Intent putExtra ArrayList

Question

Does anyone know how to add an ArrayList<NameValuePair> to an Intent as an extra?

ArrayList<NameValuePair> nameValuePairs = new ArrayList<NameValuePair>();
nameValuePairs.add(new BasicNameValuePair("first_name", first_name));
nameValuePairs.add(new BasicNameValuePair("last_name", last_name));
nameValuePairs.add(new BasicNameValuePair("email", email));
nameValuePairs.add(new BasicNameValuePair("password", password));

/* Move on to step 2 */
Intent intent = new Intent(RegisterActivity1.this, RegisterActivity2.class);
intent.putExtra("nvp", nameValuePairs);
startActivity(intent);

Here is the class declaration for RegisterActivity2:

public class RegisterActivity2 extends Activity implements Serializable {
}

The error in the logcat is:

> Parcel: unable to marshal value first_name="whatever"

After implementing the suggestion by Ted Hopp, I still get an error. Here is the stack trace:

08-04 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
> 08-04 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):
> java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity
> ComponentInfo{/.RegisterActivity2}: java.lang.RuntimeException:
> Parcelable encountered IOException reading a Serializable object (name
> = database.NVP) 08-04 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2070)
> 08-04 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2095)
> 08-04 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> android.app.ActivityThread.access$600(ActivityThread.java:135) 08-04
> 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):     at
> android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1201)
> 08-04 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99) 08-04
> 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):     at
> android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137) 08-04 22:10:16.095:
> E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4849) 08-04
> 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):     at
> java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) 08-04
> 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):     at
> java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:511) 08-04 22:10:16.095:
> E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:795)
> 08-04 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:562) 08-04
> 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):     at
> dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method) 08-04 22:10:16.095:
> E/AndroidRuntime(5065): Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException:
> Parcelable encountered IOException reading a Serializable object (name
> = database.NVP) 08-04 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at android.os.Parcel.readSerializable(Parcel.java:2144) 08-04
> 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):     at
> android.os.Parcel.readValue(Parcel.java:2016) 08-04 22:10:16.095:
> E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> android.os.Parcel.readListInternal(Parcel.java:2235) 08-04
> 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):     at
> android.os.Parcel.readArrayList(Parcel.java:1655) 08-04 22:10:16.095:
> E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> android.os.Parcel.readValue(Parcel.java:1986) 08-04 22:10:16.095:
> E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> android.os.Parcel.readMapInternal(Parcel.java:2226) 08-04
> 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):     at
> android.os.Bundle.unparcel(Bundle.java:223) 08-04 22:10:16.095:
> E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> android.os.Bundle.getSerializable(Bundle.java:1254) 08-04
> 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):     at
> android.content.Intent.getSerializableExtra(Intent.java:4268) 08-04
> 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):     at
> .RegisterActivity2.onCreate(RegisterActivity2.java:24) 08-04
> 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):     at
> android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:5244) 08-04
> 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):     at
> android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1082)
> 08-04 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2034)
> 08-04 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   ... 11 more 08-04
> 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065): Caused by:
> java.io.InvalidClassException:
> org.apache.http.message.BasicNameValuePair; IllegalAccessException
> 08-04 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> java.io.ObjectStreamClass.resolveConstructorClass(ObjectStreamClass.java:694)
> 08-04 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> java.io.ObjectStreamClass.newInstance(ObjectStreamClass.java:655)
> 08-04 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> java.io.ObjectInputStream.readNewObject(ObjectInputStream.java:1816)
> 08-04 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> java.io.ObjectInputStream.readNonPrimitiveContent(ObjectInputStream.java:787)
> 08-04 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject(ObjectInputStream.java:2003)
> 08-04 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject(ObjectInputStream.java:1960)
> 08-04 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):   at
> android.os.Parcel.readSerializable(Parcel.java:2142) 08-04
> 22:10:16.095: E/AndroidRuntime(5065):     ... 23 more

Answer 1

You need to pass a Object array as a Serializable into the intent. The Object array must consist of objects that are inturn Serializable.

