How to save an ArrayList of Buttons in SharedPreferences [closed]

Question

I'd like to save a list of buttons in SharedPreferences but it doesn't work. The error message that occurs is "java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: class android.graphics.drawable.InsetDrawable declares multiple JSON fields named mState"

public boolean writeToSharedPreferences(Context context, ArrayList<Button> arrayList) {

   
    String file = "list";
    SharedPreferences mPrefs = context.getSharedPreferences(file, Context.MODE_PRIVATE);

    SharedPreferences.Editor prefsEditor = mPrefs.edit();
    Gson gson = new Gson();
    String json = gson.toJson(arrayList);
    prefsEditor.putString("list", json);
    prefsEditor.commit();

    return true;
} 

public ArrayList<Button> readFromSharedPreferences(Context context) {

   
    String file = "list";
    SharedPreferences mPrefs = context.getSharedPreferences(file, Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
    Gson gson = new Gson();
    String json = mPrefs.getString("list", "");
    Type type = new TypeToken<List<Button>>(){}.getType();
    ArrayList<Button> arrayList= gson.fromJson(json, type);
    return arrayList;
}

Can someone help me pls?

Answer 1

You can't.

Buttons are an interactive UI element. They have behaviors and code (what happens on click) associated with them. You can't save a Button to shared preferences any more than you can print one out on your printer: what you get would not be a Button, just an image of one that couldn't be pressed.

Consider what you're actually trying to save: is it some information about the state of the system? Some text? Save that to shared preferences, then rebuild your UI from that data when you read it back out.