Android Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide, Third Edition

FragmentStatePagerAdapter vs FragmentPagerAdapter

There is another PagerAdapter type that you can use called FragmentPagerAdapter. FragmentPagerAdapter is used exactly like FragmentStatePagerAdapter. It only differs in how it unloads your fragments when they are no longer needed.

With FragmentStatePagerAdapter, your unneeded fragment is destroyed (Figure 11.4). A transaction is committed to completely remove the fragment from your activity’s FragmentManager. The “state” in FragmentStatePagerAdapter comes from the fact that it will save out your fragment’s Bundle from onSaveInstanceState(Bundle) when it is destroyed. When the user navigates back, the new fragment will be restored using that instance state.

Figure 11.4  FragmentStatePagerAdapter ...