How to add Java Socket object to Parcelable in Android

Ikun :

I want to pass a Java Socket object from one activity to another. I thought of using Parcelable for passing but cannot add the object to the parcel

public class NetworkInformation implements Parcelable {

    private String ipAddress;
    private String portNo;
    private Socket networkSocket;

    protected NetworkInformation(Parcel in) {
    }

    public static final Creator<NetworkInformation> CREATOR = new Creator<NetworkInformation>() {
        @Override
        public NetworkInformation createFromParcel(Parcel in) {
            return new NetworkInformation(in);
        }

        @Override
        public NetworkInformation[] newArray(int size) {
            return new NetworkInformation[size];
        }
    };

    @Override
    public int describeContents() {
        return 0;
    }

    @Override
    public void writeToParcel(Parcel dest, int flags) {
        dest.writeString(ipAddress);
        dest.writeString(portNo);
        //How to add the Socket to parcelable here ?
    }  
}

Ken Burrows :

I'm not sure if this will work, but you might try:

private String ipAddress;
private String portNo;
private Socket networkSocket;

protected NetworkInformation(Parcel in) {
      ipAddress = in.readString();
      portNo = in.readString();
      networkSocket = new Socket(makeRealIP(ipAddress),makeRealPortNo(portNo));
}

Of course, you would have to write your own makeRealIP and makeRealPortNo to convert the strings back into useful parameters for a new Socket();

Bundle myBundle = new Bundle();
NetworkInformation myNetworkInfo;
myBundle.putParceable("myNetworkInfo",myNetworkInfo);
myNetworkInfo = (NetworkInformation)myBundle.getParceable("myNetworkInfo");

I've not tried this, and I'll bet the other folks that answered were quite correct to warn about mucking around at the socket layer. It can get a bit tricky. Good Luck.