I have a flow :
val myflow = kotlinx.coroutines.flow.flow<Message>{}
and want to emit values with function:
override suspend fun sendMessage(chat: Chat, message: Message) {
myflow.emit(message)
}
But compiler does not allow me to do this, is there any workarounds to solve this problem?
You can use StateFlow for such use case.
Here's a sample code.
import kotlinx.coroutines.*
import kotlinx.coroutines.flow.*
val chatFlow = MutableStateFlow<String>("")
fun main() = runBlocking {
// Observe values
val job = launch {
chatFlow.collect {
print("$it ")
}
}
// Change values
arrayOf("Hey", "Hi", "Hello").forEach {
delay(100)
sendMessage(it)
}
delay(1000)
// Cancel running job
job.cancel()
job.join()
}
suspend fun sendMessage(message: String) {
chatFlow.value = message
}
You can test this code by running below snippet.
<iframe src="https://pl.kotl.in/DUBDfUnX3" style="width:600px;"></iframe>
The answer of Animesh Sahu is pretty much correct. You can also return a Channel as a flow (see consumeAsFlow or asFlow on a BroadcastChannel).
But there is also a thing called StateFlow currently in development by Kotlin team, which is, in part, meant to implement a similar behavior, although it is unknown when it is going to be ready.
EDIT: StateFlow and SharedFlow have been released as part of a stable API (https://blog.jetbrains.com/kotlin/2020/10/kotlinx-coroutines-1-4-0-introducing-stateflow-and-sharedflow/). These tools can and should be used when state management is required in an async execution context.
Use a SharedStateFlow it has got everything you need.
Initialization of your flow:
val myFlow = MutableSharedFlow<Message>()
and now it should just work as you were trying earlier with:
override suspend fun sendMessage(chat: Chat, message: Message) {
myFlow.emit(message)
}
Flow is self contained, once the block (lambda) inside the flow is executed the flow is over, you've to do operations inside and emit them from there.
Here is the similar github issue, says:
Afaik Flow is designed to be a self contained, replayable, cold stream, so emission from outside of it's own scope wouldn't be part of the contract. I think what you're looking for is a Channel.
And IMHO you're probably looking at the Channels, or specifically a ConflatedBroadcastChannel for multiple receivers. The difference between a normal channel and a broadcast channel is that multiple receivers can listen to a broadcast channel using openSubscription function which returns a ReceiveChannel associated with the BroadcastChannel.
Related
I have a Kotlin Backend/server API using Ktor, and inside a certain endpoint's service logic I need to concurrently get details for a list of ids and then return it all to the client with the 200 response.
The way I wanted to do it is by using async{} and awaitAll()
However, I can't understand whether I should use runBlocking or GlobalScope.
What is really the difference here?
fun getDetails(): List<Detail> {
val fetched: MutableList<Details> = mutableListOf()
GlobalScope.launch { --> Option 1
runBlocking { ---> Option 2
Dispatchers.IO --> Option 3 (or any other dispatcher ..)
myIds.map { id ->
async {
val providerDetails = getDetails(id)
fetched += providerDetails
}
}.awaitAll()
}
return fetched
}
launch starts a coroutine that runs in parallel with your current code, so fetched would still be empty by the time your getDetails() function returns. The coroutine will continue running and mutating the List that you have passed out of the function while the code that retrieved the list already has the reference back and will be using it, so there's a pretty good chance of triggering a ConcurrentModificationException. Basically, this is not a viable solution at all.
runBlocking runs a coroutine while blocking the thread that called it. The coroutine will be completely finished before the return fetched line, so this will work if you are OK with blocking the calling thread.
Specifying a Dispatcher isn't an alternative to launch or runBlocking. It is an argument that you can add to either to determine the thread pool used for the coroutine and its children. Since you are doing IO and parallel work, you should probably be using runBlocking(Dispatchers.IO).
