One-Single Activity or Two Activities - android

My app's main Activity (containing a NavigationDrawer) allows to navigate through many (20 aprox) Fragments, because of navDrawer item clicks and other views' clicks inside each fragment.
Then, it moves to a point where I need a BottomNavigationView (maintaining also the navDrawer). From this point, because of the bottomNavView and other views' clicks, I can move to other different 10-15 fragments, aprox, and also to the ones that the main NavigationDrawer allows, but, in case I move to a Fragment through a click on any main navDrawer's item, the bottomNavView should be hidden.
So, is it correct here to use a One-Single Activity approach and be controlling the visibility of the bottomNavView or shall I use Two Activities in order to avoid being pendent of this in all navigations?

I don't believe there's a "right or wrong" answer in this case.
It really boils down to how you want to architect your application, as long as you're consistent.
If your fragments have a "state" and a ViewMOdel and such, then a single activity swapping fragments while controlling its own state (when to show the bottom bar) may be simpler than having to maintain two different activities, since navigation is done always between fragments.
It will also be tied to how the backstack behaves in each case (so test accordingly to ensure you get the expected behavior).
Simple Idea (with a single act)
This is pseudo-code, not perfect, compiling, functional code.
class BottomBarUseCase() {
operator fun invoke(destination: String): Boolean =
when (destination) {
"A", "B", "C" -> true
else -> false
}
}
Your Activity's ViewModel (greatly simplified of course)
class XXXViewModel(
private val bottomBarUseCase: BottomBarUseCase
): ViewModel() {
private val _state = MutableLiveData<YourState>(YourState.Empty)
fun setupBottomBar(destination: String) {
if (bottomBarUseCase(destination)) {
_state.value = SomeState.ShowBar
} else {
_state.value = SomeState.HideBar
}
}
Your Activity observes the state and does what it needs to do.
There are ways to streamline this and what not, but essentially, you're delegating the responsibility to show the bar to the use-Case, which you can test in isolation to ensure it does what you want it to do (aka: don't show the bar for certain destinations).
Your Fragments don't care about any of this (unless they too, need to make the decision, in which case you can still inject the useCase in the Fragment's viewModels and ask there too, since the useCase doesn't have any special dependency).
That's what I would do, but without having to do this in real life, it's hard to visualize whether this would have other drawbacks.
In general, this is how I would approach a problem that needs to be resolved elsewhere in many places: isolating it.
Hope that clarifies it.

Related

Android navigation component display multiple DialogFragments in a row

Hi folks I need to throw up a series of DialogFragments one after another using the navigation component. I have encountered some pretty unusual system behavior which looks like a race condition. I show the dialogs with a global action after an item is clicked, and use the fragment result api to determine if another one should be shown.
I am using a custom layout so there's no positive / negative listeners etc., and my own continue / cancel buttons send a result back to the host fragment.
ItemsFragment.kt:
navController.navigate(RegisterItemsDirections.openModsDialog(item.id, 0))
fragment.setFragmentResultListener(ItemsFragment.MODIFIERS_REQUEST) { key, bundle ->
//kill the current dialog
navController.navigateUp()
//some logic to determine if we need another dialog...
if(needAnotherDialog){
//navigate to the next one
navController.navigate(RegisterItemsDirections.openModsDialog(item.id, lastModGroupSelectionIndex + 1))
}
}
ModsDialogFragment.kt, when the user clicks "continue"
setFragmentResult(MODIFIERS_REQUEST, bundleOf(MODIFIERS_RESULT to selectedMods))
So the issue only appears on 3rd or more dialogs on my devices, I can see that the 1st and 2nd dialogs are completely destroyed and detached. When it displays the 3rd one, the first one attaches itself again, and appears beneath the 3rd one which I can't explain.
I've tried:
Popping the back stack in the global action's nav xml
Navigating up or dismissing the dialog fragment in the dialog itself (before calling setFragmentResult), which is the most logical place to put it
Popping the backstack instead of navigating up, basically the same thing in this case
When I don't dismiss / nav up any of the dialogs and allow them all to just stack, there's no issue. When I delay the navigation by 500ms there is no issue. So navving up and then immediately navigating to another instance of the dialog are fighting with eachother producing very strange results. What could be the solution here that doesn't involve a random delay?
Navigation version is 2.3.3 and I'm having a lot of trouble trying to update it due to AGP upgrades being incompatible with a jar I need so I'm not sure if this has been fixed.
I figured out the issue, it's down to dumb copy pasting.
I took the donut tracker sample code and made it stack dialogs in the same way and there was no issue.
The difference between the two was I am subclassing DialogFragment and for some unknown reason doing this:
override fun show(manager: FragmentManager, tag: String?) {
val transaction = manager.beginTransaction()
val prevFragment = manager.findFragmentByTag(tag)
if (prevFragment != null) {
transaction.remove(prevFragment)
}
transaction.addToBackStack(null)
show(transaction, tag)
}
This code predates the Nav component library I believe, and it completely f***s with the fragment manager used by the navigation component. So the moral of the story is to not do bizarre things in super classes, or better yet not super class at all.

