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.

you have already done good programming practice. just like default behaviour. — Dhaval Parmar
– Dhaval Parmar, Commented Apr 19, 2013 at 12:07

stinepike · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-19 11:14:35Z

10

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/>

answered Apr 19, 2013 at 11:14

stinepike

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1 Comment

user18148338 Over a year ago

Wow! as i wanted thnx

Komal12 · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-21 09:41:17Z

8

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);
    }
}

edited Jul 21, 2017 at 9:41

Komal12

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answered Apr 19, 2013 at 11:16

Rahul Patil

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3 Comments

Tamarisk Over a year ago

The actual icon did not change for me until I replaced actionBar.setIcon(R.drawable.app_icon); with actionBar.setHomeAsUpIndicator(R.drawable.app_icon);

Rafael Over a year ago

Answer is misleading, As @Tamarisk mentioned instead of actionBar.setIcon(R.drawable.app_icon) use actionBar.setHomeAsUpIndicator(R.drawable.app_icon)

Rahul Patil Over a year ago

developer.android.com/reference/android/app/… The answer was given 5 years back. Check if you are using Toolbar as actionbar . or non support actionbar

Raghunandan · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-19 11:40:01Z

5

I would suggest against having a custom back button. Android has a hardware back button. Pressing the haradware back button will navigate to the previous.

I don't think you need a custom back button. I don't think its a good programming practice to override the default behaviour.

You create a backbutton in your activity and implementing the functionality as you have done above. Still the user can use the hardware back button for the same functionality. So you would be providing the same functionality which is redundant.

answered Apr 19, 2013 at 11:40

Raghunandan

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2 Comments

user1834857 Over a year ago

this answer didn't age well :|

Raghunandan Over a year ago

things have changed a lot since the question was answered :)

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 10:30:11Z

1

There is a hardware back button on all android devices, and it does exactly what your lines of codes do, unless overridden to do something else.

You can refer to this answer as well.

edited May 23, 2017 at 10:30

CommunityBot

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answered Apr 19, 2013 at 11:15

ASamsig

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Comments

Nathan Pacey · Accepted Answer · 2021-11-17 21:09:40Z

0

I had a similar issue where I was using a back button "Cancel" and a home screen "homeActivity". I ended up solving it using this:

CancelButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.cancel_button);
        CancelButton.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

             public void onClick(View view) {
                 Intent homeActivity = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), DeviceListActivity.class);

                 startActivity(homeActivity);
                 finish();  
            }
        });

answered Nov 17, 2021 at 21:09

Nathan Pacey

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Comments

Niaj Mahmud · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-15 06:20:25Z

0

In kotlin

 backButton!!.setOnClickListener(View.OnClickListener {
 onBackPressed()
  })

edited Dec 15, 2021 at 6:20

answered Dec 8, 2021 at 11:44

Niaj Mahmud

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