Activity restart on rotation Android

Activity Restart on Rotation in Android 🔄

📱 Have you ever noticed that when you rotate your Android device, your app's activity gets restarted? This can be quite frustrating, especially if you have a lot of initial setup logic in the onCreate method. But don't worry, we've got you covered! In this blog post, we'll address this common issue and provide you with easy solutions to tackle it. Let's dive in! 🏊‍♀️

Understanding the Problem 🤔

When you rotate your Android device, the system recreates the activity. This is done to ensure that the UI adjusts accordingly to the new orientation. However, this can lead to the loss of initial setup logic performed in the onCreate method, which may not be what you want.

Solution #1: Moving Initial Setup Logic 📦

To prevent the loss of initial setup logic on activity rotation, you can move it to a separate function rather than having it all in the onCreate method. Let's call this function initialize for now. Here's an example:

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

private void initialize() {
    // Perform your initial setup logic here
    // This code will be called both on activity creation and rotation
}

By doing this, the initialize function will be called both when the activity is created and when it is recreated on device rotation. This way, you can ensure that your initial setup is performed consistently.

Solution #2: Handling Configuration Changes 🔄

If you prefer not to recreate the activity on rotation, Android provides a way to handle configuration changes yourself. You can achieve this by adding the android:configChanges attribute to your activity in the manifest file. Here's an example:

<activity android:name=".MainActivity"
    android:configChanges="orientation|screenSize">
</activity>

By specifying the desired configuration changes, such as orientation and screenSize, Android will not recreate the activity when these changes occur. Instead, it will invoke the onConfigurationChanged method, which you can override to handle the necessary adjustments.

@Override
public void onConfigurationChanged(Configuration newConfig) {
    super.onConfigurationChanged(newConfig);
    // Perform necessary UI adjustments here
}

Keep in mind that manually handling configuration changes can add complexity to your code, so use this approach judiciously.

Solution #3: Restricting Orientation 🚫

Another option is to restrict your app's orientation to a specific mode, such as portrait or landscape. By doing this, you can prevent the activity from being recreated on rotation altogether. You can specify the desired orientation in the manifest file or programmatically in your activity's onCreate method. Here are examples of both approaches:

Manifest file:

<activity android:name=".MainActivity"
    android:screenOrientation="portrait">
</activity>

Programmatic approach:

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    setRequestedOrientation(ActivityInfo.SCREEN_ORIENTATION_PORTRAIT);
}

Conclusion and Your Next Steps 🏁

Now that you have learned about different solutions for handling activity restart on rotation in Android, it's time to implement the one that best fits your needs. Remember, you can move your initial setup logic to a separate function, handle configuration changes manually, or restrict the orientation to prevent recreation.

Choose the solution that works best for your app and give it a try! If you have any questions or other Android-related topics you'd like us to cover, leave a comment below. We'd love to hear from you! 😊💬