used to inflate any views in the fragment,
container If non-null, this is the parent view that the fragment's UI should be attached to. The fragment should not add the view itself, but this can be used to generate the LayoutParams of the view.
savedInstanceState If non-null, this fragment is being re-constructed from a previous saved state as given here.
Returns
  • Return the View for the fragment's UI, or null.

public void onDestroy ()

Since: API Level 11

Called when the fragment is no longer in use. This is called after onStop() and before onDetach().

public void onDestroyOptionsMenu ()

Since: API Level 11

Called when this fragment's option menu items are no longer being included in the overall options menu. Receiving this call means that the menu needed to be rebuilt, but this fragment's items were not included in the newly built menu (its onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu, MenuInflater) was not called).

public void onDestroyView ()

Since: API Level 11

Called when the view previously created by onCreateView(LayoutInflater, ViewGroup, Bundle) has been detached from the fragment. The next time the fragment needs to be displayed, a new view will be created. This is called after onStop() and before onDestroy(). It is called regardless of whether onCreateView(LayoutInflater, ViewGroup, Bundle) returned a non-null view. Internally it is called after the view's state has been saved but before it has been removed from its parent.

public void onDetach ()

Since: API Level 11

Called when the fragment is no longer attached to its activity. This is called after onDestroy().

public void onHiddenChanged (boolean hidden)

Since: API Level 11

Called when the hidden state (as returned by isHidden() of the fragment has changed. Fragments start out not hidden; this will be called whenever the fragment changes state from that.

Parameters
hidden True if the fragment is now hidden, false if it is not visible.

public void onInflate (AttributeSet attrs, Bundle savedInstanceState)

Since: API Level 11

This method is deprecated.
Use onInflate(Activity, AttributeSet, Bundle) instead.

public void onInflate (Activity activity, AttributeSet attrs, Bundle savedInstanceState)

Since: API Level 12

Called when a fragment is being created as part of a view layout inflation, typically from setting the content view of an activity. This may be called immediately after the fragment is created from a tag in a layout file. Note this is before the fragment's onAttach(Activity) has been called; all you should do here is parse the attributes and save them away.

This is called every time the fragment is inflated, even if it is being inflated into a new instance with saved state. It typically makes sense to re-parse the parameters each time, to allow them to change with different configurations.

Here is a typical implementation of a fragment that can take parameters both through attributes supplied here as well from getArguments():

public static class MyFragment extends Fragment {
    CharSequence mLabel;

    /**
     * Create a new instance of MyFragment that will be initialized
     * with the given arguments.
     */
    static MyFragment newInstance(CharSequence label) {
        MyFragment f = new MyFragment();
        Bundle b = new Bundle();
        b.putCharSequence("label", label);
        f.setArguments(b);
        return f;
    }

    /**
     * Parse attributes during inflation from a view hierarchy into the
     * arguments we handle.
     */
    @Override public void onInflate(Activity activity, AttributeSet attrs,
            Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onInflate(activity, attrs, savedInstanceState);

        TypedArray a = activity.obtainStyledAttributes(attrs,
                R.styleable.FragmentArguments);
        mLabel = a.getText(R.styleable.FragmentArguments_android_label);
        a.recycle();
    }

    /**
     * During creation, if arguments have been supplied to the fragment
     * then parse those out.
     */
    @Override public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        Bundle args = getArguments();
        if (args != null) {
            mLabel = args.getCharSequence("label", mLabel);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Create the view for this fragment, using the arguments given to it.
     */
    @Override public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
            Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        View v = inflater.inflate(R.layout.hello_world, container, false);
        View tv = v.findViewById(R.id.text);
        ((TextView)tv).setText(mLabel != null ? mLabel : "(no label)");
        tv.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(android.R.drawable.gallery_thumb));
        return v;
    }
}

Note that parsing the XML attributes uses a "styleable" resource. The declaration for the styleable used here is:

<declare-styleable name="FragmentArguments">
    <attr name="android:label" />
</declare-styleable>

The fragment can then be declared within its activity's content layout through a tag like this:

<fragment class="com.example.android.apis.app.FragmentArguments$MyFragment"
        android:id="@+id/embedded"
        android:layout_width="0px" android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:label="@string/fragment_arguments_embedded" />

This fragment can also be created dynamically from arguments given at runtime in the arguments Bundle; here is an example of doing so at creation of the containing activity:

@Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.fragment_arguments);

    if (savedInstanceState == null) {
        // First-time init; create fragment to embed in activity.
        FragmentTransaction ft = getFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
        Fragment newFragment = MyFragment.newInstance("From Arguments");
        ft.add(R.id.created, newFragment);
        ft.commit();
    }
}

Parameters
activity The Activity that is inflating this fragment.
attrs The attributes at the tag where the fragment is being created.
savedInstanceState If the fragment is being re-created from a previous saved state, this is the state.

public void onLowMemory ()

Since: API Level 11

This is called when the overall system is running low on memory, and would like actively running process to try to tighten their belt. While the exact point at which this will be called is not defined, generally it will happen around the time all background process have been killed, that is before reaching the point of killing processes hosting service and foreground UI that we would like to avoid killing.

Applications that want to be nice can implement this method to release any caches or other unnecessary resources they may be holding on to. The system will perform a gc for you after returning from this method.

public boolean onOptionsItemSelected (MenuItem item)

Since: API Level 11

This hook is called whenever an item in your options menu is selected. The default implementation simply returns false to have the normal processing happen (calling the item's Runnable or sending a message to its Handler as appropriate). You can use this method for any items for which you would like to do processing without those other facilities.

Derived classes should call through to the base class for it to perform the default menu handling.

Parameters
item The menu item that was selected.
Returns
  • boolean Return false to allow normal menu processing to proceed, true to consume it here.

public void onOptionsMenuClosed (Menu menu)

Since: API Level 11

This hook is called whenever the options menu is being closed (either by the user canceling the menu with the back/menu button, or when an item is selected).

Parameters
menu The options menu as last shown or first initialized by onCreateOptionsMenu().

public void onPause ()

Since: API Level 11

Called when the Fragment is no longer resumed. This is generally tied to Activity.onPause of the containing Activity's lifecycle.

public void onPrepareOptionsMenu (Menu menu)

Since: API Level 11

Prepare the Screen's standard options menu to be displayed. This is called right before the menu is shown, every time it is shown. You can use this method to efficiently enable/disable items or otherwise dynamically modify the contents. See Activity.onPrepareOptionsMenu for more information.

Parameters
menu The options menu as last shown or first initialized by onCreateOptionsMenu().

public void onResume ()

Since: API Level 11

Called when the fragment is visible to the user and actively running. This is generally tied to Activity.onResume of the containing Activity's lifecycle.

public void onSaveInstanceState (Bundle outState)

Since: API Level 11

Called to ask the fragment to save its current dynamic state, so it can later be reconstructed in a new instance of its process is restarted. If a new instance of the fragment later needs to be created, the data you place in the Bundle here will be available in the Bundle given to onCreate(Bundle), onCreateView(LayoutInflater, ViewGroup, Bundle), and onActivityCreated(Bundle).

This corresponds to Activity.onSaveInstanceState(Bundle) and most of the discussion there applies here as well. Note however: this method may be called at any time before onDestroy(). There are many situations where a fragment may be mostly torn down (such as when placed on the back stack with no UI showing), but its state will not be saved until its owning activity actually needs to save its state.

Parameters
outState Bundle in which to place your saved state.

public void onStart ()

Since: API Level 11

Called when the Fragment is visible to the user. This is generally tied to Activity.onStart of the containing Activity's lifecycle.

public void onStop ()

Since: API Level 11

Called when the Fragment is no longer started. This is generally tied to Activity.onStop of the containing Activity's lifecycle.

public void onTrimMemory (int level)

Since: API Level 14

Called when the operating system has determined that it is a good time for a process to trim unneeded memory from its process. This will happen for example when it goes in the background and there is not enough memory to keep as many background processes running as desired. You should never compare to exact values of the level, since new intermediate values may be added -- you will typically want to compare if the value is greater or equal to a level you are interested in.

To retrieve the processes current trim level at any point, you can use ActivityManager.getMyMemoryState(RunningAppProcessInfo).

Parameters
level The context of the trim, giving a hint of the amount of trimming the application may like to perform. May be TRIM_MEMORY_COMPLETE, TRIM_MEMORY_MODERATE, TRIM_MEMORY_BACKGROUND, TRIM_MEMORY_UI_HIDDEN, TRIM_MEMORY_RUNNING_CRITICAL, TRIM_MEMORY_RUNNING_LOW, or TRIM_MEMORY_RUNNING_MODERATE.

public void onViewCreated (View view, Bundle savedInstanceState)

Since: API Level 13

Called immediately after onCreateView(LayoutInflater, ViewGroup, Bundle) has returned, but before any saved state has been restored in to the view. This gives subclasses a chance to initialize themselves once they know their view hierarchy has been completely created. The fragment's view hierarchy is not however attached to its parent at this point.

