Develop Reference

LiveData list of objects from Room query not showing up in the view

I'm currently trying to use a SQLite database via the Room library on my Jetpack Compose project to create a view that does the following:
display a list of entries from the database that are filtered to only records with the current user's ID
allow the user to create new records and insert those into the database
update the list to include any newly created records
My issue is that I cannot get the list to show when the view is loaded even though the database has data in it and I am able to insert records into it successfully. I've seen a lot of examples that show how do this if you are just loading all the records, but I cannot seem to figure out how to do this if I only want the list to include records with the user's ID.
After following a few of tutorials and posts it is my understanding that I should have the following:
A DAO, which returns a LiveData object
A repository which calls the DAO method and returns the same LiveData object
A viewholder class, which will contain two objects: one private MutableLiveData variable and one public LiveData variable (this one is the one we observe from the view)
My view, a Composable function, that observes the changes
However, with this setup, the list still will not load and I do not see any calls to the database to load the list from the "App Inspection" tab. The code is as follows:
TrainingSet.kt
#Entity(tableName = "training_sets")
data class TrainingSet (
#PrimaryKey() val id: String,
#ColumnInfo(name = "user_id") val userId: String,
TrainingSetDao.kt
#Dao
interface TrainingSetDao {
#Insert(onConflict = OnConflictStrategy.ABORT)
suspend fun insert(trainingSet: TrainingSet)
#Query("SELECT * FROM training_sets WHERE user_id = :userId")
fun getUserTrainingSets(userId: String): LiveData<List<TrainingSet>>
}
TrainingSetRepository.kt
class TrainingSetRepository(private val trainingSetDao: TrainingSetDao) {
fun getUserTrainingSets(userId: String): LiveData<List<TrainingSet>> {
return trainingSetDao.getUserTrainingSets(userId)
}
suspend fun insert(trainingSet: TrainingSet) {
trainingSetDao.insert(trainingSet)
}
}
TrainingSetsViewModel.kt
class TrainingSetsViewModel(application: Application): ViewModel() {
private val repository: TrainingSetRepository
private val _userTrainingSets = MutableLiveData<List<TrainingSet>>(emptyList())
val userTrainingSets: LiveData<List<TrainingSet>> get() = _userTrainingSets
init {
val trainingSetDao = AppDatabase.getDatabase(application.applicationContext).getTrainingSetDao()
repository = TrainingSetRepository(trainingSetDao)
}
fun getUserTrainingSets(userId: String) {
viewModelScope.launch {
_userTrainingSets.value = repository.getUserTrainingSets(userId).value
}
}
fun insertTrainingSet(trainingSet: TrainingSet) {
viewModelScope.launch(Dispatchers.IO) {
try {
repository.insert(trainingSet)
} catch (err: Exception) {
println("Error!!!!: ${err.message}")
}
}
}
}
RecordScreen.kt
#Composable
fun RecordScreen(navController: NavController, trainingSetsViewModel: TrainingSetsViewModel) {
// observe the list
val trainingSets by trainingSetsViewModel.userTrainingSets.observeAsState()
// trigger loading of the list using the userID
// note: hardcoding this ID for now
trainingSetsViewModel.getUserTrainingSets("20c1256d-0bdb-4241-8781-10f7353e5a3b")
// ... some code here
Button(onClick = {
trainingSetsViewModel.insertTrainingSet(TrainingSet(// dummy test data here //))
}) {
Text(text = "Add Record")
}
// ... some more code here
LazyColumn() {
itemsIndexed(trainingSets) { key, item ->
// ... list row components here
}
}
NavGraph.kt** **(including this in case it's relevant)
#Composable
fun NavGraph(navController: NavHostController) {
NavHost(
navController = navController,
startDestination = Screens.Record.route,
) {
composable(route = Screens.Record.route) {
val owner = LocalViewModelStoreOwner.current
owner?.let {
val trainingSetsViewModel: TrainingSetsViewModel = viewModel(
it,
"TrainingSetsViewModel",
MainViewModelFactory(LocalContext.current.applicationContext as Application)
)
// note: I attempted to load the user training sets here in case it needed to be done before entering the RecordScreen, but that did not affect it (commenting this line out for now)
// trainingSetsViewModel.getUserTrainingSets("20c1256d-0bdb-4241-8781-10f7353e5a3b")
RecordScreen(
navController = navController,
trainingSetsViewModel= TrainingSetsViewModel,
)
}
}
}
}
What somewhat worked...
I was able to get the list to eventually load by making the following two changes (see comments in code), but it still did not load in the expected sequence and this change did not seem to align from all the examples I've seen. I will note that with this change, once the list showed up, the newly created records would be properly displayed as well.
*TrainingSetsViewModel.kt *(modified)
private val _userTrainingSets = MutableLiveData<List<TrainingSet>>(emptyList())
/ ***************
// change #1 (change this variable from a val to a var)
/ ***************
var userTrainingSets: LiveData<List<TrainingSet>> = _userTrainingSets
... // same code as above example
fun getUserTrainingSets(userId: String) {
viewModelScope.launch {
// ***************
// change #2 (did this instead of: _userTrainingSets.value = repository.getUserTrainingSets(userId).value)
// ***************
userTrainingSets = repository.getUserTrainingSets(userId)
}
}
... // same code as above example

