Creating custom back button in android

Question

I have an application that has a menu and depending on what button you press in the menu a new activity is opened. I want to have a back button on every screen that will bring you to the previous screen so I'm wondering how do I go about this?

Here is some code I have used that works:

backButton = (ImageButton) findViewById(R.id.back_button);
        backButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {


                finish();

            }
        });

However its not good programming practice for me to put this code in all my activities. How do I go about creating some kind of stack that saves all the pages viewed and using that to return to the previous page?

I have to put a back button in my application so I cannot use the existing one in the ActionBar.

Answer 1

just an Idea

Create a baseClass which extends Activity. In there declare

    @Override
    public void onClick(View v) {
         super.onBackPressed(); // or super.finish();
    }

In all activity extend this Base Class. And in every layout in the button put

   android:onClick="onClick"

And to make the xml design of button reusable create it in a separate xml. and add it using <include/>

Answer 2

Have you tried using action bar in your activity ? use in every activity

ActionBar actionBar = getSupportActionBar();
if(actionBar != null){
    actionBar.setTitle(getResources().getString(R.string.app_name));
    actionBar.setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
    actionBar.setIcon(R.drawable.app_icon);
}

and handle in

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
    switch (item.getItemId()) {
        case android.R.id.home:
            finish();
            return true;
        default:
            return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }
}