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Android Android Activity Lifecycle The Activity Lifecycle Retrieving Instance State

Posted by Esther Strom
Esther Strom
8,028 Points

Downloaded code doesn't work...

I did the Fun Facts project back when the video was run by the other Ben, so I figured I'd download the code in the teacher's notes for this activity rather than using something that might be out of date.

I've completed the lesson up until the first time we try to run the code. (Added the onSaveInstanceState and onRestoreInstanceState methods.) The app opens and displays the first fact, but when clicking the button to display a new fact, all I get is a blank white screen. There are no errors in the console.

Any ideas?

package com.teamtreehouse.funfacts;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.RelativeLayout;
import android.widget.TextView;


public class FunFactsActivity extends Activity {

    private static final String KEY_FACT = "KEY_FACT";
    private static final String KEY_COLOR = "KEY_COLOR";
    private TextView mFactLabel;
    private Button mShowFactButton;
    private RelativeLayout mRelativeLayout;
    private FactBook mFactBook = new FactBook();
    private ColorWheel mColorWheel = new ColorWheel();
    private String mFact;
    private int mColor;

    @Override
    protected void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle outState) {
        super.onSaveInstanceState(outState);

        outState.putString(KEY_FACT, mFact);
        outState.putInt(KEY_COLOR, mColor);
    }

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

        mFact = savedInstanceState.getString(KEY_FACT);
        mFactLabel.setText(mFact);
        mColor = savedInstanceState.getInt(KEY_COLOR);
        mRelativeLayout.setBackgroundColor(mColor);
        mShowFactButton.setTextColor(mColor);

    }

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

        // Declare our View variables and assign them the Views from the layout file
        mFactLabel = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.factTextView);
        mShowFactButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.showFactButton);
        mRelativeLayout = (RelativeLayout) findViewById(R.id.relativeLayout);

        View.OnClickListener listener = new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                mFact = mFactBook.getFact();
                mFactLabel.setText(mFact);

                int color = mColorWheel.getColor();
                mRelativeLayout.setBackgroundColor(mColor);
                mShowFactButton.setTextColor(mColor);
            }
        };
        mShowFactButton.setOnClickListener(listener);
    }
}

2 Answers

christopherkaczenski
christopherkaczenski
16,079 Points

In the onClick() method of the OnClickListener, the member field mColor is not being used. Change the local variable int color to the member field mColor.

Esther Strom
Esther Strom
8,028 Points

Thank you! I don't know if I ever would have noticed that.

christopherkaczenski
christopherkaczenski
16,079 Points
christopherkaczenski
christopherkaczenski
16,079 Points

You are welcome. Don't worry about not noticing the tiny error with your naked eye, its actually not that important to be able to do that. It is more important to focus on narrowing down where to look for the error, and use the debugger.

For example, with this problem you should be thinking like this: "Okay I know there is an error when I click the button, so let me place a breakpoint at the first line of onClick() method. (tracing through the code line by line) Okay everything seems to be working... wait the argument for the .setBackgroundColor() method is null, why is that?"

By the way, when you ask question on forums like Treehouse or Stackoverflow you should select the best answer so everyone can see the question has been answered.