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Is it possible to load several data asynchronously with Retrofit and wait for all data before doing something else?

Here is my current code. The problem with this code is I need to wait get the data sequentially. The loading time is poor because of this. I want to use something like .enqueue() to get asynchronously several data at once, but I want to wait until I get all the data before continuing the process. Is it possible to do it with Retrofit?
List<Data> datas = new ArrayList<>();
for (long dataId : mDataIds) {
Response<T> response = resource.getData(dataId).execute();
if (response.isSuccessful()) {
datas.add(data.body());
}
}
//do something else

You can solve this problem very elegantly using RxJava.
If you never heard of RxJava before, it is a solution to many of your problems.
If you don't use java8 or retrolambda I recommend you to start using it, as it makes working with RxJava a piece of cake.
Anyway here's what you need to do:
// 1. Stream each value from mDataIds
Observable.from(mDataIds)
// 2. Create a network request for each of the data ids
.flatMap(dataId -> resource.getData(dataId))
// 3. Collect responses to list
.toList()
// Your data is ready
.subscribe(datas -> {}, throwable -> {});

1) First add RxJava2 dependencies to your project
2) Define retrofit api interface methods which return RxJava observable types
public interface DataApi {
#GET("dataById/")
Observable<Data> getData(#Query("id") String id);
}
3) Call api passing input data like below.
Observable.fromIterable(idList).subscribeOn(Schedulers.computation())
.flatMap(id -> {
return retrofitService.getData(id).subscribeOn(Schedulers.io());
}).toList().
.observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread()).subscribe( listOfData -> {// do further processing }, error -> { //print errors} );
For reference : http://www.zoftino.com/retrofit-rxjava-android-example

Define interface with callback Model type.
public interface LoginService {
#GET("/login")
Call<List<Login>> getLogin();
}
In you calling method override the callback method.
LoginService loginService = ServiceGenerator.createService(LoginService.class);
Call<List<Login>> call = loginService.getLogin();
call.enqueue(new Callback<List<Login>>() {
#Override
public void onResponse(Call<List<Login>> call, Response<List<Login>> response) {
if (response.isSuccessful()) {
// Login successful
} else {
// error response, no access to resource?
}
}
#Override
public void onFailure(Call<List<Login>> call, Throwable t) {
// something went completely south (like no internet connection)
Log.d("Error", t.getMessage());
}
}

I would recommend using RxJava and try it. You have something called FlatMap to combine the results.
To Start here is the tutorial start for RxJava2 and Retrofit2.

RxJava concatMap no response

Hope you guys are doing well,
I have been working on a personal Android Project using RxJava and Retrofit. It's a search request for GitHub issues, I am getting input from the user when he clicks Search Button and using a PublishSubject object to emit the search text.
button.setOnClickListener(view -> {
publishSubject.onNext(editText.getText().toString());
});
and I am mapping this emit to an Observable using retrofit like this
publishSubject.concatMap(dataModel::getIssues)
.subscribeOn(Schedulers.computation())
.observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread())
.subscribe(this::loadData, this::onError);
public Observable<List<Issue>> getIssues(String queryText) {
String[] query_params = queryText.split("/");
return gitHubApiService.getIssues(query_params[0], query_params[1], "open");
}
In result I am expecting List of Issues
public void loadData(List<Issue> issues) {
mProgressDialog.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);
if( issues.size() == 0) {
noIssueText.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
} else {
mRecyclerView.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
mIssuesList.clear();
mIssuesList.addAll(issues);
mAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
}
}
But my code seems to have some implementation issue Since it never emits anything from the network, not even on error is called.
I have tested the same example with the Observable I get from Retrofit API, so there is no retrofit error and so I think there is some problem with my concatMap logic.
Any help will be much appreciated

On first parse, I think that you might be making the network call in the main thread. Have you tried the following?
public Observable<List<Issue>> getIssues(String queryText) {
String[] query_params = queryText.split("/");
return gitHubApiService.getIssues(query_params[0], query_params[1], "open")
.subscribeOn(Schedulers.io());
}
Thing is, your onClickListener callback runs on the main thread, and there's no other context switch in the observable pipeline.

How to use RxJava to wait the end of two lists of Retrofit requests

Let me describe my situation:
I want to register new records via an API.
I want to update some records via an API.
I need to be notified when all of these requests have finished, to start another task.
Specifically I have two ArrayList:
ArrayList<Report> createdReports = myHelper.getOfflineCreatedReports();
ArrayList<Report> editedReports = myHelper.getOfflineEditedReports();
Each report can use methods to get Observable instances from my ApiService (Retrofit implementation).
Observable<NewReportResponse> createdReportsObs = Observable.from(createdReports) // .just() != .from()
.flatMap(new Func1<Report, Observable<NewReportResponse>>() {
#Override
public Observable<NewReportResponse> call(Report report) {
return report.postToServer();
}
});
Observable<NewReportResponse> editedReportsObs = Observable.from(editedReports)
.flatMap(new Func1<Report, Observable<NewReportResponse>>() {
#Override
public Observable<NewReportResponse> call(Report report) {
return report.updateInServer();
}
});
I am using the flatMap operator to get one Observable for each report.
But I am not sure how to wait until all of the requests have finished.
I was thinking in using the zip operator.
Observable.zip(createdReportsObs, editedReportsObs, new Func2<NewReportResponse, NewReportResponse, Boolean>() {
#Override
public Boolean call(NewReportResponse justOneResponse, NewReportResponse justOneResponse2) {
return false;
}
});
Unfortunately I saw some examples where zip is used to create pairs of Observables.
Please suggest me what operator I can use to achieve it. Or how to do it using rxJava with a different approach.
Thank you in advance.

