Reading and writing java.util.Date from Parcelable class

Question

I'm working with Parcelable class. How can I read and write java.util.Date object to and from this class?

Answer 1

Use writeSerializable where Date is Serializable. (But not a good idea. See below for another better way)

@Override public void writeToParcel(Parcel out, int flags) {    // Write object    out.writeSerializable(date_object);  }  private void readFromParcel(Parcel in) {    // Read object     date_object = (java.util.Date) in.readSerializable();  } 

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But Serializing operations consume much performance. How can overcome this?

So better use is to convert date into Long while writing, and read Long and pass to Date constructor to get Date. See below code

   @Override     public void writeToParcel(Parcel out, int flags) {        // Write long value of Date        out.writeLong(date_object.getTime());      }      private void readFromParcel(Parcel in) {        // Read Long value and convert to date         date_object = new Date(in.readLong());      } 

Answer 2

In Kotlin we may create extension for Parcel - the simplest solution.

fun Parcel.writeDate(date: Date?) {     writeLong(date?.time ?: -1) }  fun Parcel.readDate(): Date? {     val long = readLong()     return if (long != -1L) Date(long) else null } 

And use it

parcel.writeDate(date) parcel.readDate()