How to Create a Global Level Function with UI capability

I have a function to find an employee's id number from my sqlite database. The function allows the user to look up by id or name (first and/or last); therefore it creates several dialog boxes and finds the data through an If Else Then tree. Here's the code for those who like that sort of thing:

public String g开发者_C百科etEmployeeID() {
  final CharSequence[] items = {"By ID", "By Name", "Cancel"};
  AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(LibraryScreen.this);
  builder.setTitle("Find Employee");
  builder.setSingleChoiceItems(items, -1, new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int item) {
      if(items[item].equals("Cancel")) {
        dialog.cancel();
        empid = "";
      } else if(items[item].equals("By ID")) {
        dialog.cancel();
        final Dialog dialog2 = new Dialog(LibraryScreen.this);
        dialog2.setContentView(R.layout.peopledialog);
        dialog2.setTitle("Employee ID");
        dialog2.setCancelable(true);
        //Set Visibility of the Rows
        TableRow tblrow1 = (TableRow) dialog2.findViewById(R.id.trGeneral);
        tblrow1.setVisibility(0);
        //Set Captions for Rows
        TextView txtvw1 = (TextView)  dialog2.findViewById(R.id.tvGeneral);
        txtvw1.setText("Employee ID");
        //Set Up Edit Text Boxes
        EditText edttxt1 = (EditText) dialog2.findViewById(R.id.txtGeneral);
        //Set Input Type
        edttxt1.setRawInputType(0x00000002);//numbers
        edttxt1.setText("");
        //set max lines
        edttxt1.setMaxLines(1);
        //Set MaxLength
        int maxLength;
        maxLength = 15;
        InputFilter[] FilterArray = new InputFilter[1];
        FilterArray[0] = new InputFilter.LengthFilter(maxLength);
        edttxt1.setFilters(FilterArray);
        Button button = (Button) dialog2.findViewById(R.id.btnTxtDiaSav);
        button.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
          @Override
          public void onClick(View v) {
            EditText emplid = (EditText) dialog2.findViewById(R.id.txtGeneral);
            String newemp = "";
            db.open();
            Cursor c = db.getEmployee(emplid.getText().toString());
            if(c.moveToFirst()) {
              empid = c.getString(c.getColumnIndex("employeeid"));
            } else {
              Toast.makeText(LibraryScreen.this, "No ID Match", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
              empid = "";
            }
            c.close();
            db.close();
            dialog2.dismiss();
          }
        });
        Button buttonCan = (Button) dialog2.findViewById(R.id.btnTxtDiaCan);
        buttonCan.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
          @Override
          public void onClick(View v) {
            dialog2.dismiss();
            empid = "";
          }
        });
        dialog2.show();

      } else if(items[item].equals("By Name")) {
        dialog.cancel();
        final Dialog dialog1 = new Dialog(LibraryScreen.this);
        dialog1.setContentView(R.layout.peopledialog);
        dialog1.setTitle("Employee's Name");
        dialog1.setCancelable(true);
        //Set Visibility of the Rows
        TableRow tblrow1 = (TableRow) dialog1.findViewById(R.id.trGeneral);
        tblrow1.setVisibility(0);
        //Set Captions for Rows
        TextView txtvw1 = (TextView)  dialog1.findViewById(R.id.tvGeneral);
        txtvw1.setText("Employee Name");
        //Set Up Edit Text Boxes
        EditText edttxt1 = (EditText) dialog1.findViewById(R.id.txtGeneral);
        //Set Input Type
        edttxt1.setRawInputType(0x00002001);//cap words
        edttxt1.setText("");
        //set max lines
        edttxt1.setMaxLines(1);
        //Set MaxLength
        int maxLength;
        maxLength = 50;
        InputFilter[] FilterArray = new InputFilter[1];
        FilterArray[0] = new InputFilter.LengthFilter(maxLength);
        edttxt1.setFilters(FilterArray);

