Dialog view is destroyed (state not preserved) when rotating the screen.

[Paspieds]

Checklist

• I can reproduce the bug with the latest version given here.
• I made sure that there are no existing issues - open or closed - to which I could contribute my information.
• I made sure that there are no existing discussions - open or closed - to which I could contribute my information.
• I have read the FAQs inside the app (Menu -> About -> FAQs) and my problem isn't listed.
• I have taken the time to fill in all the required details. I understand that the bug report will be dismissed otherwise.
• This issue contains only one bug.
• I have read and understood the contribution guidelines.

Affected app version

1.4.0

Affected Android/Custom ROM version

Android 15, Security Patch 1st of July 2025

Affected device model

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

How did you install the app?

Google Play Store

Steps to reproduce the bug

1. Create a Checklist note.
2. Create a Checklist item.
3. Create or modify a Checklist item and then rotate the screen.
4. The Checklist item dialog will disappear and the editing value at the time of the rotation will be lost.

Expected behavior

I expect the state of the dialog to be kept as is at the moment of the screen rotation so the dialog is recreated and the editing value with it.

Actual behavior

When rotating the screen and at the same time editing a Checklist item, the editing dialog disappears and the editing value is lost.

checklist_bug_fossify_note.mp4

Screenshots/Screen recordings

No response

Additional information

No response

[Vatsuki]

Hello, I would like to try fixing this.

My idea is to create a new boolean variable to make the TasksFragment remember if a dialog was open before it was destroyed on rotation. When the fragment is recreated, it will check this value and open a new dialog if needed. For this I believe the function onSaveInstanceState() can be useful.
To make this works, I think I should also adapt a bit the dialog class. We must differentiate when the dialog is voluntary dismissed by the user, and so not re-create it.

Feel free to tell me if my idea is wrong and how it could be improved! I'm not an expert in android development. I have some other stuff to do in the upcoming week, so if you don't need the fix immediately, I would like to thank you for this project by doing my small contribution. I think I could do a PR within the mouth :)

[Paspieds]

Hi Vatsuki,

Though I am pretty sure that manually recreating the Dialog state would work just fine. I would recommend to have a look to DialogFragment. It automatically restores the dialog state even after configuration changes (typically after a rotation). However this solution doesn't do all the work for you I believe. You might still have to restore the state of specific UI in the dialog fragment. In this case the value entered by the user in the TextInputEditText. Hopefully it helps.

[naveensingh]

I just realized that this is a bigger issue that affects all Fossify apps. Dialogs are always torn down on rotation.

[Vatsuki]

Okay, thanks for pointing me to DialogFragment ! it's indeed a cleaner solution. So instead of the using the custom class NewChecklistItemDialog, I can use a subclass of DialogFragment and implement the UI state saving there.

Since it's affecting multiple Fossify apps, should I do something in particular ? Also is it better to modify the existing custom class or create a new class inheriting from DialogFragment ? I have been away from Android dev for a bit , any tips and guidance are welcomed :)

[naveensingh]

I would suggest that you focus on the Notes app only. Fixing it in all apps will require a large refactor.

is it better to modify the existing custom class or create a new class inheriting from DialogFragment ?

Create a new class that inherits DialogFragment, reusing the dialog builder related code from EditTaskDialog . You will need to replace the existing lambda based approach with a fragment result listener.

[Vatsuki]

Noted ! I won't be able to work on it before mid-November. If it isn't a problem for you, I would be happy to help with this fix. I will come back here if I have any more questions.

[Vatsuki]

Hello @Paspieds @naveensingh , sorry for my longer than expected absence. I believe I have fixed the issue. You can check it out in my fork (branch “DialogView-StatePreservation”). My branch is up to date with the upstream.

I have implemented the fix using DialogFragment as suggested. Since the dialog box can add multiple items at once, I handled the state preservation in onSaveInstanceState because the rows share the same IDs (causing conflicts when restoration).

From my test, the dialog now persists correctly after rotations and preserves all text inputs. Does it looks good to you ?