Abstract class as parcelable

Question

Basicly I have the following structure in my app:

It would be straightforward to implement such a structure without the abstract class ProjectItem, but in this case I don't know how to implement this.

The abstract class ProjectItem needs a CREATOR as it should be parcelable. (like in.readTypedList(mProjectItems, ProjectItem.CREATOR); within the constructor Project(Parcel in))

But in fact, the CREATOR can only be implemented in its derived classes for logical reasons.

So, how to implement this structure in order to keep the class Project parcelable??

Edit

This is what one of the constructors of Project looks like:

private Project(Parcel in) {
    in.readTypedList(mProjectItems, ProjectItem.CREATOR);
}

But as I already said, ProjectItem shouldn't have to implement a CREATOR

Answer 1

My solution is similar to evertvandenbruel's. But I identify the concrete class using an int so that I can use a switch block. I also have that switch block in a static getConcreteClass(Parcel) method.

AbstractClass.java

public abstract class AbstractClass implements Parcelable {

public static final int CLASS_TYPE_ONE = 1;
public static final int CLASS_TYPE_TWO = 2;

public static final Creator<AbstractClass> CREATOR = new Creator<AbstractClass>() {
    @Override
    public AbstractClass createFromParcel(Parcel source) {

        return AbstractClass.getConcreteClass(source);
    }

    @Override
    public AbstractClass[] newArray(int size) {
        return new AbstractClass[size];
    }
};

protected String mAbstractClassString;

public AbstractClass(String abstractClassString) {
    mAbstractClassString = abstractClassString;
}

public AbstractClass(Parcel source) {
    mAbstractClassString = source.readString();
}

public static AbstractClass getConcreteClass(Parcel source) {

    switch (source.readInt()) {
        case CLASS_TYPE_ONE:
            return new ConcreteClassOne(source);
        case CLASS_TYPE_TWO:
            return new ConcreteClassTwo(source);
        default:
            return null;
    }
}

@Override
public int describeContents() {
    return 0;
}

@Override
public void writeToParcel(Parcel dest, int flags) {
    dest.writeString(mAbstractClassString);
}

@Override
public String toString() {
    return "Parent String: " + mAbstractClassString + '\n';
}
}

ConcreteClassOne.java

public class ConcreteClassOne extends AbstractClass {

private String mString;

public ConcreteClassOne(String abstractClassMemberString, String string) {
    super(abstractClassMemberString);

    mString = string;
}

public ConcreteClassOne(Parcel source) {
    super(source);
    mString = source.readString();
}

@Override
public void writeToParcel(Parcel dest, int flags) {

    dest.writeInt(CLASS_TYPE_ONE);
    super.writeToParcel(dest, flags);
    dest.writeString(mString);
}

@Override
public String toString() {
    return super.toString().concat("Child String: " + mString);
}
}

ConcreteClassTwo.java

public class ConcreteClassTwo extends AbstractClass {

private String mString;
private int mInt;

public ConcreteClassTwo(String abstractClassString, String string, int anInt) {
    super(abstractClassString);
    mString = string;
    mInt = anInt;
}

public ConcreteClassTwo(Parcel source) {
    super(source);
    mString = source.readString();
    mInt = source.readInt();
}

@Override
public void writeToParcel(Parcel dest, int flags) {

    dest.writeInt(CLASS_TYPE_TWO);
    super.writeToParcel(dest, flags);
    dest.writeString(mString);
    dest.writeInt(mInt);
}

@Override
public String toString() {

    String string = super.toString();
    for (int i = 0; i < mInt; i++) {
        string = string.concat("Child String: " + mString + '\n');
    }
    return string;
}
}

Answer 2

The selected answer (from evertvandenbruel's post) has a bug in it. The correct code must account for parceling when just one of the subclasses is being parceled, not just a list of the superclass objects.

All the other code should be the same, the key is that you MUST read in the type variable in ALL creators (see code below). Otherwise there will be issues with the ordering when trying to unparcel a subclass object

Ex:

package com.example.parcelable_example.model;

import android.os.Parcel;
import android.os.Parcelable;

public class Cat extends Animal{

    public Cat(String name){
        super(name, "Cat");
    }

    public int describeContents() {
        return 0;
    }

    public void writeToParcel(Parcel dest, int flags) {
        dest.writeString(getType());
        super.writeToParcel(dest, flags);
    }

    public Cat(Parcel source) {
        super(source);      
    }

    public static final Parcelable.Creator<Cat> CREATOR = new Parcelable.Creator<Cat>() {
        public Cat createFromParcel(Parcel in) {
            /** DO NOT FORGET THIS!!! **/
            type = in.readString();
            return new Cat(in);
        }

        public Cat[] newArray(int size) {
            return new Cat[size];
        }
    };

}