How to pass Custom Object through NdefMessage

Question

First question on stackoverflow. I tried to make it clear and up to standards. I am new with Android development and with NFC in particular. I am working on an application where you can create and join event, a little bit like on Facebook. I have a ListEvent activity and a DisplayEvent activity. When I select an event from my list, it open the DisplayEvent activity with the correct information about my event.

I want that when X has Event A open on his device, when he gets in NFC range with Y, Y now has Event A on his device. I am currently able to open the correct activity, and I am even able to send a String from one phone to another. I searched a lot online but I just can't seem to figure out how to send a custom Oject, in my case an Event, through NFC instead of a String. I would also need to send a Boolean along with my Event. It probably is super easy but I'm being stupid on that one. Thank you very much in advance.

Here is my code.

Manifest :

<activity
        android:name="vincent.ievennement.activity.DisplayEventActivity"
        android:parentActivityName="vincent.ievennement.activity.ListeEventActivity">
        <meta-data
            android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
            android:value="vincent.ievennement.activity.ListeEventActivity" />
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.nfc.action.NDEF_DISCOVERED" />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/>
            <data android:mimeType="text/plain" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>

onResume:

protected void onResume() {
    //Normal way to get my Event and my Boolean
    event = (Event) getIntent().getSerializableExtra("MonEvent");
    participe = (boolean) getIntent().getSerializableExtra("Participe");

    //I prepare my message and make it ready to be sent when a device is into range
    NdefMessage messageSend = createNdefMessage("SomeText");
    mNfcAdapter.setNdefPushMessage(messageSend, this);


    Intent intent = getIntent();
    //If my activity is openned by NFC, proceed to get the message that was sent
    if (NfcAdapter.ACTION_NDEF_DISCOVERED.equals(intent.getAction())) {
        Parcelable[] rawMessages = intent.getParcelableArrayExtra(
                NfcAdapter.EXTRA_NDEF_MESSAGES);

        NdefMessage message = (NdefMessage) rawMessages[0]; // only one message transferred
        Log.e("Test - ",new String(message.getRecords()[0].getPayload()));

    }


    super.onResume();

createNdefMessage:

public NdefMessage createNdefMessage(String message) {
    NdefRecord ndefRecord = NdefRecord.createMime("text/plain", message.getBytes());
    NdefMessage ndefMessage = new NdefMessage(ndefRecord);
    return ndefMessage;
}

Answer 1

You can use the NdefRecord.createExternal function to create an NdefRecord containing your application-specific data. The documentation describes how to include a "payload" in an NdefRecord. You'll just need to convert your "custom object" into a byte array which is described here. Then add that to a new NdefRecord and add that to your NdefMessage.