        Button button = (Button) dialog1.findViewById(R.id.btnTxtDiaSav);
        button.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
          @Override
          public void onClick(View v) {
            EditText emplid = (EditText) dialog1.findViewById(R.id.txtGeneral);
            String firstname = emplid.getText().toString();
            String lastname = "";
            String matchlist = "";
            String temptext = "";
            int matchcount = 0;
            if(firstname.lastIndexOf(" ") <= 0) {
              lastname = firstname;
              firstname = "X";
            } else {
              lastname = firstname.substring(firstname.lastIndexOf(" ") + 1);
              firstname = firstname.substring(0, firstname.lastIndexOf(" "));
            }
            db.open();
            Cursor c1, c2;
            String titletext = "";
            if(firstname.length() > 0) {
              c1 = db.getEmployeeByName(lastname, firstname);
              if(c1.getCount() == 0) {
                c1 = db.getRowByFieldTextOrdered("employees", "lastname", lastname, "lastname, firstname");
                if(c1.getCount() == 0) {
                  Toast.makeText(LibraryScreen.this, "No matching Employees.", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
                  empid = "";
                }
              }
              if(c1.getCount() > 0) {
                do {
                  c2 = db.getRowByField("orgcodes", "manager", c1.getString(c1.getColumnIndex("employeeid")));
                  if(c2.moveToFirst()) {
                    if(c2.getString(c2.getColumnIndex("orgcode")).substring(9, 10).equals("0")) {
                      if(c2.getString(c2.getColumnIndex("orgcode")).substring(7, 8).equals("0")) {
                        if(c2.getString(c2.getColumnIndex("orgcode")).substring(5, 6).equals("0")) {
                          if(c2.getString(c2.getColumnIndex("orgcode")).substring(4, 5).equals("0")) {
                            if(c2.getString(c2.getColumnIndex("orgcode")).substring(3, 4).equals("0")) {
                              titletext = "Top Brass";
                            } else {
                              titletext = "Senior VP";
                            }
                          } else {
                            titletext = "VP";
                          }
                        } else {
                          titletext = "Director";
                        }
                      } else {
                        titletext = "Senior Manager";
                      }
                    } else {
                      titletext = "Manager";
                    }
                  } else {
                    titletext = "Employee";
                  }
                  matchcount++;
                  matchlist = matchlist + c1.getString(c1.getColumnIndex("employeeid")) + ": " + c1.getString(c1.getColumnIndex("firstname")) + " " + c1.getString(c1.getColumnIndex("lastname")) + ": " + titletext + "|";
                } while(c1.moveToNext());
              }
            } else {
              empid = "";
            }
            if(matchcount == 0) {
              db.close();
              Toast.makeText(LibraryScreen.this, "No matching Employees.", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
              empid = "";
            } else {
              final CharSequence[] items = new CharSequence[matchcount + 1];
              items[0] = "(Cancel)";
              for(int i = 1; i <= matchcount; i++) {
                items[i] = matchlist.substring(0, matchlist.indexOf("|"));
                matchlist = matchlist.substring(matchlist.indexOf("|") + 1);
              }
              db.close();
              AlertDialog.Builder builder1 = new AlertDialog.Builder(LibraryScreen.this);
              builder1.setTitle("Select Employee");
              builder1.setSingleChoiceItems(items, -1, new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int item) {
                  if(items[item].equals("(Cancel)")) {
                    dialog.cancel();
                    empid = "";
                  } else {
                    String wasted = items[item].toString();
                    empid = wasted.substring(0, wasted.indexOf(":"));
                    dialog.cancel();
                  }
                }
              });
              AlertDialog alert1 = builder1.create();
              alert1.show();
            }
            dialog1.dismiss();
          }
        });
        Button buttonCan = (Button) dialog1.findViewById(R.id.btnTxtDiaCan);
        buttonCan.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {
          @Override
          public void onClick(View v) {
            dialog1.dismiss();
            empid = "";
          }
        });
        dialog1.show();
      }
    }
  });
  AlertDialog alert = builder.create();
  alert.show();
  return empid;
}

I use the employee id for a variety of functions through multiple activities in my program. Up to now, I've simply pasted the code under each listener that needs the id, but that is such a waste of space IMHO.

My question:

Is there a way to put this function somewhere that can be called from many different activities?

If so:

1. How do I do that?
2. How do I set the context for the dialog boxes for multiple activities?
3. How do I get the employee id back to the function that needs it?

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I haven't been able to find it online: actually, I'm not even sure how to word the query right. My attempts have come up woefully short.

A little late to the party - but recorded for posterity:

Read up on the Application class:

Base class for those who need to maintain global application state. You can provide your own implementation by specifying its name in your AndroidManifest.xml's tag, which will cause that class to be instantiated for you when the process for your application/package is created.

Basically, this would give you the ability to obtain a single object that represents your running application (think of it as a singleton that returns an instance of your running app).

You first start off by creating a class that extends Application base class and defining any common code that is used throughout your application

import android.app.Application;

public class MyApplication extends Application {

       public void myGlobalBusinessLogic() {
           //
       }   
}

Then tell your application to use the MyApplication class instead of the default Application class via the <application> node in your app manifest:

<application android:icon="@drawable/icon" android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:name="MyApplication">

Finally, when you need to get to your common function just do something like:

MyApplication application =  (MyApplication) getApplication();

application.myGlobalBusinessLogic();

If you need to get the context from any part of your application, you can simple return it by calling getApplicationContext() (defined in the base Application class) via a getter method within your custom application class.