Android Developer Fundamentals

Storing Data

Lesson 9

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9.1 Shared Preferences

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Contents

● Shared Preferences
● Listening to changes

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What is Shared Preferences?

● Read and write small amounts of primitive data as

key/value pairs to a file on the device storage
● SharedPreference class provides APIs for reading,
writing, and managing this data
● Save data in onPause()
restore in onCreate()
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Shared Preferences AND
and Saved
SavedInstance
InstanceState
State

● Small number of key/value pairs

● Data is private to the application

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Shared Preferences vs. Saved Instance State

● Persist data across user sessions, ● Preserves state data across

even if app is killed and restarted, activity instances in same user
or device is rebooted session
● Data that should be remembered
● Data that should not be
across sessions, such as a user's
remembered across sessions,
preferred settings or their game
such as the currently selected
score
tab or current state of activity.
● Common use is to store user
● Common use is to recreate state
preferences
after the device has been rotated

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Creating Shared Preferences

● Need only one Shared Preferences file per app

● Name it with package name of your app—unique and easy
to associate with app
● MODE argument for getSharedPreferences() is for
backwards compatibility—use only MODE_PRIVATE to be
secure
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getSharedPreferences()

private String sharedPrefFile =

"com.example.android.hellosharedprefs";
mPreferences =
getSharedPreferences(sharedPrefFile,
MODE_PRIVATE);

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Saving Shared Preferences

● SharedPreferences.Editor interface
● Takes care of all file operations
● put methods overwrite if key exists
● apply() saves asynchronously and safely

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SharedPreferences.Editor
@Override
protected void onPause() {
super.onPause();
SharedPreferences.Editor preferencesEditor =
mPreferences.edit();
preferencesEditor.putInt("count", mCount);
preferencesEditor.putInt("color", mCurrentColor);
preferencesEditor.apply();
}
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Restoring Shared Preferences

● Restore in onCreate() in Activity

● Get methods take two arguments—the key, and the default
value if the key cannot be found
● Use default argument so you do not have to test whether
the preference exists in the file

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Getting data in onCreate()
mPreferences = getSharedPreferences(sharedPrefFile, MODE_PRIVATE);
if (savedInstanceState != null) {
mCount = mPreferences.getInt("count", 1);
mShowCount.setText(String.format("%s", mCount));

mCurrentColor = mPreferences.getInt("color", mCurrentColor);

mShowCount.setBackgroundColor(mCurrentColor);

mNewText = mPreferences.getString("text", "");

} else { … }

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Clearing

● Call clear() on the SharedPreferences.Editor and apply

changes

● You can combine calls to put and clear. However, when

you apply(), clear() is always done first, regardless of
order!
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clear()

SharedPreferences.Editor preferencesEditor =
mPreferences.edit();
preferencesEditor.clear();
preferencesEditor.apply();

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Listening to
Changes

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Listening to changes
● Implement interface
SharedPreference.OnSharedPreferenceChangeListener
● Register listener with
registerOnSharedPreferenceChangeListener()
● Register and unregister listener in onResume() and
onPause()
● Implement on onSharedPreferenceChanged() callback
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Interface and callback
public class SettingsActivity extends AppCompatActivity
implements OnSharedPreferenceChangeListener { ...

public void onSharedPreferenceChanged(

SharedPreferences sharedPreferences, String key) {
if (key.equals(MY_KEY)) {
// Do something
}
}
}

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Creating and registering listener

SharedPreferences.OnSharedPreferenceChangeListener listener =
new SharedPreferences.OnSharedPreferenceChangeListener() {
public void onSharedPreferenceChanged(
SharedPreferences prefs, String key) {
// Implement listener here
}
};
prefs.registerOnSharedPreferenceChangeListener(listener);

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You need a STRONG reference to the listener

● When registering the listener the preference manager does

not store a strong reference to the listener
● You must store a strong reference to the listener, or it will
be susceptible to garbage collection
● Keep a reference to the listener in the instance data of an
object that will exist as long as you need the listener

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Practical: HelloSharedPrefs

● Add Shared Preferences to a starter app

● Add a "Reset" button that clears both the

app state and the preferences for the app

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Learn more
● Saving Data
● Storage Options
● Saving Key-Value Sets
● SharedPreferences
● SharedPreferences.Editor
Stackoverflow
● How to use SharedPreferences in Android to store, fetch and edit values
● onSavedInstanceState vs. SharedPreferences

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What's Next?

● Concept Chapter: 9.1 C Shared Preferences

● Practical: 9.1 P Shared Preferences

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END

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