Jetpack Compose recompostion of property change in list of objects

I am quite new to Jetpack compose and have an issue that my list is not recomposing when a property of an object in the list changes. In my composable I get a list of available appointments from my view model and it is collected as a state.
// AppointmentsScreen.kt
#Composable
internal fun AppointmentScreen(
navController: NavHostController
) {
val appointmentsViewModel = hiltViewModel<AppointmentViewModel>()
val availableAppointments= appointmentsViewModel.appointmentList.collectAsState()
AppointmentContent(appointments = availableAppointments, navController = navController)
}
In my view model I get the data from a dummy repository which returns a flow.
// AppointmentViewModel.kt
private val _appointmentList = MutableStateFlow(emptyList<Appointment>())
val appointmentList : StateFlow<List<Appointment>> = _appointmentList.asStateFlow()
init {
getAppointmentsFromRepository()
}
// Get the data from the dummy repository
private fun getAppointmentsFromRepository() {
viewModelScope.launch(Dispatchers.IO) {
dummyRepository.getAllAppointments()
.distinctUntilChanged()
.collect { listOfAppointments ->
if (listOfAppointments.isNullOrEmpty()) {
Log.d(TAG, "Init: Empty Appointment List")
} else {
_appointmentList.value = listOfAppointments
}
}
}
}
// dummy function for demonstration, this is called from a UI button
fun setAllStatesToPaused() {
dummyRepository.setSatesInAllObjects(AppointmentState.Finished)
// Get the new data
getAppointmentsFromRepository()
}
Here is the data class for appointments
// Appointment data class
data class Appointment(
val uuid: String,
var state: AppointmentState = AppointmentState.NotStarted,
val title: String,
val timeStart: LocalTime,
val estimatedDuration: Duration? = null,
val timeEnd: LocalTime? = null
)
My question: If a property of one of the appointment objects (in the view models variable appointmentList) changes then there is no recomposition. I guess it is because the objects are still the same and only the properties have changed. What do I have to do that the if one of the properties changes also a recomposition of the screen is fired?
For example if you have realtime app that display stocks/shares with share prices then you will probably also have a list with stock objects and the share price updates every few seconds. The share price is a property of the stock object so this quite a similiar situation.

How to pass different value when switchMap is not executed? Android + Kotlin

I have a huge understanding problem here, I have a ecommerce app and I cannot properly calculate value of users cart.
The problem is, my solution works well to the point but I have an issue when there are no products in the cart. Obviously LiveData observer or switchMap will not get executed when it's value is empty.
It seems like something trivial, only thing I want to do here is handle the situation when user have no products in the cart. Is the livedata and switchMap a wrong approach here?
I get userCart from the repo -> I calculate its value in the viewModel and expose it to the view with dataBinding.
#HiltViewModel
class CartFragmentViewModel
#Inject
constructor(
private val repository: ProductRepository,
private val userRepository: UserRepository,
private val priceFormatter: PriceFormatter
) : ViewModel() {
private val user = userRepository.currentUser
val userCart = user.switchMap {
repository.getProductsFromCart(it.cart)
}
val cartValue = userCart.switchMap {
calculateCartValue(it)
}
private fun calculateCartValue(list: List<Product>?): LiveData<String> {
val cartVal = MutableLiveData<String>()
var cartValue = 0L
list?.let { prods ->
prods.forEach {
cartValue += it.price
}
cartVal.postValue(priceFormatter.formatPrice(cartValue))
} ?: cartVal.postValue(priceFormatter.formatPrice(0))
return cartVal
}
fun removeFromCart(product: Product) {
userRepository.removeFromCart(product)
getUserData()
}
private fun getUserData() {
userRepository.getUserData()
}
init {
getUserData()
}
}