Are you using RxJava 2? If so you can use the new completable api. This is assuming you don't need to know any of the server results, just need to wait for them to complete.
Completeable.merge(createdReportsObs.toCompleteable(),
editedReportsObs.toCompleteable())
.subscribe()

This is my way. May not best practice.
Observable.merge(createdReportsObs, editedReportsObs)
.toList()
.flatMap(Observable::from)
.xxx //Now they are completed, do what you want
.subscribe();

Android: Polling a server with Retrofit

I'm building a 2 Player game on Android. The game works turnwise, so player 1 waits until player 2 made his input and vice versa. I have a webserver where I run an API with the Slim Framework. On the clients I use Retrofit. So on the clients I would like to poll my webserver (I know it's not the best approach) every X seconds to check whether there was an input from player 2 or not, if yes change UI (the gameboard).
Dealing with Retrofit I came across RxJava. My problem is to figure out whether I need to use RxJava or not? If yes, are there any really simple examples for polling with retrofit? (Since I send only a couple of key/value pairs) And if not how to do it with retrofit instead?
I found this thread here but it didn't help me too because I still don't know if I need Retrofit + RxJava at all, are there maybe easier ways?

Let's say the interface you defined for Retrofit contains a method like this:
public Observable<GameState> loadGameState(#Query("id") String gameId);
Retrofit methods can be defined in one of three ways:
1.) a simple synchronous one:
public GameState loadGameState(#Query("id") String gameId);
2.) one that take a Callback for asynchronous handling:
public void loadGameState(#Query("id") String gameId, Callback<GameState> callback);
3.) and the one that returns an rxjava Observable, see above. I think if you are going to use Retrofit in conjunction with rxjava it makes the most sense to use this version.
That way you could just use the Observable for a single request directly like this:
mApiService.loadGameState(mGameId)
.observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread())
.subscribe(new Subscriber<GameState>() {
#Override
public void onNext(GameState gameState) {
// use the current game state here
}
// onError and onCompleted are also here
});
If you want to repeatedly poll the server using you can provide the "pulse" using versions of timer() or interval():
Observable.timer(0, 2000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
.flatMap(mApiService.loadGameState(mGameId))
.observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread())
.subscribe(new Subscriber<GameState>() {
#Override
public void onNext(GameState gameState) {
// use the current game state here
}
// onError and onCompleted are also here
}).
It is important to note that I am using flatMap here instead of map - that's because the return value of loadGameState(mGameId) is itself an Observable.
But the version you are using in your update should work too:
Observable.interval(2, TimeUnit.SECONDS, Schedulers.io())
.map(tick -> Api.ReceiveGameTurn())
.doOnError(err -> Log.e("Polling", "Error retrieving messages" + err))
.retry()
.observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread())
.subscribe(sub);
That is, if ReceiveGameTurn() is defined synchronously like my 1.) above, you would use map instead of flatMap.
In both cases the onNext of your Subscriber would be called every two seconds with the latest game state from the server. You can process them one after another of limit the emission to a single item by inserting take(1) before subscribe().
However, regarding the first version: A single network error would be first delivered to onError and then the Observable would stop emitting any more items, rendering your Subscriber useless and without input (remember, onError can only be called once). To work around this you could use any of the onError* methods of rxjava to "redirect" the failure to onNext.
For example:
Observable.timer(0, 2000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
.flatMap(new Func1<Long, Observable<GameState>>(){
#Override
public Observable<GameState> call(Long tick) {
return mApiService.loadGameState(mGameId)
.doOnError(err -> Log.e("Polling", "Error retrieving messages" + err))
.onErrorResumeNext(new Func1<Throwable, Observable<GameState>(){
#Override
public Observable<GameState> call(Throwable throwable) {
return Observable.emtpy());
}
});
}
})
.filter(/* check if it is a valid new game state */)
.take(1)
.observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread())
.subscribe(new Subscriber<GameState>() {
#Override
public void onNext(GameState gameState) {
// use the current game state here
}
// onError and onCompleted are also here
}).
This will every two seconds:
* use Retrofit to get the current game state from the server
* filter out invalid ones
* take the first valid one
* and the unsubscribe
In case of an error:
* it will print an error message in doOnNext
* and otherwise ignore the error: onErrorResumeNext will "consume" the onError-Event (i.e. your Subscriber's onError will not be called) and replaces it with nothing (Observable.empty()).
And, regarding the second version: In case of a network error retry would resubscribe to the interval immediately - and since interval emits the first Integer immediately upon subscription the next request would be sent immediately, too - and not after 3 seconds as you probably want...
Final note: Also, if your game state is quite large, you could also first just poll the server to ask whether a new state is available and only in case of a positive answer reload the new game state.
If you need more elaborate examples, please ask.
UPDATE: I've rewritten parts of this post and added more information in between.
UPDATE 2: I've added a full example of error handling with onErrorResumeNext.

