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Android

Michael B
Michael B
2,997 Points
Posted by Michael B
Michael B
2,997 Points

Passing serialized custom data types using intents

Is it possible to pass custom data types from one activity to another? And if it is, how do I unload the data on the receiving side?

For example, I created a data type School[] and implemented serializable. Now, I think I am able to pass the School[] data from my MainActivity to the other activity, but I don't know how to unload it. Usually, we have to specify the data type using the "intent.get..." commands (for example, getDoubleExtra or getStringArrayList), but since I'm using a custom data type, I'm not sure which command to use. Any suggestions?

2 Answers

Michael B
Michael B
2,997 Points
Michael B
Michael B
2,997 Points

For all those people looking for an answer to this, I found an example online that solved my problem. To pass a custom serialized data type (in my case, "School") using an intent, you would 

Intent intent = getIntent();
School detail = (School) intent.getSerializableExtra(Name_of_Intent_Data);
Seth Kroger
Seth Kroger
56,413 Points
Seth Kroger
Seth Kroger
56,413 Points

For a custom type you can (implement the Parcelable interface in your custom type and use getParcelableExtra() or getParcelableArrayExtra() to get the data out. There's an example doing that in the Android Lists and Adapters course.

There are also 3rd-party libraries you can use for passing data between components like EventBus and RxJava (Treehouse workshop). EventBus is low impact and learning curve if you just want to pass data. RxJava is a steeper learning curve, but does a lot more.

Michael B
Michael B
2,997 Points
Michael B
Michael B
2,997 Points

Hi Seth. Thanks for answering! Just a question though, is there no way I could do the same operation while implementing a Serialize interface? Or is there a reason why Parcelable is more recommended in this case?