Advice about Designer and several screens in one activity

[JonBushey]

Hi everybody!

I am creating a business app that will require many screens. I like using Designer and I wish there were a way to create the many screens I need using Designer. I have tried a few things to get it to work but I do not seem to be proceeding the right direction. Here is what my app is like:

A main screen comes up and gives some basic information. At the bottom of the screen there are several buttons that when pressed bring up new screens. Data should be entered into the new screen, sometimes a lot, and then that screen should close and return to the main screen. The main screen was created with Designer and I would like to create all the screens in Designer. I do not want the main activity to start again when the data screens close.

For example, say the function of the app is to appraise a house. The main screen would list summary information as well as the address and lots of other data. The user would press a button labeled "Kitchen"and it would ask for details about the kitchen. When the kitchen data is entered, the user would press OK and the app would return to the main screen. The main screen would update that the data that was there, such as square feet. Then the user presses "Bedroom" and different screen appears that allows entry of bedroom data. This continues through the entire house. When the user is done, they hit a button labeled "Update" and all the data is sent to a web service.

So my question is, what is the best choice for the main screen and the data entry screens?

Thanks!

 

[Erel]

I recommend you to use a separate activity for each screen. You can use CallSubDelayed to interact between the activities.

 

[JonBushey]

Thank you Erel. Now that you have pointed me in the correct direction, I see many threads about this. I do have a couple more questions.

1. What is the difference between CallSubDelayed and CallSubDelayed2?

2. I am using both the NFC and HttpUtils2 libraries. I am not sure if that will make any difference except that I can see that HttpUtils2 will need to be re-entrant. For example, If a user enters data on a screen, then I send the data to a web service to insert into a database, that could take a few seconds to complete. In the meantime, the user has pressed a button that causes a look up to be done from a different web service. The application will be waiting for two web services at the same time.

Any thoughts?

 

[melamoud]

Also you can (I think) design separate screens in separate files (file per screen) with the designer

 

[Erel]

1. See CallSubDelayed2 docs: Basic4android Search: callsubdelayed2

2. You can send any number of HTTP requests at the same time. I recommend you to group all the relevant code in a service.

 

[JonBushey]

Thanks Erel!

I will go ahead with creating a test app using your advice. I want to insure that I have the basics down before incorporating the changes into my main app.