Android LiveData prevent receive the last value on observe

Question

Is it possible to prevent LiveData receive the last value when start observing? I am considering to use LiveData as events.

For example eve

Answer 1

I created a LiveData object FreshLiveData, which emits the onChange to the observer only after there is a call to setValue or postValue.

FreshLiveData.kt

/**
 * A lifecycle-aware observable that emits only new data after subscription. Any data that has
 * already been set, before the observable has subscribed, will be ignored.
 *
 * This avoids a common problem with events: on configuration change (like rotation, font change) an
 * update can be emitted if the observer is active. This LiveData only calls the observable if
 * there's an explicit call to setValue() or postValue().
 *
 * All observers will be notified of change(s).
 */
class FreshLiveData : MutableLiveData() {

    private val observers = mutableMapOf()

    override fun observe(owner: LifecycleOwner, observer: Observer) {
        @Suppress("UNCHECKED_CAST")
        observer as Observer
        observers[owner].apply {
            if (this == null) {
                observers[owner] = FreshLiveDataObserver(observer).apply {
                    super.observe(owner, this)
                }
            } else {
                add(observer)
            }
        }
    }

    override fun observeForever(observer: Observer) {
        @Suppress("UNCHECKED_CAST")
        observer as Observer
        observers[ProcessLifecycleOwner.get()].apply {
            if (this == null) {
                observers[ProcessLifecycleOwner.get()] = FreshLiveDataObserver(observer).apply {
                    super.observeForever(this)
                }
            } else {
                add(observer)
            }
        }
    }

    override fun removeObservers(owner: LifecycleOwner) {
        observers.remove(owner)
        super.removeObservers(owner)
    }

    override fun removeObserver(observer: Observer) {
        @Suppress("UNCHECKED_CAST")
        observers.forEach { it.value.remove(observer as Observer) }
        super.removeObserver(observer)
    }

    @MainThread
    override fun setValue(t: T?) {
        observers.forEach { it.value.setPending() }
        super.setValue(t)
    }

    override fun postValue(value: T) {
        observers.forEach { it.value.setPending() }
        super.postValue(value)
    }

    inner class FreshLiveDataObserver(observer: Observer) : Observer {
        private val observers = mutableSetOf>()
        private val pending = AtomicBoolean(false)

        init {
            observers.add(observer)
        }

        fun add(observer: Observer) = observers.add(observer)
        fun remove(observer: Observer) = observers.remove(observer)
        fun setPending() = pending.set(true)

        override fun onChanged(t: T) {
            if (pending.compareAndSet(true, false)) {
                observers.forEach { observer ->
                    observer.onChanged(t)
                }
            }
        }

    }
}

and here is an extension for transforming an existing LiveData to a FreshLiveData.

LiveDataExtensions.kt

@MainThread
fun  LiveData.toFreshLiveData(): LiveData {
    val freshLiveData = FreshLiveData()
    val output = MediatorLiveData()
    // push any onChange from the LiveData to the FreshLiveData
    output.addSource(this) { liveDataValue -> freshLiveData.value = liveDataValue }
    // then push any onChange from the FreshLiveData out
    output.addSource(freshLiveData) { freshLiveDataValue -> output.value = freshLiveDataValue }
    return output
}

Usage:

val liveData = MutableLiveData()
liveData.value = false
liveData.toFreshLiveData().observeForever {
    // won't get called with `it = false` because the observe was setup after setting that livedata value
    // will get called with `it = true` because the observer was setup before setting that livedata value
}
liveData.value = false

val freshLiveData = FreshLiveData()
freshLiveData.value = false
freshLiveData.observeForever {
    // won't get called with `it = false` because the observe was setup after setting that livedata value
    // will get called with `it = true` because the observer was setup before setting that livedata value
}
freshLiveData.value = true