Package icyllis.modernui.lifecycle

Class LiveData<T>

java.lang.Object
icyllis.modernui.lifecycle.LiveData<T>
Type Parameters:
T - The type of data held by this instance
Direct Known Subclasses:
MutableLiveData
public abstract class LiveData<T> extends Object
LiveData is a data holder class that can be observed within a given lifecycle. This means that an Observer can be added in a pair with a LifecycleOwner, and this observer will be notified about modifications of the wrapped data only if the paired LifecycleOwner is in active state. LifecycleOwner is considered as active, if its state is Lifecycle.State.STARTED or Lifecycle.State.RESUMED. An observer added via observeForever(Observer) is considered as always active and thus will always be notified about modifications. For those observers, you should manually call removeObserver(Observer).

An observer added with a Lifecycle will be automatically removed if the corresponding Lifecycle moves to Lifecycle.State.DESTROYED state. This is especially useful for activities and fragments where they can safely observe LiveData and not worry about leaks: they will be instantly unsubscribed when they are destroyed.

In addition, LiveData has onActive() and onInactive() methods to get notified when number of active Observers change between 0 and 1. This allows LiveData to release any heavy resources when it does not have any Observers that are actively observing.

This class is designed to hold individual data fields of ViewModel, but can also be used for sharing data between different modules in your application in a decoupled fashion.

An instance of this class takes a total of 240 bytes at least.

See Also:

  • Constructor Details

    • LiveData

      public LiveData(T value)
      Creates a LiveData initialized with the given value.
      Parameters:
      value - initial value

    • LiveData

      public LiveData()
      Creates a LiveData with no value assigned to it.

  • Method Details

    • observe

      @UiThread public void observe(@Nonnull LifecycleOwner owner, @Nonnull Observer<? super T> observer)
      Adds the given observer to the observers list within the lifespan of the given owner. The events are dispatched on the main thread. If LiveData already has data set, it will be delivered to the observer.

      The observer will only receive events if the owner is in Lifecycle.State.STARTED or Lifecycle.State.RESUMED state (active).

      If the owner moves to the Lifecycle.State.DESTROYED state, the observer will automatically be removed.

      When data changes while the owner is not active, it will not receive any updates. If it becomes active again, it will receive the last available data automatically.

      LiveData keeps a strong reference to the observer and the owner as long as the given LifecycleOwner is not destroyed. When it is destroyed, LiveData removes references to the observer & the owner.

      If the given owner is already in Lifecycle.State.DESTROYED state, LiveData ignores the call.

      If the given owner, observer tuple is already in the list, the call is ignored. If the observer is already in the list with another owner, LiveData throws an IllegalArgumentException.

      Parameters:
      owner - The LifecycleOwner which controls the observer
      observer - The observer that will receive the events

    • observeForever

      @UiThread public void observeForever(@Nonnull Observer<? super T> observer)
      Adds the given observer to the observers list. This call is similar to observe(LifecycleOwner, Observer) with a LifecycleOwner, which is always active. This means that the given observer will receive all events and will never be automatically removed. You should manually call removeObserver(Observer) to stop observing this LiveData. While LiveData has one of such observers, it will be considered as active.

      If the observer was already added with an owner to this LiveData, LiveData throws an IllegalArgumentException.

      Parameters:
      observer - The observer that will receive the events

    • removeObserver

      @UiThread public void removeObserver(@Nonnull Observer<? super T> observer)
      Removes the given observer from the observers list.
      Parameters:
      observer - The Observer to receive events.

    • removeObservers

      @UiThread public void removeObservers(@Nonnull LifecycleOwner owner)
      Removes all observers that are tied to the given LifecycleOwner.
      Parameters:
      owner - The LifecycleOwner scope for the observers to be removed.

    • postValue

      protected void postValue(T value)
      Posts a task to a main thread to set the given value. So if you have a following code executed in the main thread: 
       liveData.postValue("a");
 liveData.setValue("b");
      The value "b" would be set at first and later the main thread would override it with the value "a".

      If you called this method multiple times before a main thread executed a posted task, only the last value would be dispatched.

      Parameters:
      value - The new value

    • setValue

      @UiThread protected void setValue(T value)
      Sets the value. If there are active observers, the value will be dispatched to them.

      This method must be called from the main thread. If you need set a value from a background thread, you can use postValue(Object)

      Parameters:
      value - The new value

    • getValue

      @Nullable public T getValue()
      Returns the current value. Note that calling this method on a background thread does not guarantee that the latest value set will be received.
      Returns:
      the current value

    • onActive

      protected void onActive()
      Called when the number of active observers change to 1 from 0.

      This callback can be used to know that this LiveData is being used thus should be kept up to date.

    • onInactive

      protected void onInactive()
      Called when the number of active observers change from 1 to 0.

      This does not mean that there are no observers left, there may still be observers but their lifecycle states aren't Lifecycle.State.STARTED or Lifecycle.State.RESUMED (like an Activity in the back stack).

      You can check if there are observers via hasObservers().

    • hasObservers

      public boolean hasObservers()
      Returns true if this LiveData has observers.
      Returns:
      true if this LiveData has observers

    • hasActiveObservers

      public boolean hasActiveObservers()
      Returns true if this LiveData has active observers.
      Returns:
      true if this LiveData has active observers