Using Kotlin Flow in MVVM

LiveData was never designed to be a full-fledged reactive stream. Thread management with LiveData is very hard and making data transformation with transformation operators is very limited. Moreover, testing LiveData becomes very tricky and is likely to open for race conditions if you are using it with coroutines.

Luckily, Kotlin Flow provides asynchronously computed values with the power of Coroutines. Making data transformations becomes very easy with Flow intermediate operators. Furthermore, StateFlow provides caching the current state just like LiveData. Since there is a back-pressure in Flow, unit testing is much simpler with handy Flow terminal operators.

Kotlin Flow is a very powerful reactive stream with its robust operators. Using Flow instead of LiveData makes it easier to handle data transformations and background processes. Finally, testing Flow is much safer and painless compared to LiveData.

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1. Using Kotlin Flow in MVVM
   S. Fatih Giris
   Android Lead @ DNB Bank
   fgiris fatih_grs
   

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2. Sample
   https://github.com/fgiris/LiveDataWithFlowSample
   

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3. Agenda
   • LiveData in MVVM
   • LiveData + Flow
   • Only Flow
   • Testing
   

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4. LiveData in MVVM
   • LiveData
   ✓Lifecycle aware
   ✓No memory leak
   ✓Cache
   ✓…
   

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5. LiveData in MVVM
   • LiveData
   - Backpressure ❌
   Producer
   Observer
   Ref: https://github.com/Froussios/Intro-To-RxJava/blob/master/Part%204%20-%20Concurrency/4.%20Backpressure.md
   

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6. LiveData in MVVM
   • LiveData
   - Backpressure ❌
   - Data transformation 🥵
   

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7. LiveData in MVVM
   • LiveData
   - Backpressure ❌
   - Data transformation ❌
   - Requires lifecycle owner to observe (Activity, Fragment …) 🤔
   

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8. LiveData in MVVM
   • Weather forecast app
   • One-shot request
   • Data stream
   

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9. LiveData in MVVM
   • ViewModel: LiveData
   • Repository: Suspend
   Ref: https://developer.android.com/jetpack/guide
   

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10. LiveData in MVVM
    WeatherForecastRepository.kt
    

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11. LiveData in MVVM
    WeatherForecastRepository.kt
    

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12. LiveData in MVVM
    WeatherForecastViewModel.kt
    

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13. LiveData in MVVM
    WeatherForecastViewModel.kt
    

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14. LiveData in MVVM
    WeatherForecastViewModel.kt
    

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15. LiveData in MVVM
    WeatherForecastViewModel.kt
    

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16. LiveData in MVVM
    WeatherForecastViewModel.kt
    

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17. Return multiple
    values?
    

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19. LiveData in MVVM
    Open Twitter app
    

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20. LiveData in MVVM
    Open Twitter app
    Get the tweets from
    cache
    

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21. LiveData in MVVM
    Open Twitter app
    Get the tweets from
    cache
    Fetch new tweets from
    server
    Update UI
    

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22. LiveData in MVVM
    Open Twitter app
    Get the tweets from
    cache
    Fetch new tweets from
    server
    Update UI
    

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23. LiveData in MVVM
    WeatherForecastRepository.kt
    

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24. LiveData in MVVM
    WeatherForecastRepository.kt
    

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25. Flow 🤩
    

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26. Flow
    • Reactive stream which can return asynchronously
    computed values
    

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27. Flow
    Pros
    • Structured concurrency
    • Cold stream
    • Efficient data transformation
    • Easy testing
    

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28. LiveData + Flow
    • ViewModel: LiveData
    • Repository: Flow
    Ref: https://developer.android.com/jetpack/guide
    

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29. LiveData + Flow
    WeatherForecastRepository.kt
    

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30. LiveData + Flow
    WeatherForecastRepository.kt
    

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31. LiveData + Flow
    WeatherForecastOneShotViewModel.kt
    

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32. LiveData + Flow
    WeatherForecastOneShotViewModel.kt
    Flow
    

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33. LiveData + Flow
    WeatherForecastOneShotViewModel.kt
    Flow
    

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34. LiveData + Flow
    WeatherForecastOneShotFragment.kt
    

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35. LiveData + Flow
    WeatherForecastRepository.kt
    