Default value is to solve the "initial" empty cart.
Now if you need to trigger it when there's no data... (aka: after you remove items and the list is now empty), I'd use a sealed class to wrap the actual value.
(names and code are pseudo-code, so please don't copy-paste)
Something like this:
Your Repository should expose the cart, user, etc. wrapped in a sealed class:
sealed class UserCartState {
object Empty : UserCartState()
data class HasItems(items: List<things>)
object Error(t: Throwable) :UserCartState() //hypotetical state to signal problems
}
In your CartFragmentViewModel, you observe and use when (for example), to determine what did the repo responded with.
repo.cartState.observe(...) {
when (state) {
is Empty -> //deal with it
is HasItems -> // do what it takes to convert it, calculate it, etc.
is Error -> // handle it
}
}
When the user removes the last item in the cart, your repo should emit Empty.
The VM doesn't care how that happened, it simply reacts to the new state.
The UI cares even less. :)
You get the idea (I hope).
That's how I would look into it.
You can even use a flow of cart items, or the new "FlowState" thingy (see the latest Google I/O 21) to conserve resources when the lifecycle owner is not ready.

I suppose that this part of code creates the problem
list?.let { prods ->
prods.forEach {
cartValue += it.price
}
cartVal.postValue(priceFormatter.formatPrice(cartValue))
} ?: cartVal.postValue(priceFormatter.formatPrice(0))
Probably, list is not null but is empty. Please try this:
if (list.isNullOrEmpty) {
list.forEach {
cartValue += it.price
}
cartVal.postValue(priceFormatter.formatPrice(cartValue))
} else {
cartVal.postValue(priceFormatter.formatPrice(0))
}

Shuffle LiveData<List<Item>> from Room Database on App Open

I have a RecyclerView which displays LiveData<List<Item>> returned from a Room Database. Everything works fine, however, the Item order needs to be randomized every time the app is open for a more dynamic feel.
The Item's are displayed in AllItemFragment. When an item is clicked, it will be added to the users favourites. This will then add the Item to the FavouriteFragment.
Ordering the SQL query by RANDOM() would be called every time the data is changed (i.e. when an item is clicked) and therefore wont work.
List.shuffle cannot be called on LiveData object for obvious reasons.
Data is retrieved in the following format:
DAO -> Repository -> SharedViewholder -> Fragment -> Adapter
DAO
#Query("SELECT * from items_table")
fun getAllItems(): LiveData<MutableList<Item>>
Repository
val mItemList: LiveData<MutableList<Item>> = itemDoa.getAllItems()
SharedViewHolder
init {
repository = ItemRepository(itemDao)
itemList = repository.mItemList
}
fun getItems(): LiveData<MutableList<Item>> {
return itemList
}
Fragment
override fun onActivityCreated(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onActivityCreated(savedInstanceState)
mSharedViewModel = activity?.run {
ViewModelProviders.of(this).get(SharedViewModel::class.java)
} ?: throw Exception("Invalid Activity")
mSharedViewModel.getItems().observe(viewLifecycleOwner, Observer { item ->
// Update the UI
item.let { mAdapter.setItems(it!!) }
})
}
Adapter
internal fun setItems(items: MutableList<Item>) {
val diffCallback = ItemDiffCallback(this.mItems, items)
val diffResult = DiffUtil.calculateDiff(diffCallback)
this.mItems.clear()
this.mItems.addAll(items)
diffResult.dispatchUpdatesTo(this)
}
EDIT
Using switchMap() still shuffles the entire list when a user presses the favourite button
fun getItems(): LiveData<MutableList<Item>> {
return Transformations.switchMap(mItemList) { list ->
val newLiveData = MutableLiveData<MutableList<Item>>()
val newList = list.toMutableList()
Collections.shuffle(newList)
newLiveData.setValue(newList)
return#switchMap newLiveData }
}

Just use .shuffled() with seeded Random instance. The idea is to randomize the list, but the randomize in the same way, until the process dies and the user relaunches the app to generate a new seed.
Repository
private val seed = System.currentTimeMillis()
val mItemList: LiveData<MutableList<Item>> = Transformations.map(itemDoa.getAllItems()) {
it.shuffled(Random(seed))
}
The seed must be consistent throughout the application's process. I think keeping the seed in the repository is pretty safe, assuming that your repository is implemented in a singleton pattern. If it is not the case, just find yourself a singleton object and cache the seed.

You should consider using switchMap transformation operator on LiveData.
return liveData.switchMap(list -> {
var newLiveData = LiveData<MutableList<Item>>()
var newList = list.toMutableList()
Collections.shuffle(newList)
newLiveData.setValue(newList)
return newLiveData
})
For creating new LiveData you can use LiveData constructor and setValue(T value) method.
As value you can set Collections.shuffle(list)
You could use it in your repository or in the view model.

