How to run 2 queries sequentially in a Android RxJava Observable?

Question

I want to run 2 asynchronous tasks, one followed by the other (sequentially). I have read something about ZIP or Flat, but I didn\'t understand it very well...

My pu

Answer 1

You can try my solutions, there are several ways to resolve your problem.
To make sure it's working, I created a stand alone working example and use this API to test: https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1

private final Retrofit retrofit = new Retrofit.Builder()
            .baseUrl("https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/")
            .addConverterFactory(GsonConverterFactory.create())
            .addCallAdapterFactory(RxJavaCallAdapterFactory.create())
            .build();

    private final RestPostsService restPostsService = retrofit.create(RestPostsService.class);

    private Observable getPostById(int id) {
        return restPostsService.getPostsById(id);
    }

RestPostService.java

package app.com.rxretrofit;

import retrofit2.http.GET;
import retrofit2.http.Path;
import rx.Observable;

/**
 * -> Created by Think-Twice-Code-Once on 11/26/2017.
 */

public interface RestPostsService {

    @GET("{id}")
    Observable getPostsById(@Path("id") int id);
}

Solution1: Use when call multiple tasks in sequences, the result of previous tasks is always the input of the next task

getPostById(1)
                .concatMap(posts1 -> {
                    //get post 1 success
                    return getPostById(posts1.getId() + 1);
                })
                .concatMap(posts2 -> {
                    //get post 2 success
                    return getPostById(posts2.getId() + 1);
                })
                .concatMap(posts3 -> {
                    //get post 3success
                    return getPostById(posts3.getId() + 1);
                })
                .subscribeOn(Schedulers.io())
                .observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread())
                .subscribe(finalPosts -> {
                    //get post 4 success
                    Toast.makeText(this, "Final result: " + finalPosts.getId() + " - " + finalPosts.getTitle(),
                            Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
                });

Solution2: Use when call multiple tasks in sequences, all results of previous tasks is the input of the final task (for example: after uploading avatar image and cover image, call api to create new user with these image URLs):

Observable
                .zip(getPostById(1), getPostById(2), getPostById(3), (posts1, posts2, posts3) -> {
                    //this method defines how to zip all separate results into one
                    return posts1.getId() + posts2.getId() + posts3.getId();
                })
                .flatMap(finalPostId -> {
                    //after get all first three posts, get the final posts,
                    // the final posts-id is sum of these posts-id
                    return getPostById(finalPostId);
                })
                .subscribeOn(Schedulers.io())
                .observeOn(AndroidSchedulers.mainThread())
                .subscribe(finalPosts -> {
                    Toast.makeText(this, "Final posts: " + finalPosts.getId() + " - " + finalPosts.getTitle(),
                            Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                });

AndroidManifest

root build.gradle

// Top-level build file where you can add configuration options common to all sub-projects/modules.

buildscript {
    repositories {
        jcenter()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:2.3.3'
        classpath 'me.tatarka:gradle-retrolambda:3.2.0'
        classpath 'me.tatarka.retrolambda.projectlombok:lombok.ast:0.2.3.a2'

        // NOTE: Do not place your application dependencies here; they belong
        // in the individual module build.gradle files
    }

    // Exclude the version that the android plugin depends on.
    configurations.classpath.exclude group: 'com.android.tools.external.lombok'
}

allprojects {
    repositories {
        jcenter()
    }
}

task clean(type: Delete) {
    delete rootProject.buildDir
}

app/build.gradle

apply plugin: 'me.tatarka.retrolambda'
apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 26
    buildToolsVersion "26.0.1"
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "app.com.rxretrofit"
        minSdkVersion 15
        targetSdkVersion 26
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
        testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }

    compileOptions {
        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    }
}

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
    androidTestCompile('com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:2.2.2', {
        exclude group: 'com.android.support', module: 'support-annotations'
    })
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:26.+'
    compile 'com.android.support.constraint:constraint-layout:1.0.2'
    testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'

    provided 'org.projectlombok:lombok:1.16.6'
    compile 'com.squareup.retrofit2:retrofit:2.3.0'
    compile 'com.squareup.retrofit2:converter-gson:2.3.0'
    compile 'com.squareup.retrofit2:adapter-rxjava:2.3.0'
    compile 'io.reactivex:rxandroid:1.2.1'
}

model

package app.com.rxretrofit;
import com.google.gson.annotations.SerializedName;
/**
 * -> Created by Think-Twice-Code-Once on 11/26/2017.
 */
public class Posts {
    @SerializedName("userId")
    private int userId;
    @SerializedName("id")
    private int id;
    @SerializedName("title")
    private String title;
    @SerializedName("body")
    private String body;
    public int getUserId() {
        return userId;
    }
    public void setUserId(int userId) {
        this.userId = userId;
    }
    public int getId() {
        return id;
    }
    public void setId(int id) {
        this.id = id;
    }
    public String getTitle() {
        return title;
    }
    public void setTitle(String title) {
        this.title = title;
    }
    public String getBody() {
        return body;
    }
    public void setBody(String body) {
        this.body = body;
    }
}

By the way, use Rx + Retrofit + Dagger + MVP pattern is a great combine.