How to navigate between two activities using jetpack navigation library

Question

I'm working on a simple app to test out JetPack Navigation in Android. My App have two activities "Activity1" and "Activity2". I'm aware that Jetpack navigation only works for SingleActivity apps but I want to see if there is any solution to my problem. App starts with "Activity1". Below is the navigation xml

<navigation
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:id="@+id/mobile_nav"
    app:startDestination="@+id/fragmentA1">

<fragment
        android:id="@+id/fragmentA1"
        android:name="com.example.android.codelabs.navigation.FragmentA1"
        android:label="@string/home"
        tools:layout="@layout/fragment_a_one">

    <action
            android:id="@+id/go_to_fragmentA2"
            app:destination="@+id/fragmentA2"/>

</fragment>


<fragment
        android:id="@+id/fragmentA2"
        android:name="com.example.android.codelabs.navigation.FragmentA2"
        tools:layout="@layout/fragment_a_two">
    <argument
            android:name="flowStepNumber"
            app:argType="integer"
            android:defaultValue="1"/>

    <argument
            android:name="displayName"
            app:argType="string"
            android:defaultValue="Hello"/>


    <action
            android:id="@+id/go_to_fragmentA3"
            app:destination="@+id/fragmentA3"/>

</fragment>


<fragment android:id="@+id/fragmentA3"
          android:name="com.example.android.codelabs.navigation.FragmentA3"
          android:label="fragment_third"
          tools:layout="@layout/fragment_a_three">

    <action android:id="@+id/go_to_activityB"
            app:destination="@id/activityB"/>


</fragment>

<activity android:id="@+id/activityB"
          android:name="com.example.android.codelabs.navigation.registration.ActivityB"
          android:label="activity_registration_main"
          tools:layout="@layout/activity_registration_main">

    <argument android:name="firstName"
              app:argType="string"/>

</activity>
<fragment android:id="@+id/fragmentB1"
          android:name="com.example.android.codelabs.navigation.registration.FragmentB1"
          android:label="fragment_step1"
          tools:layout="@layout/fragment_b_one">

    <argument android:name="firstName"
              app:argType="string"/>

</fragment>

<fragment android:id="@+id/fragmentB2"
          android:name="com.example.android.codelabs.navigation.registration.FragmentB2"
          android:label="fragment_step2"
          tools:layout="@layout/fragment_b_two">

    <argument android:name="lastName"
              app:argType="string"/>

</fragment>

Below is the code from ActivityB

val navController = findNavController(R.id.registration_navHost)
navController.setGraph(R.navigation.mobile_navigation)
navController.navigate(R.id.fragmentB1,safeArgs.toBundle())

Code to get safeArgs in ActivityB

private val safeArgs by navArgs<ActivityBArgs>()

Here are my questions. 1. How can I navigate from ActivityB(FragmentB1) to ActivityA(FragmentA2) Using jetpack Navigation. 2. Is there any way to access the backStack through any Manager Classes in android ?

Why Do I Need Two Activities? FragmentA1,FragmentA2 and FragmentA3 which are part of ActivityA shouldn't have any bottom navigation and drawer layout. Depending on answers selected in these fragments, a bottom navigation and a drawer layout are displayed in ActivityB. On Pressing back button from anywhere on ActivityB, ActivityA should come alive with FragmentA3. Also the toolBar is different for ActivityA and ActivityB

Answer 1

Despite having two Activities, then again I recommend Single Activity apps. I had some testing to separate the Activity because one had BottomNavigation and one without BottomNavigation (Like your issue here). But I always stuck to navigate between the Activities and the backstack always reset (as far as I test it).

Other solution would be Nested NavigationGraph, but I avoid some nested because I think it'll mingle the navigation. So yeah, I try to find another approach and here's what I test and use now.

Some workaround

Let's make a new scenario. I have 3 page that has BottomNavigation (Dashboard, Search, Profile). Then I have a page that doesn't has BottomNavigation, ex. ProfileDetail that opened from Profile. So in this scenario, I'll create:

1. NavigationHostActivity (Activity that has BottomNavigation)
2. DashboardFragment (Fragment)
3. SearchFragment (Fragment)
4. ProfileFragment (Fragment)
5. ProfileDetailFragment (Fragment)

I change all my layout became Fragments and when it navigates to any layout, it will check wether they need the BottomNavigation. The basic concept is Show / Hide the BottomNavigation. Here's some example that I use:

NavigationHostActivity

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)

        this.bind(
            this.findNavController(R.id.navigation_host_fragment),
            this.binding.navigationBottomView
        )
    }

    fun bind(navigationController: NavController, bottomNavigationView: BottomNavigationView) {
        navigationController.addOnDestinationChangedListener { _, destination, _ ->
            this.hideBottomNavigation(bottomNavigationView)

            bottomNavigationView.menu.forEach {
                if (it.itemId == destination.id) {
                    this.showBottomNavigation(bottomNavigationView)
                }
            }
        }
    }


    fun hideBottomNavigation(bottomNavigationView: BottomNavigationView) { bottomNavigationView.visibility = View.GONE }
    fun showBottomNavigation(bottomNavigationView: BottomNavigationView) { bottomNavigationView.visibility = View.VISIBLE }

This will check wether the destination of Navigation is the same as menu of your BottomNavigation. If it's one of the BottomNavigation Menu, then it Show the BottomNavigation.

Actually I put bind, show and hide function in NavigationService, so this is roughly what I did. And this was made for easier example. Feel free to tweak it. I also use DataBinding here FYI.

navigation_host_fragment

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">

    <androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent">

        <com.google.android.material.bottomnavigation.BottomNavigationView
            android:id="@+id/navigation_bottom_view"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:background="#FFF"
            app:itemIconSize="22dp"
            app:itemIconTint="@color/state_bottom_navigation_view"
            app:itemTextColor="@color/state_bottom_navigation_view"
            app:labelVisibilityMode="labeled"
            app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
            app:menu="@menu/menu_dashboard" />

        <fragment
            android:id="@+id/navigation_host_fragment"
            android:name="androidx.navigation.fragment.NavHostFragment"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="0dp"
            app:defaultNavHost="true"
            app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@id/navigation_bottom_view"
            app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
            app:navGraph="@navigation/navigation_graph" />

    </androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

    <data>

        <variable
            name="activity"
            type="*.view.NavigationHostActivity" />
    </data>

</layout>

menu_dashboard

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <item
        android:id="@+id/dashboardFragment"
        android:title="Dashboard"/>

    <item
        android:id="@+id/searchFragment"
        android:title="Search" />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/profileFragment"
        android:title="Profile" />

</menu>

And that's it, work perfectly for my case. Hope it helps :D

Regards,

Andrea