Navigation component – Passing data

In the very last chapter we have implemented the Navigation Component in our example project. Now we can open the next fragments by clicking on the buttons.

But what if we want to pass data for the next fragment. In this chapter we are going to learn about passing data between fragments.

GitHub

If you haven’t done the previous chapters, then from GitHub you can download the starter project for this chapter.

GitHub – add_library_and_make_action branch

Step 1 – Arguments

Navigation Component allows us to attach data to a navigation operation by defining arguments for a destination. In our example we are going to pass a string, the content of an EditText.

Add argument

To pass data between fragments, first we have to define the argument in the navigation graph. The argument has to be added to the destination that receives it.

Now open the navigation_graph.xml file. If you are in splitted or in design view, then at the right side of Android Studio should be a tab, called “Attributes”. Then click on the plus icon, which is at the right side of the line.

1. In the popup window name the attribute as passedData… very creative. 😎
2. The Type will be String.
3. Leave unchecked the Array and the Nullable boxes
4. and set the Default value to “No passed data”
5. Click on the OK button.

If you now open the text view of the navigation_graph.xml file, then inside of the Fragment_2‘s part, you should see the argument.

<argument
    android:name="passedData"
    app:argType="string"
    android:defaultValue="No passed data" />

the arugment of passedData

Finally in this step rebuild the app. From the top menu select the Build option, then at the bottom click on the Rebuild project. Due to the rebuild, the generated source will include the now created argument. It means, we can refer to it in the next step.

Step 2 – Pass the argument

Now open the Fragment_1::class. In the previous chapter we defined the click listener for the btn_fragment_1 button and we have created an instance about the action in the second line. Currently the actionFragment1ToFragment2() method doesn’t have any arguments. Because of the rebuild, we can pass here the text of the et_fragment_1 EditText. So just extend the line like this:

val action = Fragment_1Directions.actionFragment1ToFragment2(
    et_fragment_1.text.toString()
)

Pass the argument

Step 3 – Get the argument

Finally open the Fragment_2::class as well. In the very last chapter we defined here also the click listener for the button inside of the onViewCreate() method.

First option

After the rebuild we can use one more autogenerated object. The name of it cames from the name of the fragment, which is extended by the word Args. So the name will be in our case: Fragment_2Args.

We will use this class’s fromBundle() method to retrieve the arguments. Calling this method, we can reach the argument, what we have craeted. So the code looks like this:

arguments?.let {
    tv_passed_data.text = Fragment_2Args.fromBundle(it).passedData
}

Get the argument

Second option

When using the -ktx dependencies, Kotlin users can also use the by navArgs() property delegate to access arguments. For this we have to define a member variable, called args.

private val args : Fragment_2Args by navArgs()

Then inside of the onViewCreate() method we can call on the args variable the passedData property.

tv_passed_data.text = args.passedData

It depends on you which one do you prefer. The result is going to be the same.

Run the app

Finally run the app and try it out. Write something in the EditText of the Fragment_1 and click on the button. In the Fragment_2 you should see the string.

Before we finishing this chapter, let’s try out something. In the Fragment_1 remove the argument form the actionFragment1ToFragment2() mehtod and run again the app. No matter what you type in the EditText, in the destination the value of the text will be the default value of the argument, which is “No passed data”.

GitHub

The source code is available on GitHub

GitHub – pass_data branch

Questions

I hope the description was understandable and clear. But if you have still questions, then leave me comments below! 😉

Have a nice a day! 🙂

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