What is different between MainActivity.this vs getApplicationContext()

by

Which context to use?

There are two types of Context:

Application context is associated with the application and will always be the same throughout the life of application; it does not change. So if you are using Toast, you can use application context or even activity context (both) because Toast can be displayed from anywhere within your application and is not attached to a specific window. But there are many exceptions. One such exception is when you need to use or pass the activity context.

Activity context is associated with the activity and can be destroyed if the activity is destroyed; there may be multiple activities (more than likely) with a single application. Sometimes you absolutely need the activity context handle. For example, should you launch a new Activity, you need to use activity context in its Intent so that the newly-launched activity is connected to the current activity in terms of activity stack. However, you may also use application’s context to launch a new activity, but then you need to set flag Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK in intent to treat it as a new task.

Let’s consider some cases:

MainActivity.this refers to the MainActivity context which extends Activity class but the base class (Activity) also extends Context class, so it can be used to offer activity context.

getBaseContext() offers activity context.

getApplication() offers application context.

getApplicationContext() also offers application context.

For more information please check this link.

More Related Contents:

  1. Android – Back button in the title bar
  2. How to get an enum which is created in attrs.xml in code
  3. creating a menu after a long click event on a list view
  4. How to highlight ImageView when focused or clicked?
  5. cursoradapter with different row layouts
  6. How to change the border color(un-focused) of an EditText?
  7. First launch of Activity with Google Maps is very slow
  8. How to style the divider between Ice Cream Sandwich tabs?
  9. Facebook SDK for Android duplicate support library on dependencies
  10. Integrating youtube to fragment
  11. Can i automatically send SMS (Without the user need to approve)
  12. How to create fixed footer in android layout?
  13. Cannot resolve symbol @drawable/ic_launcher
  14. Error: ADB exited with exit code 1 Performing Streamed Install
  15. Google Drive API – the name must not be empty: null (But I had passed valid account name to GoogleAccountCredential)
  16. How do I add an OnClickListener to a button inside a ListView adapter?
  17. Android emulator system images and AMD processor
  18. shell/ batch scripting to direct commands to adb shell
  19. code to add markers to map using android google maps v2
  20. Map API v2 Authorisation Failure
  21. Android table creation Failure (near “autoincrement”: syntax error)?
  22. UART peripherals on Android Things for Raspberry Pi 3
  23. Android Studio, Gradle Errors. Content not allowed in Prolog
  24. What method is being called when I close an app
  25. Is there an alternative for getRunningTask API
  26. Setting background color for Spinner Item on selection
  27. WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE when targeting Android 10
  28. Action Required: Your app is not compliant with Google Play Policies , what is the solution?
  29. How to cancel Toast
  30. Camera Preview Stretched on Few Android Devices

Leave a Comment