Android context over the whole application

Question

this question is intended to ask to the community if the approach i've taken for my app is correct or may have some side effect:

I've created: - an Activity, called MasterAcitity, extended from every activity in my app. The application tag in the manifest is declared as follow

<application
        android:name="my.package.name.MyApplication"
        android:icon="@drawable/icon"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/ApplicationStyle" >

A class, called MyApplication, that extends android.App.Application, which has the following code

private static Context _context;

public static Context getContext() {
    return _context;
}

public static void setContext(Context context) {
    _context = context;
}

In the manifest the application tag is declared as follow

<application
    android:name="my.package.name.MyApplication"
    android:icon="@drawable/icon"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:theme="@style/ApplicationStyle" >

MasterActivity executes this code in OnResume and OnCreate methods

MyApplication.setContext(this);

Every activity of the app extends MasterActivity.

There is a class in the app, called DialogHelper which has a static method

public static void showDialog(String message)

which uses android.app.AlertDialog.Builder to create and show a dialog using as context MyApplication.getContext()

so from everywhere in my app i can use

DialogHelper.showDialog("my message");

Is this approach going to work? or i need to pay attention to something?

My doubt is on the static context...

Thanks

you have to pass the context when needed. This may cause memory leaks. — Anis BEN NSIR
@itsrajesh4uguys, i have some classes with static methods which should show dialogs Anis, can you explain me why it should cause memory leaks? — Apperside
@SimonVeloper : "i have some classes with static methods which should show dialogs" - Out of interest what do those 'classes' extend? — Squonk
just pass the context as the arguments while accessing those classes — itsrajesh4uguys

CommonsWare CommonsWare · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-04T18:41:57

Is this approach going to work?

Using an Application for UI work has a history of causing problems. Either use an Activity, or a specialized Context for a given set of circumstances (e.g., getThemedContext() on ActionBar, getContext() on a Presentation).

Android context over the whole application

2 Answers