Thank you, I finally made it in a similar way based the post I referred to in my question. Here's my code for now:
Subscriber sub = new Subscriber<Long>() {
#Override
public void onNext(Long _EmittedNumber)
{
GameTurn Turn = Api.ReceiveGameTurn(mGameInfo.GetGameID(), mGameInfo.GetPlayerOneID());
Log.d("Polling", "onNext: GameID - " + Turn.GetGameID());
}
#Override
public void onCompleted() {
Log.d("Polling", "Completed!");
}
#Override
public void onError(Throwable e) {
Log.d("Polling", "Error: " + e);
}
};
Observable.interval(3, TimeUnit.SECONDS, Schedulers.io())
// .map(tick -> Api.ReceiveGameTurn())
// .doOnError(err -> Log.e("Polling", "Error retrieving messages" + err))
.retry()
.subscribe(sub);
The problem now is that I need to terminate emitting when I get a positive answer (a GameTurn). I read about the takeUntil method where I would need to pass another Observable which would emit something once which would trigger the termination of my polling. But I'm not sure how to implement this.
According to your solution, your API method returns an Observable like it is shown on the Retrofit website. Maybe this is the solution? So how would it work?
UPDATE:
I considered #david.miholas advices and tried his suggestion with retry and filter. Below you can find the code for the game initialization. The polling should work identically: Player1 starts a new game -> polls for opponent, Player2 joins the game -> server sends to Player1 opponent's ID -> polling terminated.
Subscriber sub = new Subscriber<String>() {
#Override
public void onNext(String _SearchOpponentResult) {}
#Override
public void onCompleted() {
Log.d("Polling", "Completed!");
}
#Override
public void onError(Throwable e) {
Log.d("Polling", "Error: " + e);
}
};
Observable.interval(3, TimeUnit.SECONDS, Schedulers.io())
.map(tick -> mApiService.SearchForOpponent(mGameInfo.GetGameID()))
.doOnError(err -> Log.e("Polling", "Error retrieving messages: " + err))
.retry()
.filter(new Func1<String, Boolean>()
{
#Override
public Boolean call(String _SearchOpponentResult)
{
Boolean OpponentExists;
if (_SearchOpponentResult != "0")
{
Log.e("Polling", "Filter " + _SearchOpponentResult);
OpponentExists = true;
}
else
{
OpponentExists = false;
}
return OpponentExists;
}
})
.take(1)
.subscribe(sub);
The emission is correct, however I get this log message on every emit:
E/Polling﹕ Error retrieving messages: java.lang.NullPointerException
Apperently doOnError is triggered on every emit. Normally I would get some Retrofit debug logs on every emit which means that mApiService.SearchForOpponent won't get called. What do I do wrong?

Using RX-Java for dependent actions and http requests

I'm trying to use rx-java on Android to do few sequential http requests, each of which is dependent of the response of the former one.
This does not quite fit the map() / doFinall() model and so I'm not sure what would be the best way to do this without getting into "callback hell" as well as writing concise code.
More concretely:
do http GET "/x"
do http GET "/y" if (2) was successfully
do calculation on the result of GET /y
Any suggestions on how to go about this?

I think flatMap is what you're looking for. For example, assuming you have the following methods:
Observable<Foo> getFoo();
Observable<Bar> getBar(Foo foo); //needs a Foo first
You could effectively chain them this way:
getFoo().flatMap(new Func1<Foo, Observable<Bar>>() {
#Override
public Observable<Bar> call(Foo foo) {
return getBar(foo);
}
});
You could then perform some calculation with the final result Bar by subscribing to the resulting Observable<Bar> (full example shown for clarity):
getFoo().flatMap(new Func1<Foo, Observable<Bar>>() {
#Override
public Observable<Bar> call(Foo foo) {
return getBar(foo);
}
}).subscribe(new Action1<Bar>() {
#Override
public void call(Bar bar) {
//everything succeeded, so perform calculation to the Bar
}
}, new Action1<Throwable>() {
#Override
public void call(Throwable throwable) {
//handle an error that occurred anywhere in the chain
}
});
Note that an error anywhere in the process of getting the Foo or the Bar will be handled by the Action1 that we provide when subscribing to the Observable. It is, of course, painfully verbose because Java, but at least it avoids nesting Observables/callback hell.