Develop Reference

How to retrieve values from Room, when creating the ViewModel instance

I have MVVM fragment with this simple requirement.
The fragment have a EntryText field, and I want to populate with a value calculated in the view model,
when the viewmodel is created I need to call a Room request and get a value, then that value should be present to the user, and the user can change that value.
Also I'm soring that value in the State Handle
var parcelaDesde = state.get<String>("parcelaDesde")?:"0"
set(value) {
field = value
state.set("parcelaDesde", value)
}
I resolved with:
*creating a public methos in viewmodel that retrieve info from Room and update local member field, also update a MutableLiveData that is observed in Fragment
fun updateParcelaDesde(default: Int) {
val num = parcelaDesde.toIntOrNull()
num?.let {
if (it == default) {
viewModelScope.launch(Dispatchers.IO) {
parcelaDesde = filialcruzaRepository.getMinNroParcela(filial.value?.id!!)?.toString()?:"0"
Log.d(TAG, "updateParcelaDesde: $parcelaDesde")
isLoadingDesde.postValue(false)
}
}
}
}
on the Fragment, I just observe the liveData and update the UI when te loading is completed.
viewModel.isLoadingDesde.observe(viewLifecycleOwner) {
binding.etParcelaDesde.setText( viewModel.parcelaDesde.trim() )
}
Is this the correct way ?
How to do this if I want to us dataBinding?
Best Regards

Expected methods do not exists MutableStateFlow<List<T>>() for manipulation

I have this MutableStateFlow<>() declaration:
private val _books = MutableStateFlow<List<Book>>(emptyList())
I am trying to append/add results from the database:
fun fetchAllBooks(user_id: Long) = viewModelScope.launch(Dispatchers.IO) {
dbRepository.getAllUsersBooks(user_id).collect{ books ->
_books.add() // Does not exist, nor does the 'postValue' method exists
}
}
But, this does not work as I though, non of the expected methods exists.

If you need to update the state of a MutableStateFlow, you can set the value property:
fun fetchAllBooks(user_id: Long) = viewModelScope.launch(Dispatchers.IO) {
dbRepository.getAllUsersBooks(user_id).collect{ books ->
_books.value = books
}
}
It will trigger events on collectors if the new value is different from the previous one.
But if getAllUsersBooks already returns a Flow<List<Book>>, you could also simply use it directly instead of updating a state flow.
If you really want a StateFlow, you can also use stateIn:
fun fetchAllBooks(user_id: Long) = dbRepository.getAllUsersBooks(user_id)
.flowOn(Dispatchers.IO) // likely unnecessary if your DB has its own dispatcher anyway
.stateIn(viewModelScope)

You are actually declaring the immutable list and trying to add and remove data instade of that use mutable list to add or remove data from list like here :-
private var _bookState = MutableStateFlow<MutableList<Book>>(mutableListOf())
private var books=_bookState.asStateFlow()
var bookList= books.value
and to send the data to the state use this:-
viewModelScope.launch {
_bookState.value.add(BookItem)
}
viewModelScope.launch {
_bookState.value.remove(BookItem)
}
I hope this will work out for you if you have any query pls tell me in comment.