Android navigation component view decision

I am using Android Navigation Component in my project. What I am not satisfied is the fragment making the decision to do fragment transition to next fragment transition i.e
In my LoginFragment I have this -
viewModel.onLoginPressed(email, password)
.observe(viewLifecycleOwner, Observer {
if (it.userLoggedIn) {
activity?.findNavController(R.id.nav_host_fragment)
?.navigate(R.id.action_loginFragment_to_productsFragment)
}
})
According to me, the view must be dummy and must not do any such decisions of what to do on loginSuccess for example. The viewModel must be responsible for this.
How do I use this navigation component inside viewModel?
The ViewModel doesn't need to know about navigation, but it knows about events and state.
The communication should be more like:
NavHostActivity -> Fragment -> ViewModel
Your Fragment has Views, and click listeners, and state. The user types a user/password and presses a button. This onClick listener will tell the view model -> (pseudo-code) onUserPressedTheLoginButtonWith(username, password)
The ViewModel in turn will receive this, do what it needs (like check if you're already logged or whatever, perhaps the final decision is to navigate to another fragment).
What the ViewModel will do is expose a LiveData like
val navigationEvent = LiveData<...>
So the viewModel will navigationEvent.postValue(...)
The Fragment should observe this viewModel.navigationEvent.observe(...) { }
And in THERE in the fragment it can either navigate directly or -if you have an Interface- use it like:
yourNavigator.navigateTo(...) //either your VM knows the destination or the yourNavitagor has a navigateToLogin() concrete method, this is all "it depends what you like/prefer/etc.".
In summary
Activity Host contains Nav code, irrelevant.
Fragment(s) can communicate to a NavDelegate created by you (and likely injected) or Fragments simply know the details and do it by themselves.
Fragment(s) observe the navigation state/event from the viewModel.
Fragment(s) push events from the UI (clicks, actions, etc.) to this viewModel
The ViewModel decides what to do and updates the "liveData"(s) (there can be more than one type of thing you want to observe, not only navigation).
The Fragment(s) react to this observation and act accordingly, either doing it themselves or delegating (step 2 ^).
That's how I'd do it.

Android Jetpack Navigation Pass Lambda/Delegate between Fragments

I would like to pass a lambda from fragment A to fragment B when A transitions to B via a findNavController().navigate(R.id.action_a_to_b). The use case is B helps pick an item out to display on screen A.
Something like:
// In A
findNavController().navigate(R.id.action_a_to_b, configBlock: { fragmentB ->
fragmentB.itemSelectedCallback = this::itemSelected
})
I recognize this pattern doesn't quite fit with what Google is pushing (I assume they want shared observed view models with fragments not communicating between each other) but I am not looking to transition to that architecture style yet.
This is not yet possible, however, there is an existing feature request for being able to navigate for a result, which would let you get this type of functionality.

