Launching activities within a tab in Android

Here's the deal. I have an application with three tabs. Through various interactions with the items in the tabs I end up launching other activities. The client has reviewed this and would like the activities launched "within" the tabs, so the tabs remain visible and if the user clicks the tab it goes back to the original activity defined in the setContent function. Is this possible and how would I go about this from other activities? (ie the child activities, not the one that defines the TabHost and has access to call setContent)?

It is possible to launch activities within tabs. Therefore set the tabspec content to an ActivityGroup instead of a regular Activity.

tabHost.addTab(tabHost.newTabSpec("Tab")
                .setIndicator("Tab")
                .setContent(new Intent(this, YourActivityGROUP.class)
                 .addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP)));

From within that ActivityGroup you can then start another Activity like this that only updates the contentview of the tab you're in.

class YourActivityGROUP extends ActivityGroup{

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

      //you van get the local activitymanager to start the new activity

      View view = getLocalActivityManager()
                                .startActivity("ReferenceName", new
      Intent(this,YourActivity.class)
                                .addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP))
                                .getDecorView();
       this.setContentView(view);

   }
}

Here is my solution

public class ActivityStack extends ActivityGroup {

  private Stack<String> stack;

  @Override
  public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    if (stack == null) stack = new Stack<String>();
    //start default activity
    push("FirstStackActivity", new Intent(this, FirstStackActivity.class));
  }

  @Override
  public void finishFromChild(Activity child) {
    pop();
  }

  @Override
  public void onBackPressed() {
    pop();
  }


  public void push(String id, Intent intent) {
    Window window = getLocalActivityManager().startActivity(id, intent.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP));
    if (window != null) {
      stack.push(id);
      setContentView(window.getDecorView());
    }
  }

  public void pop() {
    if (stack.size() == 1) finish();
    LocalActivityManager manager = getLocalActivityManager();
    manager.destroyActivity(stack.pop(), true);
    if (stack.size() > 0) {
      Intent lastIntent = manager.getActivity(stack.peek()).getIntent();
      Window newWindow = manager.startActivity(stack.peek(), lastIntent);
      setContentView(newWindow.getDecorView());
    }
  }
}

Launch tab

Intent intent = new Intent().setClass(this, ActivityStack.class);
TabHost.TabSpec spec = tabHost.newTabSpec("tabId")
spec.setContent(intent);

Call next activity

public class FirstStackActivity extends Activity {
  @Override
  public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    TextView textView = new TextView(this);
    textView.setText("First Stack Activity ");
    textView.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
      @Override
      public void onClick(View v) {
          Intent intent = new Intent();
          intent.setClass(getParent(), SecondStackActivity .class);
          ActivityStack activityStack = (ActivityStack) getParent();
          activityStack.push("SecondStackActivity", intent);


      }
    });
    setContentView(textView);
  }
}

Call next again

public class SecondStackActivity extends Activity {
  @Override
  public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    TextView textView = new TextView(this);
    textView.setText("First Stack Activity ");
    textView.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
      @Override
      public void onClick(View v) {
          Intent intent = new Intent();
          intent.setClass(getParent(), ThirdStackActivity .class);
          ActivityStack activityStack = (ActivityStack) getParent();
          activityStack.push("ThirdStackActivity", intent);


      }
    });
    setContentView(textView);
  }
}

Works on emulator 2.2

I solved with this: Experience - Multiple Android Activities in a TabActivity

you can use

intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);

for each activity you set as a content for tabSpec, and it will create this activity each time you press on the tab