Using Application context everywhere?

Question

In an Android app, is there anything wrong with the following approach:

public class MyApp extends android.app.Application {

    private static MyApp instan         


        

Answer 1

There are a couple of potential problems with this approach, though in a lot of circumstances (such as your example) it will work well.

In particular you should be careful when dealing with anything that deals with the GUI that requires a Context. For example, if you pass the application Context into the LayoutInflater you will get an Exception. Generally speaking, your approach is excellent: it's good practice to use an Activity's Context within that Activity, and the Application Context when passing a context beyond the scope of an Activity to avoid memory leaks.

Also, as an alternative to your pattern you can use the shortcut of calling getApplicationContext() on a Context object (such as an Activity) to get the Application Context.

Answer 2

I like it, but I would suggest a singleton instead:

package com.mobidrone;

import android.app.Application;
import android.content.Context;

public class ApplicationContext extends Application
{
    private static ApplicationContext instance = null;

    private ApplicationContext()
    {
        instance = this;
    }

    public static Context getInstance()
    {
        if (null == instance)
        {
            instance = new ApplicationContext();
        }

        return instance;
    }
}

Answer 3

You are trying to create a wrapper to get Application Context and there is a possibility that it might return "null" pointer.

As per my understanding, I guess its better approach to call- any of the 2 Context.getApplicationContext() or Activity.getApplication().