[android] Android. Fragment getActivity() sometimes returns null

I've been battling this kind of problem for a while, and I think I've come up with a reliable solution.

It's pretty difficult to know for sure that this.getActivity() isn't going to return null for a Fragment, especially if you're dealing with any kind of network behaviour which gives your code ample time to withdraw Activity references.

In the solution below, I declare a small management class called the ActivityBuffer. Essentially, this class deals with maintaining a reliable reference to an owning Activity, and promising to execute Runnables within a valid Activity context whenever there's a valid reference available. The Runnables are scheduled for execution on the UI Thread immediately if the Context is available, otherwise execution is deferred until that Context is ready.

/** A class which maintains a list of transactions to occur when Context becomes available. */
public final class ActivityBuffer {

    /** A class which defines operations to execute once there's an available Context. */
    public interface IRunnable {
        /** Executes when there's an available Context. Ideally, will it operate immediately. */
        void run(final Activity pActivity);
    }

    /* Member Variables. */
    private       Activity        mActivity;
    private final List<IRunnable> mRunnables;

    /** Constructor. */
    public ActivityBuffer() {
        // Initialize Member Variables.
        this.mActivity  = null;
        this.mRunnables = new ArrayList<IRunnable>();
    }

    /** Executes the Runnable if there's an available Context. Otherwise, defers execution until it becomes available. */
    public final void safely(final IRunnable pRunnable) {
        // Synchronize along the current instance.
        synchronized(this) {
            // Do we have a context available?
            if(this.isContextAvailable()) {
                // Fetch the Activity.
                final Activity lActivity = this.getActivity();
                // Execute the Runnable along the Activity.
                lActivity.runOnUiThread(new Runnable() { @Override public final void run() { pRunnable.run(lActivity); } });
            }
            else {
                // Buffer the Runnable so that it's ready to receive a valid reference.
                this.getRunnables().add(pRunnable);
            }
        }
    }

    /** Called to inform the ActivityBuffer that there's an available Activity reference. */
    public final void onContextGained(final Activity pActivity) {
        // Synchronize along ourself.
        synchronized(this) {
            // Update the Activity reference.
            this.setActivity(pActivity);
            // Are there any Runnables awaiting execution?
            if(!this.getRunnables().isEmpty()) {
                // Iterate the Runnables.
                for(final IRunnable lRunnable : this.getRunnables()) {
                    // Execute the Runnable on the UI Thread.
                    pActivity.runOnUiThread(new Runnable() { @Override public final void run() {
                        // Execute the Runnable.
                        lRunnable.run(pActivity);
                    } });
                }
                // Empty the Runnables.
                this.getRunnables().clear();
            }
        }
    }

    /** Called to inform the ActivityBuffer that the Context has been lost. */
    public final void onContextLost() {
        // Synchronize along ourself.
        synchronized(this) {
            // Remove the Context reference.
            this.setActivity(null);
        }
    }

    /** Defines whether there's a safe Context available for the ActivityBuffer. */
    public final boolean isContextAvailable() {
        // Synchronize upon ourself.
        synchronized(this) {
            // Return the state of the Activity reference.
            return (this.getActivity() != null);
        }
    }

    /* Getters and Setters. */
    private final void setActivity(final Activity pActivity) {
        this.mActivity = pActivity;
    }

    private final Activity getActivity() {
        return this.mActivity;
    }

    private final List<IRunnable> getRunnables() {
        return this.mRunnables;
    }

}

In terms of its implementation, we must take care to apply the life cycle methods to coincide with the behaviour described above by Pawan M:

public class BaseFragment extends Fragment {

    /* Member Variables. */
    private ActivityBuffer mActivityBuffer;

    public BaseFragment() {
        // Implement the Parent.
        super();
        // Allocate the ActivityBuffer.
        this.mActivityBuffer = new ActivityBuffer();
    }

    @Override
    public final void onAttach(final Context pContext) {
        // Handle as usual.
        super.onAttach(pContext);
        // Is the Context an Activity?
        if(pContext instanceof Activity) {
            // Cast Accordingly.
            final Activity lActivity = (Activity)pContext;
            // Inform the ActivityBuffer.
            this.getActivityBuffer().onContextGained(lActivity);
        }
    }

    @Deprecated @Override
    public final void onAttach(final Activity pActivity) {
        // Handle as usual.
        super.onAttach(pActivity);
        // Inform the ActivityBuffer.
        this.getActivityBuffer().onContextGained(pActivity);
    }

    @Override
    public final void onDetach() {
        // Handle as usual.
        super.onDetach();
        // Inform the ActivityBuffer.
        this.getActivityBuffer().onContextLost();
    }

    /* Getters. */
    public final ActivityBuffer getActivityBuffer() {
        return this.mActivityBuffer;
    }

}

Finally, in any areas within your Fragment that extends BaseFragment that you're untrustworthy about a call to getActivity(), simply make a call to this.getActivityBuffer().safely(...) and declare an ActivityBuffer.IRunnable for the task!

The contents of your void run(final Activity pActivity) are then guaranteed to execute along the UI Thread.

The ActivityBuffer can then be used as follows:

this.getActivityBuffer().safely(
  new ActivityBuffer.IRunnable() {
    @Override public final void run(final Activity pActivity) {
       // Do something with guaranteed Context.
    }
  }
);