Paging Library Filter/Search

I am using the Android Paging Library like described here:
https://developer.android.com/topic/libraries/architecture/paging.html
But i also have an EditText for searching Users by Name.
How can i filter the results from the Paging library to display only matching Users?

You can solve this with a MediatorLiveData.
Specifically Transformations.switchMap.
// original code, improved later
public void reloadTasks() {
if(liveResults != null) {
liveResults.removeObserver(this);
}
liveResults = getFilteredResults();
liveResults.observeForever(this);
}
But if you think about it, you should be able to solve this without use of observeForever, especially if we consider that switchMap is also doing something similar.
So what we need is a LiveData<SelectedOption> that is switch-mapped to the LiveData<PagedList<T>> that we need.
private final MutableLiveData<String> filterText = savedStateHandle.getLiveData("filterText")
private final LiveData<List<T>> data;
public MyViewModel() {
data = Transformations.switchMap(
filterText,
(input) -> {
if(input == null || input.equals("")) {
return repository.getData();
} else {
return repository.getFilteredData(input); }
}
});
}
public LiveData<List<T>> getData() {
return data;
}
This way the actual changes from one to another are handled by a MediatorLiveData.

I have used an approach similar to as answered by EpicPandaForce. While it is working, this subscribing/unsubscribing seems tedious. I have started using another DB than Room, so I needed to create my own DataSource.Factory anyway. Apparently it is possible to invalidate a current DataSource and DataSource.Factory creates a new DataSource, that is where I use the search parameter.
My DataSource.Factory:
class SweetSearchDataSourceFactory(private val box: Box<SweetDb>) :
DataSource.Factory<Int, SweetUi>() {
var query = ""
override fun create(): DataSource<Int, SweetUi> {
val lazyList = box.query().contains(SweetDb_.name, query).build().findLazyCached()
return SweetSearchDataSource(lazyList).map { SweetUi(it) }
}
fun search(text: String) {
query = text
}
}
I am using ObjectBox here, but you can just return your room DAO query on create (I guess as it already is a DataSourceFactory, call its own create).
I did not test it, but this might work:
class SweetSearchDataSourceFactory(private val dao: SweetsDao) :
DataSource.Factory<Int, SweetUi>() {
var query = ""
override fun create(): DataSource<Int, SweetUi> {
return dao.searchSweets(query).map { SweetUi(it) }.create()
}
fun search(text: String) {
query = text
}
}
Of course one can just pass a Factory already with the query from dao.
ViewModel:
class SweetsSearchListViewModel
#Inject constructor(
private val dataSourceFactory: SweetSearchDataSourceFactory
) : BaseViewModel() {
companion object {
private const val INITIAL_LOAD_KEY = 0
private const val PAGE_SIZE = 10
private const val PREFETCH_DISTANCE = 20
}
lateinit var sweets: LiveData<PagedList<SweetUi>>
init {
val config = PagedList.Config.Builder()
.setPageSize(PAGE_SIZE)
.setPrefetchDistance(PREFETCH_DISTANCE)
.setEnablePlaceholders(true)
.build()
sweets = LivePagedListBuilder(dataSourceFactory, config).build()
}
fun searchSweets(text: String) {
dataSourceFactory.search(text)
sweets.value?.dataSource?.invalidate()
}
}
However the search query is received, just call searchSweets on ViewModel. It sets search query in the Factory, then invalidates the DataSource. In turn, create is called in the Factory and new instance of DataSource is created with new query and passed to existing LiveData under the hood..

You can go with other answers above, but here is another way to do that: You can make the Factory to produce a different DataSource based on your demand. This is how it's done:
In your DataSource.Factory class, provide setters for parameters needed to initialize the YourDataSource
private String searchText;
...
public void setSearchText(String newSearchText){
this.searchText = newSearchText;
}
#NonNull
#Override
public DataSource<Integer, SearchItem> create() {
YourDataSource dataSource = new YourDataSource(searchText); //create DataSource with parameter you provided
return dataSource;
}
When users input new search text, let your ViewModel class to set the new search text and then call invalidated on the DataSource. In your Activity/Fragment:
yourViewModel.setNewSearchText(searchText); //set new text when user searchs for a text
In your ViewModel, define that method to update the Factory class's searchText:
public void setNewSearchText(String newText){
//you have to call this statement to update the searchText in yourDataSourceFactory first
yourDataSourceFactory.setSearchText(newText);
searchPagedList.getValue().getDataSource().invalidate(); //notify yourDataSourceFactory to create new DataSource for searchPagedList
}
When DataSource is invalidated, DataSource.Factory will call its create() method to create newly DataSource with the newText value you have set. Results will be the same