Flow provides null from room database but it should have data

I started building my app using Room, Flow, LiveData and Coroutines, and have come across something odd: what I'm expecting to be a value flow actually has one null item in it.
My setup is as follows:
#Dao
interface BookDao {
#Query("SELECT * FROM books WHERE id = :id")
fun getBook(id: Long): Flow<Book>
}
#Singleton
class BookRepository #Inject constructor(
private val bookDao: BookDao
) {
fun getBook(id: Long) = bookDao.getBook(id).filterNotNull()
}
#HiltViewModel
class BookDetailViewModel #Inject internal constructor(
savedStateHandle: SavedStateHandle,
private val bookRepository: BookRepository,
private val chapterRepository: ChapterRepository,
) : ViewModel() {
val bookID: Long = savedStateHandle.get<Long>(BOOK_ID_SAVED_STATE_KEY)!!
val book = bookRepository.getBook(bookID).asLiveData()
fun getChapters(): LiveData<PagingData<Chapter>> {
val lastChapterID = book.value.let { book ->
book?.lastChapterID ?: 0L
}
val chapters = chapterRepository.getChapters(bookID, lastChapterID)
return chapters.asLiveData()
}
companion object {
private const val BOOK_ID_SAVED_STATE_KEY = "bookID"
}
}
#AndroidEntryPoint
class BookDetailFragment : Fragment() {
private var queryJob: Job? = null
private val viewModel: BookDetailViewModel by viewModels()
override fun onResume() {
super.onResume()
load()
}
private fun load() {
queryJob?.cancel()
queryJob = lifecycleScope.launch() {
val bookName = viewModel.book.value.let { book ->
book?.name
}
binding.toolbar.title = bookName
Log.i(TAG, "value: $bookName")
}
viewModel.book.observe(viewLifecycleOwner) { book ->
binding.toolbar.title = book.name
Log.i(TAG, "observe: ${book.name}")
}
}
}
Then I get a null value in lifecycleScope.launch while observe(viewLifecycleOwner) gets a normal value.
I think it might be because of sync and async issues, but I don't know the exact reason, and how can I use LiveData<T>.value to get the value?
Because I want to use it in BookDetailViewModel.getChapters method.
APPEND: In the best practice example of Android Jetpack (Sunflower), LiveData.value (createShareIntent method of PlantDetailFragment) works fine.
APPEND 2: The getChapters method returns a paged data (Flow<PagingData<Chapter>>). If the book triggers an update, it will cause the page to be refreshed again, confusing the UI logic.
APPEND 3: I found that when I bind BookDetailViewModel with DataBinding, BookDetailViewModel.book works fine and can get book.value.

LiveData.value has extremely limited usefulness because you might be reading it when no value is available yet.
You’re checking the value of your LiveData before it’s source Flow can emit its first value, and the initial value of a LiveData before it emits anything is null.
If you want getChapters to be based on the book LiveData, you should do a transformation on the book LiveData. This creates a LiveData that under the hood observes the other LiveData and uses that to determine what it publishes. In this case, since the return value is another LiveData, switchMap is appropriate. Then if the source book Flow emits another version of the book, the LiveData previously retrieved from getChapters will continue to emit, but it will be emitting values that are up to date with the current book.
fun getChapters(): LiveData<PagingData<Chapter>> =
Transformations.switchMap(book) { book ->
val lastChapterID = book.lastChapterID
val chapters = chapterRepository.getChapters(bookID, lastChapterID)
chapters.asLiveData()
}
Based on your comment, you can call take(1) on the Flow so it will not change the LiveData book value when the repo changes.
val book = bookRepository.getBook(bookID).take(1).asLiveData()
But maybe you want the Book in that LiveData to be able to be changed when the repo changes, and what you want is that the Chapters LiveData retrieved previously does not change? So you need to manually get it again if you want it to be based on the latest Book? If that's the case, you don't want to be using take(1) there which would prevent the book from appearing updated in the book LiveData.
I would personally in that case use a SharedFlow instead of LiveData, so you could avoid retrieving the values twice, but since you're currently working with LiveData, here's a possible solution that doesn't require you to learn those yet. You could use a temporary Flow of your LiveData to easily get its current or first value, and then use that in a liveData builder function in the getChapters() function.
fun getChapters(): LiveData<PagingData<Chapter>> = liveData {
val singleBook = book.asFlow().first()
val lastChapterID = singleBook.lastChapterID
val chapters = chapterRepository.getChapters(bookID, lastChapterID)
emitSource(chapters)
}

Android, MVI pattern + Kotlin Flow + Room + Retrofit, how fit them together?

