RxJava Fetching Observables In Parallel

Question

I need some help in implementing parallel asynchronous calls in RxJava. I have picked up a simple use case wherein the FIRST call fetches (rather searches) a list of product

Answer 1

People who are still @ JDK 7, whose IDE doesn't automatically detect JDK 8 source just yet and what to try out the above brilliant response (and explanation) by @benjchristensen can use this shamelessly refractored, JDK 7, code. Kudos to @benjchristensen for an amazing explanation and example !

import java.util.List;

import rx.Observable;
import rx.Subscriber;
import rx.functions.Action0;
import rx.functions.Func1;
import rx.functions.Func2;
import rx.schedulers.Schedulers;

public class ParallelExecutionExample
{

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        final long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();

        Observable searchTile = getSearchResults("search term")
                .doOnSubscribe(new Action0()
                        {

                            @Override
                            public void call()
                            {
                                logTime("Search started ", startTime);
                            }
                })
                .doOnCompleted(new Action0()
                        {

                            @Override
                            public void call()
                            {
                                logTime("Search completed ", startTime);
                            }
                });
        Observable populatedTiles = searchTile.flatMap(new Func1>()
        {

            @Override
            public Observable call(final Tile t)
            {
                Observable reviews = getSellerReviews(t.getSellerId())
                        .doOnCompleted(new Action0()
                                {

                                    @Override
                                    public void call()
                                    {
                                        logTime("getSellerReviews[" + t.id + "] completed ", startTime);
                                    }
                        });
                Observable imageUrl = getProductImage(t.getProductId())
                        .doOnCompleted(new Action0()
                                {

                                    @Override
                                    public void call()
                                    {
                                        logTime("getProductImage[" + t.id + "] completed ", startTime);
                                    }
                        });
                return Observable.zip(reviews, imageUrl, new Func2()
                {

                    @Override
                    public TileResponse call(Reviews r, String u)
                    {
                        return new TileResponse(t, r, u);
                    }
                })
                        .doOnCompleted(new Action0()
                                {

                                    @Override
                                    public void call()
                                    {
                                        logTime("zip[" + t.id + "] completed ", startTime);
                                    }
                        });
            }
        });

        List allTiles = populatedTiles
                .toList()
                .doOnCompleted(new Action0()
                        {

                            @Override
                            public void call()
                            {
                                logTime("All Tiles Completed ", startTime);
                            }
                })
                .toBlocking()
                .single();
    }

    private static Observable getSearchResults(String string)
    {
        return mockClient(new Tile(1), new Tile(2), new Tile(3));
    }

    private static Observable getSellerReviews(int id)
    {
        return mockClient(new Reviews());
    }

    private static Observable getProductImage(int id)
    {
        return mockClient("image_" + id);
    }

    private static void logTime(String message, long startTime)
    {
        System.out.println(message + " => " + (System.currentTimeMillis() - startTime) + "ms");
    }

    private static  Observable mockClient(final T... ts)
    {
        return Observable.create(new Observable.OnSubscribe()
        {

            @Override
            public void call(Subscriber s)
            {
                try
                {
                    Thread.sleep(1000);
                }
                catch (Exception e)
                {
                }
                for (T t : ts)
                {
                    s.onNext(t);
                }
                s.onCompleted();
            }
        })
                .subscribeOn(Schedulers.io());
        // note the use of subscribeOn to make an otherwise synchronous Observable async
    }

    public static class TileResponse
    {

        public TileResponse(Tile t, Reviews r, String u)
        {
            // store the values
        }

    }

    public static class Tile
    {

        private final int id;

        public Tile(int i)
        {
            this.id = i;
        }

        public int getSellerId()
        {
            return id;
        }

        public int getProductId()
        {
            return id;
        }

    }

    public static class Reviews
    {

    }
}