Navigation Drawer to switch activities instead of fragments

Question

Is it possible to use a navigation drawer in android but instead of updating fragments, i would like to switch between activities as my means of navigation within the app.

Answer 1

You need a BaseDrawerActivity which implement the Navigation Drawer then extend the BaseDrawerActivity in each activity you need Navigation Drawer.

First create BaseDrawerActivity.java :

public class BaseDrawerActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements NavigationView.OnNavigationItemSelectedListener{

    DrawerLayout drawerLayout;
    Toolbar toolbar;
    FrameLayout frameLayout;
    NavigationView navigationView;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(@Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        super.setContentView(R.layout.activity_base_drawer);;

        Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
        setSupportActionBar(toolbar);

        frameLayout = (FrameLayout) findViewById(R.id.content_frame);

        drawerLayout = (DrawerLayout) findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout);
        ActionBarDrawerToggle toggle = new ActionBarDrawerToggle(
            this, drawerLayout, toolbar, R.string.navigation_drawer_open, R.string.navigation_drawer_close);
        drawerLayout.setDrawerListener(toggle);
        toggle.syncState();

        navigationView = (NavigationView) findViewById(R.id.nav_view);
        navigationView.setNavigationItemSelectedListener(this);
    }

    @Override
    public void onBackPressed() {
        if (drawerLayout.isDrawerOpen(GravityCompat.START)) {
            drawerLayout.closeDrawer(GravityCompat.START);
        } else {
            super.onBackPressed();
        }
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onNavigationItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        int id = item.getItemId();

        //to prevent current item select over and over
        if (item.isChecked()){
            drawerLayout.closeDrawer(GravityCompat.START);
            return false;
        }

        if (id == R.id.nav_camera) {
            // Handle the camera action
            startActivity(new Intent(getApplicationContext(), CameraActivity.class));
        } else if (id == R.id.nav_gallery) {
            startActivity(new Intent(getApplicationContext(), GalleryActivity.class));
        } else if (id == R.id.nav_slideshow) {
            startActivity(new Intent(getApplicationContext(), SlideshowActivity.class));
        } else if (id == R.id.nav_manage) {
            startActivity(new Intent(getApplicationContext(), ManageActivity.class));
        } else if (id == R.id.nav_share) {
            startActivity(new Intent(getApplicationContext(), ShareActivity.class));
        } else if (id == R.id.nav_send) {
            startActivity(new Intent(getApplicationContext(), SendActivity.class));
        }
        drawerLayout.closeDrawer(GravityCompat.START);
        return true;
    }
}

then create activity_base_drawer.xml in res/layout folder:

where @layout/app_bar_home is:

Next you enter your Activities that will have Navigation Drawer such as CameraActivity.java :

public class CameraActivity extends BaseDrawerActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.activity_camera, frameLayout);

        /**
        * Setting title
        */
        setTitle("Camera");

    }

    @Override
    protected void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        // to check current activity in the navigation drawer
        navigationView.getMenu().getItem(0).setChecked(true);
    }
}

Where R.layout.activity_camera is your layout for CameraActivity.java.

Then create other Activity like GalleryActivity.java and so on that will have Navigation Drawer:

public class GalleryActivity extends BaseDrawerActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.activity_gallery, frameLayout);

        // Setting title
        setTitle("Gallery");

    }

    @Override
    protected void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        navigationView.getMenu().getItem(1).setChecked(true);
    }
}