I'm pretty new in the world of MVI pattern. So I'm trying to understand how fit together all the pieces.
I have an app that I structured using MVI pattern (or at least it was what I was meant to do). I have my fragment (I used navigation component but at the moment focus just on one fragment), which is supported by its own ViewModel. Then I have a repository class where all viewmodels retrieve data. Repository has 2 source of data, a web API and a local DB used as cache of data, I used Room for DB management.
I tried different approaches to the problem. At the moment I have done in this way:
In the DAO I used this instruction to retrieve data from the DB:
#Query("SELECT * FROM Users WHERE idTool=:idTool AND nickname LIKE '%' || :query || '%'")
fun users(idTool: Int, query: String) : Flow<List<User>>
Then in my repository I simple get this query to forward to ViewModels:
fun usersFlow(idTool: Int, query: String) = userDao.users(idTool, query)
In the ViewModel I created two MutableLiveData, coordinated by a MediatorLiveData:
val nicknameQuery = MutableStateFlow("")
private val nicknameQueryFlow = nicknameQuery.flatMapLatest {
repository.usersFlow(idToolQuery.value, it)
}
val idToolQuery = MutableStateFlow(DEFAULT_TOOL_ID)
private val idToolQueryFlow = idToolQuery.flatMapLatest {
repository.usersFlow(it, nicknameQuery.value)
}
val users = MediatorLiveData<List<User>>()
init {
users.addSource(nicknameQueryFlow.asLiveData()) {
users.value = it
}
users.addSource(idToolQueryFlow.asLiveData()) {
users.value = it
}
fetchUsers()
}
In this way, from my fragment, I can simply update nicknameQuery or idToolQuery to have an updated list in my RecyclerView. My first doubt is that in this way the fetch of data from my DB is done 2 times, one time for each mutable, but I'd like to retrieve data just one on the app opening (maybe the solution fro this is just check in the nicknameQuery that current query is different from the passed one, in this way since at the beginning current query is empty and it pass an empty query, it is bypassed).
In the Init method of ViewModel, I also call fetchUsers():
private fun fetchUsers() {
viewModelScope.launch {
repository.fetchUsers(DEFAULT_TOOL_ID).collect {
_dataState.value = it
}
}
}
This method checks into the database if there are already cached users with this specific idTool, if not it fetches them from the web and it stores retrieved data into the DB. This is the method inside my repository class:
suspend fun fetchUsers(
idTool: Int,
forceRefetch: Boolean = false
): Flow<DataState<List<User>>> = flow {
try {
var cachedUser = userDao.users(idTool, "").first()
val users: List<User>
if(cachedUser.isEmpty() || forceRefetch) {
Log.d(TAG, "Retrieve users: from web")
emit(DataState.Loading)
withContext(Dispatchers.IO) {
appJustOpen = false
val networkUsers =
api.getUsers(
idTool,
"Bearer ${sessionClient.tokens.accessToken.toString()}"
)
users = entityMapper.mapFromEntitiesList(networkUsers)
userDao.insertList(users)
}
} else {
users = cachedUser
}
emit(DataState.Success(users))
} catch (ex: Exception) {
emit(DataState.Error(ex))
}
}
This method checks if I have already users inside the DB with this specific idTool, if not it fetches them from API. It uses a DataState to update the UI, based on the result of the call. During the fetch of data, it emits a Loading state, this shows a progress bar in my fragment. If data is correctly fetched it emits a Success, and the fragment hides the progress bar to shows the recycler view. This is done in the following way. In my ViewModel I have this mutable state
private val _dataState = MutableLiveData<DataState<List<User>>>()
val dataState: LiveData<DataState<List<User>>> get() = _dataState
As you saw above, my fetch method is
private fun fetchUsers() {
viewModelScope.launch {
repository.fetchUsers(DEFAULT_TOOL_ID).collect {
_dataState.value = it
}
}
}
And finally in my fragment I have:
userListViewModel.dataState.observe(viewLifecycleOwner, { dataState ->
when (dataState) {
is DataState.Success -> {
showUserList()
}
is DataState.Error -> {
Log.e("TEST", dataState.exception.toString())
hideLoader()
Toast.makeText(activity, "Error retrieving data: ${dataState.exception}", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show()
}
is DataState.Loading -> {
showLoader()
}
else -> {
// Do Nothing in any other case
}
}
})
At this moment Success state takes a list of users, but this list is there from a previous approach, at the moment it is useless since after data is fetched list is inserted into the DB, and I have a Flow to the DB which takes care to update the UI. In this way when I change idTool, when I change query, when I remove a user, the view is always notified
Is this approach correct?
Before this, I used another approach. I returned not a flow from my DB but just a List. Then my fetchUsers always returned a DataState<List>, it checked in the DB and if didn't found anything it fetched data from the web and returned that list. This approach caused me some problems, since every time I changed idTool or query, I always had to call fetchUsers method. Even if a user was removed from database, views didn't get notified since I didn't have a direct flow with the DB.

