How to manually call onSaveInstanceState()

Question

I am writing a program where I call multiple layouts on the same activity but then i noted that when i switch layouts, the changes made before the switch are not restored and onSavedInstanceState(Bundle outState) is not called. I have tried to manually call the method but i can't get the Bundle outState.

So the question really is: How do I get and store the current state of an activity to be recalled and/or restored at a time of my choosing?

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_contact_view);
// more code
}

@Override
public void onBackPressed() {
    if (layoutId == R.layout.activity_contact_view) exit();
    else if (layoutId == R.layout.main) {
        Toast.makeText(NsdChatActivity.this, "Successful back button action", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_contact_view);
        refreshContactList();
    }
}

And then from a seperate class

public void updateList(final int found) {
    LinearLayout layxout = (LinearLayout) ((Activity)mContext).getWindow().getDecorView().findViewById(R.id.others);
    TextView t = new TextView(mContext);
    t.setClickable(true);
    t.setText(found + ". " + activity.sNames.get(found));
    t.setLayoutParams(new ViewGroup.LayoutParams(ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
    t.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View view) {
            //show chat view
            activity.setContentView(R.layout.main);
            TextView name = (TextView)activity.findViewById(R.id.clientName);
            name.setText(activity.sNames.get(found).split(" \\(")[0]);
            final ScrollView scroll = (ScrollView)activity.findViewById(R.id.scroll);
            scroll.setOnFocusChangeListener(new View.OnFocusChangeListener() {
                @Override
                public void onFocusChange(View view, boolean b) {
                    scroll.fullScroll(View.FOCUS_DOWN);
                }
            });
        }
    });
    layxout.addView(t);
}

Answer 1

I might be late for that but what you could do is to keep your sate as a member of the class. That way you can restore the state anytime you want.

Bundle mState;

@Override
public void onSaveInstanceState(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    // Save the state
    savedInstanceState = mState;
    super.onSaveInstanceState(savedInstanceState);
}
@Overrite
public void onRestoreInstanceState(Bundle savedInstance){
    mState = savedInstance;
    Restore();
}

public void Restore(){
    //access your state and restore
}

Also you shouldn't use setContentView to switch between views it's expensive way to do it. You might want to check ViewSwitcher or ViewFlipper or someway to implement Fragments.