Shared ViewModel to help communication between fragments and parent activity

While Navigation component of JetPack looks pretty promising I got to a place where I could not find a way to implement something I wanted.
Let's take a look at a sample app screen:
The app has one main activity, a top toolbar, a bottom toolbar with fab attached.
There are 2 challenges that I am facing and I want to make them the right way.
1. I need to implement fragment transactions in order to allow replacing the fragment on the screen, based on the user interaction.
There are three ways I can think of and have this implemented:
the callbacks way. Having a interface onFragmentAction callback in fragment and have activity implement it. So basically when user presses a button in FragmentA I can call onFragmentAction with params so the activity will trigger and start for example transaction to replace it with FragmentB
implement Navigation component from JetPack. While I've tried it and seems pretty straightforward, I had a problem by not being able to retrieve the current fragment.
Use a shared ViewModel between fragment and activity, update it from the fragment and observe it in the activity. This would be a "replacement" of the callbacks
2. Since the FAB is in the parent activity, when pressed, I need to be able to interact with the current visible fragment and do an action. For instance, add a new item in a recyclerview inside the fragment. So basically a way to communicate between the activity and fragment
There are two ways I can think of how to make this
If not using Navigation then I can use findFragmentById and retrieve the current fragment and run a public method to trigger the action.
Using a shared 'ViewMode' between fragment and activity, update it from activity and observe it in the fragment.
So, as you can see, the recommended way to do navigation would be to use the new 'Navigation' architecture component, however, at the moment it lacks a way to retrieve the current fragment instance so I don't know how to communicate between the activity and fragment.
This could be achieved with shared ViewModel but here I have a missing piece: I understand that fragment to fragment communication can be made with a shared ViewModel. I think that this makes sense when the fragments have something in common for this, like a Master/Detail scenarion and sharing the same viewmodel is very useful.
But, then talking between activity and ALL fragments, how could a shared ViewModel be used? Each fragment needs its own complex ViewModel. Could it be a GeneralViewModel which gets instantiated in the activity and in all fragments, together with the regular fragment viewmodel, so have 2 viewmodels in each fragment.
Being able to talk between fragments and activity with a viewmodel will make the finding of active fragment unneeded as the viewmodel will provide the needed mechanism and also would allow to use Navigation component.
Any information is gladly received.
Later edit. Here is some sample code based on the comment bellow. Is this a solution for my question? Can this handle both changes between fragments and parent activity and it's on the recommended side.
private class GlobalViewModel ():ViewModel(){
var eventFromActivity:MutableLiveData<Event>
var eventFromFragment:MutableLiveData<Event>
fun setEventFromActivity(event:Event){
eventFromActivity.value = event
}
fun setEventFromFragment(event:Event){
eventFromFragment.value = event
}
}
Then in my activity
class HomeActivity: AppCompatActivity(){
onCreate{
viewModel = ViewModelProviders.of(this, factory)
.get(GlobalViewModel::class.java)
viewModel.eventsFromFragment.observe(){
//based on the Event values, could update toolbar title, could start
// new fragment, could show a dialog or snackbar
....
}
//when need to update the fragment do
viewModel.setEventFromActivity(event)
}
}
Then in all fragments have something like this
class FragmentA:Fragment(){
onViewCreated(){
viewModel = ViewModelProviders.of(this, factory)
.get(GlobalViewModel::class.java)
viewModel.eventsFromActivity.observe(){
// based on Event value, trigger a fun from the fragment
....
}
viewModelFragment = ViewModelProviders.of(this, factory)
.get(FragmentAViewModel::class.java)
viewModelFragment.some.observe(){
....
}
//when need to update the activity do
viewModel.setEventFromFragment(event)
}
}

