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Android Build an Interactive Story App (Retired) Intents and Multiple Activities Sending Data to a New Activity

Miguel Gonzalez Rocha
Miguel Gonzalez Rocha
2,849 Points

Can someone explain his last line of code?

public class MainActivity extends Activity {
    private EditText mNameField;
    private Button mStartButton;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        mNameField = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.nameEditText);
        mStartButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.startButton);

        mStartButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                String name = mNameField.getText().toString();
                Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this,"Welcome " + name ,Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
                startStory(name);
            }
        });
    }
    private void startStory(String name){
        Intent intent = new Intent(this, StoryActivity.class);
        intent.putExtra("name",name);
        startActivity(intent);
    }
}

In the startStory method what is exactly the difference between "name" and name?

1 Answer

Hello,

In the line intent.putExtra("name", name), the difference is that "name" is the key that the value is being stored under and the variable name is the value that is getting put in. This way, when we want to retrieve the variable, we can look it up via the "name" key.

In other words, the basic form is putExtra(key, value);

Miguel Gonzalez Rocha
Miguel Gonzalez Rocha
2,849 Points

Hello, thanks for the answer, now the other question is, what is key? i was reading the documentation and i found that the key as you said is "the name of the extra data, with package prefix" this is what is messing me up :s

The class on Java Data Structures on the Java track available here will likely give better explaination than this. However, the key is the name that you're storing the value under. Consider it a similar to a Map in Java or a dictionary in Python.

As far as I know, the part "with package prefix" will only really come into play if you're working with intents from another package/program.

Miguel Gonzalez Rocha
Miguel Gonzalez Rocha
2,849 Points

i found what you meant im actually halfway on the java structures maybe i should finish it if i see this kind of info is necessary to fully understand the android course, thankyou James

You're welcome. Good luck with both Java and Android programming.