Change observable but don't notify subscribers in knockout.js

Question

Is there a way to ignore subscribers on a value change of the observable. Id like to change a value of an observable, but not execute it for the subscribers with knockout.j

Answer 1

I like the solution provided by @RP Niemeyer when all subscribers need to be ignored. However, for my case, I have an observable with 2-way bindings on a Select control. When using @RP Niemeyer, the Select control isn't updated. So, I really needed a way to turn off specific observers, not all. Here is a generalized solution for this case.

Add extensions methods for 'quiet' subscribe and 'quiet' writes.

ko.observable.fn.ignorePokeSubscribe = function (callback, thisValue, event){
    var self = this;
    this.subscribe(function(newValue) {
        if (!self.paused)
            callback(newValue);
    }, thisValue, event);
    return this;
};
ko.observable.fn.poke = function (newValue) {
    this.paused = true;
    var result = this(newValue);
    this.paused = undefined;
    return result;
};

You would subscribe to observable like:

this.name = ko.observable("Bob");
this.name.ignorePokeSubscribe(function(newValue) { /* handler */ }));

Then you would update it without specific notifications by doing:

this.name.poke("Ted");   // standard subscribers still get notified