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36. LiveData + Flow
    WeatherForecastRepository.kt
    Data per second
    

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37. LiveData + Flow
    WeatherForecastDataStreamViewModel.kt
    

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39. Flow
    Intermediate Flow Operators
    • map
    • filter
    • transform
    • onEach
    • …
    

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40. LiveData + Flow
    map operator
    

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41. LiveData + Flow
    map operator
    

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42. LiveData + Flow
    map operator
    

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43. LiveData + Flow
    onStart operator
    

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44. LiveData + Flow
    filter operator
    

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45. LiveData + Flow
    onEach operator
    

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46. LiveData + Flow
    flowOn operator
    

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47. LiveData + Flow
    catch operator
    

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48. LiveData + Flow
    asLiveData extension
    

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49. Why not only Flow?
    

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50. LiveData 👋
    

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51. Flow
    • Cold stream
    • ≠ LiveData
    • Configuration changes 🙄
    

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52. Flow
    WeatherForecastDataStreamFlowViewModel.kt
    😭
    

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53. Flow
    WeatherForecastDataStreamFlowViewModel.kt
    No asLiveData
    

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54. Flow
    WeatherForecastDataStreamFlowFragment.kt
    

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55. Flow
    WeatherForecastDataStreamFlowFragment.kt
    Terminal Operator
    👈
    

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56. Flow
    WeatherForecastDataStreamFlowFragment.kt
    

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58. Testing🚦
    

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59. Testing
    • LiveData
    • LiveData & Coroutines might result some race condition
    • Need to observe again when Transformations used
    

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60. Testing
    • Flow
    • Sequential
    • No race condition
    • Test like a list (toList )
    

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61. Testing
    WeatherForecastRepository.kt
    

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62. Testing
    WeatherForecastRepositoryTest.kt
    

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63. Testing
    WeatherForecastRepositoryTest.kt
    

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64. Testing
    WeatherForecastRepositoryTest.kt
    

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65. Testing
    WeatherForecastRepositoryTest.kt
    

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66. Testing
    WeatherForecastRepositoryTest.kt
    

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67. Testing
    WeatherForecastRepositoryTest.kt
    

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68. Testing
    WeatherForecastRepositoryTest.kt
    

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69. Testing
    Dispatchers.Main -> Android Main Looper -> Android OS
    

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70. Testing
    Solution: TestCoroutineDispatcher
    

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71. Testing
    MainCoroutineRule.kt
    

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72. Testing
    MainCoroutineRule.kt
    

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73. Testing
    MainCoroutineRule.kt
    

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74. TL;DR
    • Flow & LiveData similar
    • One shot request
    • Repository: Suspend or Flow
    • ViewModel: LiveData or Flow (with repeatOnLifecycle in the View layer)
    • Data stream
    • Repository: Flow
    • ViewModel: LiveData or Flow (with repeatOnLifecycle in the View layer)
    • LiveData Tests 😥 - Flow Tests 😎
    

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75. https://medium.com/@girisfth
    Missed something?
    

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76. QUESTIONS
    @fatih_grs
    

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77. Stay safe!
    

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78. References
    • https://proandroiddev.com/using-livedata-flow-in-mvvm-part-i-
    a98fe06077a0
    
    • https://proandroiddev.com/using-livedata-flow-in-mvvm-part-
    ii-252ec15cc93a
    
    • https://github.com/fgiris/LiveDataWithFlowSample
    
    • https://developer.android.com/topic/libraries/architecture/livedata
    
    • https://proandroiddev.com/when-not-to-use-livedata-6a1245b054a6
    
    • https://kotlin.github.io/kotlinx.coroutines/kotlinx-coroutines-core/
    kotlinx.coroutines.flow/index.html
    

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79. References
    • https://medium.com/@elizarov/kotlin-flows-and-
    coroutines-256260fb3bdb
    
    • https://github.com/Kotlin/kotlinx.coroutines/pull/1354
    
    • https://codelabs.developers.google.com/codelabs/
    advanced-kotlin-coroutines/
    
    • https://medium.com/androiddevelopers/unit-testing-livedata-
    and-other-common-observability-problems-bb477262eb04
    
    • https://medium.com/swlh/kotlin-coroutines-in-android-unit-
    test-28ff280fc0d5
    

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