Kotlin: Is it possible to make a function, which calls a retrofit service, to return a String value? - kotlin

Question

I have a Fragment and a View Model.
The layout of the Fragment contains a button.
When the button is clicked, we try to get an API response, which contains a url.
That url is used to start an intent to open a web page.
I am currently accomplishing this with event driven programming.
The button in the Fragment is clicked.
The function in the view model is called to get the API response, which contains the url.
The url in the view model is assigned as live data, which is observed in the fragment.
The fragment observes the url live data has changed. It attempts to launch the WebView with the new url.
Can the Fragment skip Observing for the url and directly get the ViewModel function to return a string?
Here is the code for the Fragment:
override fun onCreateView(inflater: LayoutInflater, container: ViewGroup?, savedInstanceState: Bundle?): View? {
// Set the OnClickListener
myButton.setOnClickListener {
myViewModel.getUrlQueryResults()
}
// Observables to open WebView from Url
myViewModel.myUrl.observe(viewLifecycleOwner, Observer {
it?.let{
if (it.isEmpty()) {
// No Url found in this API response
}
else {
// Open the WebView
try {
val intent = Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(it))
startActivity(intent)
}
catch (e: Exception) {
// Log the catch statement
}
}
}
})
}
Here is the code for the ViewModel:
// Live data observed in fragment. When this changes, fragment will attempt to launch Website with the url
private val _myUrl = MutableLiveData<String>()
val myUrl: LiveData<String>
get() = _myUrl
// Possible to make this return a string?
fun getUrlQueryResults() {
InfoQueryApi.retrofitService.getInfo(apiKey).enqueue(object : Callback<String> {
override fun onResponse(call: Call<String>, response: Response<String>) {
try {
// Store the response here
apiResponse = parseInfoJsonResult(JSONObject(response.body()!!))
// Grab the url from the response
var urlFromResponse = apiResponse?.url
if (urlFromResponse.isNullOrEmpty()) {
urlFromResponse = ""
}
// Store the urlFromResponse in the live data so Fragment can Observe and act when the value changes
_myUrl.value = urlFromResponse
} catch (e: Exception) {
// Log catch statement
}
}
override fun onFailure(call: Call<String>, t: Throwable) {
// Log error
}
})
}