Ok, Here's what I found out.
What I didn't understand is that all fragments that are attached to an activity when a config change happens (phone rotates) are recreated and added back to the activity. (which makes sense)
What was happening in the TabListener constructor was the tab was detached if it was found and attached to the activity. See below:
mFragment = mActivity.getFragmentManager().findFragmentByTag(mTag);
if (mFragment != null && !mFragment.isDetached()) {
Log.d(TAG, "constructor: detaching fragment " + mTag);
FragmentTransaction ft = mActivity.getFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
ft.detach(mFragment);
ft.commit();
}
Later in the activity onCreate the previously selected tab was selected from the saved instance state. See below:
if (savedInstanceState != null) {
bar.setSelectedNavigationItem(savedInstanceState.getInt("tab", 0));
Log.d(TAG, "FragmentTabs.onCreate tab: " + savedInstanceState.getInt("tab"));
Log.d(TAG, "FragmentTabs.onCreate number: " + savedInstanceState.getInt("number"));
}
When the tab was selected it would be reattached in the onTabSelected callback.
public void onTabSelected(Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
if (mFragment == null) {
mFragment = Fragment.instantiate(mActivity, mClass.getName(), mArgs);
Log.d(TAG, "onTabSelected adding fragment " + mTag);
ft.add(android.R.id.content, mFragment, mTag);
} else {
Log.d(TAG, "onTabSelected attaching fragment " + mTag);
ft.attach(mFragment);
}
}
The fragment being attached is the second call to the onCreateView and onActivityCreated methods. (The first being when the system is recreating the acitivity and all attached fragments) The first time the onSavedInstanceState Bundle would have saved data but not the second time.
The solution is to not detach the fragment in the TabListener constructor, just leave it attached. (You still need to find it in the FragmentManager by it's tag) Also, in the onTabSelected method I check to see if the fragment is detached before I attach it. Something like this:
public void onTabSelected(Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
if (mFragment == null) {
mFragment = Fragment.instantiate(mActivity, mClass.getName(), mArgs);
Log.d(TAG, "onTabSelected adding fragment " + mTag);
ft.add(android.R.id.content, mFragment, mTag);
} else {
if(mFragment.isDetached()) {
Log.d(TAG, "onTabSelected attaching fragment " + mTag);
ft.attach(mFragment);
} else {
Log.d(TAG, "onTabSelected fragment already attached " + mTag);
}
}
}