What is the difference between emit and emitSource with LiveData ? ( as in REAL time USE-CASE )

emit accepts the data class whereas emitSource accepts LiveData<T> ( T -> data ). Considering the following example :- I have two type of calls :-
suspend fun getData(): Data // returns directly data
and the other one ;
suspend fun getData(): LiveData<Data> // returns live data instead
For the first case i can use:-
liveData {
emit(LOADING)
emit(getData())
}
My question : Using the above method would solve my problem , WHY do we need emitSource(liveData) anyway ?
Any good use-case for using the emitSource method would make it clear !

As you mentioned, I don't think it solves anything in your stated problem, but I usually use it like this:
If I want to show cached data to the user from the db while I get fresh data from remote, with only emit it would look something like this:
liveData{
emit(db.getData())
val latest = webService.getLatestData()
db.insert(latest)
emit(db.getData())
}
But with emitSource it looks like this:
liveData{
emitSource(db.getData())
val latest = webService.getLatestData()
db.insert(latest)
}
Don't need to call emit again since the liveData already have a source.

From what I understand emit(someValue) is similar to myData.value = someValue whereas emitSource(someLiveValue) is similar to myData = someLiveValue. This means that you can use emit whenever you want to set a value once, but if you want to connect your live data to another live data value you use emit source. An example would be emitting live data from a call to room (using emitSource(someLiveData)) then performing a network query and emitting an error (using emit(someError)).

I found a real use-case which depicts the use of emitSource over emit which I have used many times in production now. :D The use-case:
Suppose u have some user data (User which has some fields like userId, userName ) returned by some ApiService.
The User Model:
data class User(var userId: String, var userName: String)
The userName is required by the view/activity to paint the UI. And the userId is used to make another API call which returns the UserData like profileImage , emailId.
The UserData Model:
data class UserData(var profileImage: String, var emailId: String)
This can be achieved internally using emitSource by wiring the two liveData in the ViewModel like:
User liveData -
val userLiveData: LiveData<User> = liveData {
emit(service.getUser())
}
UserData liveData -
val userDataLiveData: LiveData<UserData> = liveData {
emitSource(userLiveData.switchMap {
liveData {
emit(service.getUserData(it.userId))
}
})
}
So, in the activity / view one can ONLY call getUser() and the getUserData(userId) will be automatically triggered internally via switchMap.
You need not manually call the getUserData(id) by passing the id.
This is a simple example, imagine there is a chain of dependent-tasks which needs to be executed one after the other, each of which is observed in the activity. emitSource comes in handy

With emitSource() you can not only emit a single value, but attach your LiveData to another LiveData and start emitting from it. Anyway, each emit() or emitSource() call will remove the previously added source.
var someData = liveData {
val cachedData = dataRepository.getCachedData()
emit(cachedData)
val actualData = dataRepository.getData()
emitSource(actualData)
}
The activity that’s observing the someData object, will quickly receive the cached data on the device and update the UI. Then, the LiveData itself will take care of making the network request and replace the cached data with a new live stream of data, that will eventually trigger the Activity observer and update the UI with the updated info.
Source: Exploring new Coroutines and Lifecycle Architectural Components integration on Android

I will like share a example where we use "emit" and "emitsource" both to communicate from UI -> View Model -> Repository
Repository layer we use emit to send the values downstream :
suspend fun fetchNews(): Flow<Result<List<Article>>> {
val queryPath = QueryPath("tata", apikey = AppConstant.API_KEY)
return flow {
emit(
Result.success(
openNewsAPI.getResponse(
"everything",
queryPath.searchTitle,
queryPath.page,
queryPath.apikey
).articles
)
)
}.catch { exception ->
emit(Result.failure(RuntimeException(exception.message)));
}
}
ViewModel layer we use emitsource to pass the live data object to UI for subscriptions
val loader = MutableLiveData<Boolean>()
val newsListLiveData = liveData<Result<List<Article>>> {
loader.postValue(true)
emitSource(newRepo.fetchNews()
.onEach {
loader.postValue(false)
}
.asLiveData())
}
UI Layer - we observe the live data emitted by emitsource
viewModel.newsListLiveData.observe(viewLifecycleOwner, { result ->
val listArticle = result.getOrNull()
if (result.isSuccess && listArticle != null) {
setupList(binding.list, listArticle)
} else {
Toast.makeText(
appContext,
result.exceptionOrNull()?.message + "Error",
Toast.LENGTH_LONG
).show()
}
})
We convert Flow observable to LiveData in viewModel