Can't get the selected overlay values individually

Question

I am working with a Google map oriented android project now i got a problem in this class i class i used certain overlay to mark nearest places when we touch on particular overlay it will show an alert-box contains name and reference now i am retrieve the reference using the getsnipet() method now i don't want to display the alert-dialog box but when i disable that thing i cannot get the reference can anyone help me to fix this error and here is my code...

public class PlacesMapActivity extends MapActivity {
    // Nearest places
    PlacesList nearPlaces;

    // Map view
    MapView mapView;

    // Map overlay items
    List<Overlay> mapOverlays;

    AddItemizedOverlay itemizedOverlay;

    GeoPoint geoPoint;
    // Map controllers
    MapController mc;

    double latitude;
    double longitude;
    OverlayItem overlayitem;

    String p_u_name;
    Place reference;


    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.map_places);

        // Getting intent data
        Intent i = getIntent();

        p_u_name=i.getStringExtra("p_u_name");
        reference = (Place) i.getSerializableExtra("place_reference");


        i.putExtra("p_u_name",p_u_name);



        // Users current geo location
        String user_latitude = i.getStringExtra("user_latitude");
        String user_longitude = i.getStringExtra("user_longitude");

        System.out.println("sarath"+user_latitude + user_longitude);

        // Nearplaces list
        nearPlaces = (PlacesList) i.getSerializableExtra("near_places");

        mapView = (MapView) findViewById(R.id.mapView);
        mapView.setBuiltInZoomControls(true);

        mapOverlays = mapView.getOverlays();

        // Geopoint to place on map
        geoPoint = new GeoPoint((int) (Double.parseDouble(user_latitude) * 1E6),
                (int) (Double.parseDouble(user_longitude) * 1E6));

        // Drawable marker icon
        Drawable drawable_user = this.getResources()
                .getDrawable(R.drawable.mark_red);

        itemizedOverlay = new AddItemizedOverlay(drawable_user, this);

        // Map overlay item
        overlayitem = new OverlayItem(geoPoint, "Your Location",
                "That is you!");

        itemizedOverlay.addOverlay(overlayitem);

        mapOverlays.add(itemizedOverlay);
        itemizedOverlay.populateNow();

        // Drawable marker icon
        Drawable drawable = this.getResources()
                .getDrawable(R.drawable.mark_blue);

        itemizedOverlay = new AddItemizedOverlay(drawable, this);

        mc = mapView.getController();

        // These values are used to get map boundary area
        // The area where you can see all the markers on screen
        int minLat = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
        int minLong = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
        int maxLat = Integer.MIN_VALUE;
        int maxLong = Integer.MIN_VALUE;

        // check for null in case it is null
        if (nearPlaces.results != null) {
            // loop through all the places
            for (Place place : nearPlaces.results) {
                latitude = place.geometry.location.lat; // latitude
                longitude = place.geometry.location.lng; // longitude

                // Geopoint to place on map
                geoPoint = new GeoPoint((int) (latitude * 1E6),
                        (int) (longitude * 1E6));
                String s = place.formatted_address;
                String p = place.formatted_phone_number;
                String n = s;
                System.out.println("sarath"+s);



                // Map overlay item
                                 //Here it passes the selected overlay name and reference to the alerdialog box 
                overlayitem = new OverlayItem(geoPoint,place.name,place.reference);

                i.putExtra("place_reference", place.reference);

//              System.out.println("this is mapactivity and reference is:"+ab);

                itemizedOverlay.addOverlay(overlayitem);



                // calculating map boundary area
                minLat  = (int) Math.min( geoPoint.getLatitudeE6(), minLat );
                minLong = (int) Math.min( geoPoint.getLongitudeE6(), minLong);
                maxLat  = (int) Math.max( geoPoint.getLatitudeE6(), maxLat );
                maxLong = (int) Math.max( geoPoint.getLongitudeE6(), maxLong );
            }
            mapOverlays.add(itemizedOverlay);

            // showing all overlay items
            itemizedOverlay.populateNow();
        }

        // Adjusting the zoom level so that you can see all the markers on map
        mapView.getController().zoomToSpan(Math.abs( minLat - maxLat ), Math.abs( minLong - maxLong ));

        // Showing the center of the map
        mc.animateTo(new GeoPoint((maxLat + minLat)/2, (maxLong + minLong)/2 ));
        mapView.postInvalidate();

    }

    @Override
    protected boolean isRouteDisplayed() {
        return false;
    }

}

Answer 1

Your issue is pretty unclear... I think by 'reference' you mean 'description', in which case you were correct in using getsnippet(). If you've already seen the String through an AlertDialog, then taking out the dialog should not prevent you from seeing the snippet. Could you give us a bit more on your precise issue?