Equivalent of startActivityForResult() with Android Architecture Navigation

I have a workflow with 3 screens. From "screen 1" to access to "screen 2", the user must accept some kind of terms and conditions that I call in my picture "modal". But he only has to accept those conditions once. The next time he is on the first screen, he can go directly to screen 2. The user can chose to NOT accept the terms, and therefore we go back to "screen 1" and do not try to go to "screen 2".
I am wondering how to do it with the new navigation component.
Previously, what I would do it:
On screen 1, check if the user must accept the conditions
If no, start "screen 2" activity
If yes, use startActivityForResult() and wait result from the modal. Mark the terms as accepted. Start "screen 2"
But with the navigation graph, there is no way to start a Fragment to obtain a result.
I could mark the terms as accepted in the "modal" screen and start the "screen 2" from there. The thing is that to access to the screen 2, I need to do a network request. I do not want to duplicate the call to the API and processing its outcome in both "screen 1" and "modal".
Is there a way to go back from "modal" to "screen 1" with some information (user accepted the terms), using Jetpack navigation?
Edit: I currently get around it by using the same flow that Yahya suggests below: using an Activity just for the modal and using startActivityForResult from the "screen 1". I am just wondering if I could continue to use the navigation graph for the whole flow.
In the 1.3.0-alpha04 version of AndroidX Fragment library they introduced new APIs that allow passing data between Fragments.
Added support for passing results between two Fragments via new APIs on FragmentManager. This works for hierarchy fragments (parent/child), DialogFragments, and fragments in Navigation and ensures that results are only sent to your Fragment while it is at least STARTED. (b/149787344)
FragmentManager gained two new methods:
FragmentManager#setFragmentResult(String, Bundle) which you can treat similiarly to the existing Activity#setResult ;
FragmentManager#setFragmentResultListener(String, LifecycleOwner, FragmentResultListener) which allows you to listen/observe result changes.
How to use it?
In FragmentA add FragmentResultListener to the FragmentManager in the onCreate method:
setFragmentResultListener("request_key") { requestKey: String, bundle: Bundle ->
val result = bundle.getString("your_data_key")
// do something with the result
}
In FragmentB add this code to return the result:
val result = Bundle().apply {
putString("your_data_key", "Hello!")
}
setFragmentResult("request_key", result)
Start FragmentB e.g.: by using:
findNavController().navigate(NavGraphDirections.yourActionToFragmentB())
To close/finish FragmentB call:
findNavController().navigateUp()
Now, your FragmentResultListener should be notified and you should receive your result.
(I'm using fragment-ktx to simplify the code above)
There are a couple of alternatives to the shared view model.
fun navigateBackWithResult(result: Bundle) as explained here https://medium.com/google-developer-experts/using-navigation-architecture-component-in-a-large-banking-app-ac84936a42c2
Create a callback.
ResultCallback.kt
interface ResultCallback : Serializable {
fun setResult(result: Result)
}
Pass this callback as an argument (note it has to implement Serializable and the interface needs to be declared in its own file.)
<argument android:name="callback"
app:argType="com.yourpackage.to.ResultCallback"/>
Make framgent A implement ResultCallback, fragment B by will get the arguments and pass the data back through them, args.callback.setResult(x)
It looks like there isn't equivalent for startActivityForResult in Navigation Component right now. But if you're using LiveData and ViewModel you may be interested in this article. Author is using activity scoped ViewModel and LiveData to achieve this for fragments.
Recently (in androidx-navigation-2.3.0-alpha02 ) Google was released a correct way for achieve this behaviour with fragments.
In short: (from release note)
If Fragment A needs a result from Fragment B..
A should get the savedStateHandle from the currentBackStackEntry, call getLiveData providing a key and observe the result.
findNavController().currentBackStackEntry?.savedStateHandle?.getLiveData<Type>("key")?.observe(
viewLifecycleOwner) {result ->
// Do something with the result.
}
B should get the savedStateHandle from the previousBackStackEntry, and set the result with the same key as the LiveData in A
findNavController().previousBackStackEntry?.savedStateHandle?.set("key", result)
Related documentation
There is another alternative workaround. You can use another navigation action from your modal back to screen1, instead of using popBackStack(). On that action you can send whatever data you like to screen one. Use this strategy to make sure the modal screen isn't then kept in the navigation back stack: https://stackoverflow.com/a/54015319/4672107.
The only issue I see with this strategy is that pressing the back button will not send any data back, however most use cases require navigation after a specific user action and and in those situations, this workaround will work.
To get the caller fragment, use something like fragmentManager.putFragment(args, TargetFragment.EXTRA_CALLER, this), and then in the target fragment get the caller fragment using
if (args.containsKey(EXTRA_CALLER)) {
caller = fragmentManager?.getFragment(args, EXTRA_CALLER)
if (caller != null) {
if (caller is ResultCallback) {
this.callback = caller
}
}
}

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