51.3 Returning Data from an Activity

As the example in the previous section stands, while data is transferred to ActivityB, there is no way for data to be returned to the first activity (which we will call ActivityA). This can, however, be achieved by launching ActivityB as a sub-activity of ActivityA. An activity is started as a sub-activity by starting the intent with a call to the startActivityForResult() method instead of using startActivity(). In addition to the intent object, this method is also passed a request code value which can be used to identify the return data when the sub-activity returns. For example:

startActivityForResult(i, REQUEST_CODE);

In order to return data to the parent activity, the sub-activity must implement the finish() method, the purpose of which is to create a new intent object containing the data to be returned, and then calling the setResult() method of the enclosing activity, passing through a result code and the intent containing the return...