ArrayList<NameValuePair> nameValuePairs = new ArrayList<NameValuePair>();
nameValuePairs.add(new BasicNameValuePair("first_name", first_name));
nameValuePairs.add(new BasicNameValuePair("last_name", last_name));
nameValuePairs.add(new BasicNameValuePair("email", email));
nameValuePairs.add(new BasicNameValuePair("password", password));

Here BaseNameValuePair needs to be a class that implements Serializable. Use toArray of ArrayList into put, and typecast it to Serializable. In your getter Activity use getSerializable method on the intent.

Answer 2

I had the same problem, trying to send objects in ArrayList without implementing Seiralizable in Object class.

The shortcut solution was to envelop ArrayList in Bundle.

So, in the first activity ->

ArrayList<Object> objects = new ArrayList<Object>(); 
// Object class does not implement Serializable interface

Bundle extra = new Bundle();
extra.putSerializable("objects", objects);

Intent intent = new Intent(getBaseContext(), ShowSpread.class);
intent.putExtra("extra", extra);

Second activity ->

Bundle extra = getIntent().getBundleExtra("extra");
ArrayList<Object> objects = (ArrayList<Object>) extra.getSerializable("objects")

Works fine.

Answer 3

This can be achieved using Parcelable interface.

1. Make your BasicNameValuePair class to implement Parcelable interface.see this for more reference.

   public class BasicNameValuePair implements Parcelable{
   
   }
   

2. Add these objects to an ArrayList as you did above,

   ArrayList<NameValuePair> nameValuePairs = new ArrayList<NameValuePair>();
   nameValuePairs.add(new BasicNameValuePair("first_name", first_name));
   nameValuePairs.add(new BasicNameValuePair("last_name", last_name));
   nameValuePairs.add(new BasicNameValuePair("email", email));
   nameValuePairs.add(new BasicNameValuePair("password", password));
   

3. Pass these into intent using putParcelableArrayListExtra().

   intent.putParcelableArrayListExtra ("nvp", nameValuePairs);
   startActivity(intent);
   

Answer 4

As others have noted, when you want to pass an array as an intent extra, the elements need to implement Serializable. In your case, the approach is fairly simple (not quite — see below): define your own subclass of BasicNameValuePair and declare it to implement the interface.

public class NVP extends BasicNameValuePair implements Serializable {
    public NVP(String name, String value) {
        super(name, value);
    }
}

Then you can use it like you've been trying:

ArrayList<NVP> nameValuePairs = new ArrayList<NVP>();
nameValuePairs.add(new NVP("first_name", first_name));
nameValuePairs.add(new NVP("last_name", last_name));
nameValuePairs.add(new NVP("email", email));
nameValuePairs.add(new NVP("password", password));

/* Move on to step 2 */
Intent intent = new Intent(RegisterActivity1.this, RegisterActivity2.class);
intent.putExtra("nvp", nameValuePairs);
startActivity(intent);

On the receiving end, you'll need to pull it out with:

ArrayList<NVP> nameValuePairs = (ArrayList<NVP>) intent.getSerializable("nvp");

EDIT Well, the above won't work because BasicNameValuePair doesn't have a default constructor and the serialization mechanism requires non-serializable ancestor classes to have a default constructor. Otherwise you'll get an exception on deserialization.

Unfortunately, this means that the solution isn't as simple as I made out. One work-around is to define your own class to implement Parcelable, as @keerthana murugesan suggests in his answer. If you've implemented Parcelable before, you know it's a bit of a pain. Another work-around is to define a class that wraps a BasicNameValuePair (instead of deriving from it) and manages its own serialization:

public class NVP implements NameValuePair, Serializable {
    private BasicNameValuePair nvp;

    public NVP(String name, String value) {
        nvp = new BasicNameValuePair(name, value);
    }

    @Override
    public String getName() {
        return nvp.getName();
    }

    @Override
    public String getValue() {
        return nvp.getValue();
    }

    // serialization support

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    private void writeObject(ObjectOutputStream out) throws IOException {
        out.writeString(nvp.getName());
        out.writeString(nvp.getValue());
    }

    private void readObject(ObjectInputStream in) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
        nvp = new BasicNameValuePair(in.readString(), in.readString());
    }

    private void readObjectNoData() throws ObjectStreamException {
        // nothing to do
    }
}

Answer 5

For this to work, the genericized type your List holds must implement Serializable.