Parameters
view The View returned by onCreateView(LayoutInflater, ViewGroup, Bundle).
savedInstanceState If non-null, this fragment is being re-constructed from a previous saved state as given here.

public void registerForContextMenu (View view)

Since: API Level 11

Registers a context menu to be shown for the given view (multiple views can show the context menu). This method will set the View.OnCreateContextMenuListener on the view to this fragment, so onCreateContextMenu(ContextMenu, View, ContextMenuInfo) will be called when it is time to show the context menu.

Parameters
view The view that should show a context menu.

public void setArguments (Bundle args)

Since: API Level 11

Supply the construction arguments for this fragment. This can only be called before the fragment has been attached to its activity; that is, you should call it immediately after constructing the fragment. The arguments supplied here will be retained across fragment destroy and creation.

public void setHasOptionsMenu (boolean hasMenu)

Since: API Level 11

Report that this fragment would like to participate in populating the options menu by receiving a call to onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu, MenuInflater) and related methods.

Parameters
hasMenu If true, the fragment has menu items to contribute.

public void setInitialSavedState (Fragment.SavedState state)

Since: API Level 13

Set the initial saved state that this Fragment should restore itself from when first being constructed, as returned by FragmentManager.saveFragmentInstanceState.

Parameters
state The state the fragment should be restored from.

public void setMenuVisibility (boolean menuVisible)

Since: API Level 14

Set a hint for whether this fragment's menu should be visible. This is useful if you know that a fragment has been placed in your view hierarchy so that the user can not currently seen it, so any menu items it has should also not be shown.

Parameters
menuVisible The default is true, meaning the fragment's menu will be shown as usual. If false, the user will not see the menu.

public void setRetainInstance (boolean retain)

Since: API Level 11

Control whether a fragment instance is retained across Activity re-creation (such as from a configuration change). This can only be used with fragments not in the back stack. If set, the fragment lifecycle will be slightly different when an activity is recreated:

public void setTargetFragment (Fragment fragment, int requestCode)

Since: API Level 11

Optional target for this fragment. This may be used, for example, if this fragment is being started by another, and when done wants to give a result back to the first. The target set here is retained across instances via FragmentManager.putFragment().

Parameters
fragment The fragment that is the target of this one.
requestCode Optional request code, for convenience if you are going to call back with onActivityResult(int, int, Intent).

public void setUserVisibleHint (boolean isVisibleToUser)

Since: API Level 15

Set a hint to the system about whether this fragment's UI is currently visible to the user. This hint defaults to true and is persistent across fragment instance state save and restore.

An app may set this to false to indicate that the fragment's UI is scrolled out of visibility or is otherwise not directly visible to the user. This may be used by the system to prioritize operations such as fragment lifecycle updates or loader ordering behavior.

Parameters
isVisibleToUser true if this fragment's UI is currently visible to the user (default), false if it is not.

public void startActivity (Intent intent)

Since: API Level 11

Call startActivity(Intent) on the fragment's containing Activity.

Parameters
intent The intent to start.

public void startActivity (Intent intent, Bundle options)

Since: API Level 16

Call startActivity(Intent, Bundle) on the fragment's containing Activity.

Parameters
intent The intent to start.
options Additional options for how the Activity should be started. See Context.startActivity(Intent, Bundle) for more details.

public void startActivityForResult (Intent intent, int requestCode)

Since: API Level 11

Call startActivityForResult(Intent, int) on the fragment's containing Activity.

public void startActivityForResult (Intent intent, int requestCode, Bundle options)

Since: API Level 16

Call startActivityForResult(Intent, int, Bundle) on the fragment's containing Activity.

public String toString ()

Since: API Level 11

Returns a string containing a concise, human-readable description of this object. Subclasses are encouraged to override this method and provide an implementation that takes into account the object's type and data. The default implementation is equivalent to the following expression:

   getClass().getName() + '@' + Integer.toHexString(hashCode())

See Writing a useful toString method if you intend implementing your own toString method.

Returns
  • a printable representation of this object.

public void unregisterForContextMenu (View view)

Since: API Level 11

Prevents a context menu to be shown for the given view. This method will remove the View.OnCreateContextMenuListener on the view.

Parameters
view The view that should stop showing a context menu.