Your code can be simplified to avoid the extra, unnecessary mutable list:
fun getDetails(): List<Detail> = runBlocking(Dispatchers.IO) {
myIds.map { id ->
async {
getDetails(id)
}
}.awaitAll()
}
Note that this function will rethrow any exceptions thrown by getDetails().
If your project uses coroutines more generally, you probably have higher level coroutines running, in which case this should probably be a suspend function (non-blocking) instead:
suspend fun getDetails(): List<Detail> = withContext(Dispatchers.IO) {
myIds.map { id ->
async {
getDetails(id)
}
}.awaitAll()
}
I am trying call
override suspend fun getLoginResponse(loginRequest: LoginRequest) = flow {
emit(ApiResult.Loading)
networkCall {
loginService.postLoginResponse(loginRequest)
}.let { apiResult->
apiResult.isSuccessAndNotNull().letOnTrueOnSuspend {
(apiResult.getResult() as? LoginResponse)?.let {
emit(ApiResult.Success(it))
Timber.d(it.toString())
} ?: run { emit(ApiResult.Error(TypeCastException("unknown error.")))
Timber.d(TypeCastException("unknown error."))}
}
}
}.flowOn(Dispatchers.IO)
from my viewModel like this :
private fun loginResponse(email: String, password: String, device: String){
viewModelScope.launch {
try {
var loginRequest = LoginRequest(email, password, device)
loginResponseFromServer = loginRepository.getLoginResponse(loginRequest)
.asLiveData(viewModelScope.coroutineContext+Dispatchers.Default)
Timber.d(loginResponseFromServer.toString())
}
catch (e: NetworkErrorException){
validationError.value = "Network communication error!"
}
}
}
When I debug or run the code getLoginResponse not even calling. Is there anything I am missing?
First of all, getLoginResponse doesn't need to be a suspend function since it just returns a cold Flow. If you remove the suspend modifier, you won't need a coroutine to call it or convert it to LiveData.
Second, a LiveData that is built with .asLiveData() doesn't begin to collect the Flow (remains cold) until it first becomes active. This is in the docs for the function. It becomes active when it receives its first observer, but your code has not begun to observe it, which is why the code in your flow block is never called.
You also don't need to specify a different dispatcher for your LiveData. It doesn't matter which dispatcher you're collecting in since collecting it isn't blocking code.
However, LiveData isn't something that should be collected within a ViewModel. It's for UI to interact. The LiveData should be observed from the Fragment.
You need to move your catching of the network exception into your flow builder. The exception will not be thrown at the time of creating the Flow or LiveData, but rather at the time the request is being made (in the Flow's execution).
I'm not sure exactly how to rewrite your flow builder to properly catch because it has functions I haven't seen. Just a tip, but chaining together lots of scope functions into one statement makes code hard to read and reason about.
So to do this as LiveData, you can change your code as follows:
private fun loginResponse(email: String, password: String, device: String): LiveData<LoginResponse> {
val loginRequest = LoginRequest(email, password, device)
return loginRepository.getLoginResponse(loginRequest)
.asLiveData()
}
And then observe it in your Fragment.
However
LiveData and Flow don't really fit this use case, because you want to make a single request and get a single response. Your repository should just expose a suspend function that returns the response. Then your ViewModel can have a suspend function that just passes through the response by calling the repository's suspend function.
In Vert.x, suppose I have functions like this:
fun caller() {
runBlocking {
val job = GlobalScope.launch(vertx.dispatcher()) {
val r = suspendPart()
println(r) // never execute
}
println(1) // printed
job.join()
println(2) // never execute
}
}
suspend fun asyncPart(): Future<Int> {
val promise: Promise<Int> = Promise.promise()
delay(500)
promise.complete(0)
return promise.future()
}
suspend fun suspendPart(): Int {
return asyncPart().await()
}
r(which is 0) and 2 will never be printed, only 1 is printed. How should I fix it?
My intention is to wait for asyncPart completes (I have a AsyncResult inside actually).
Presumably your caller() method is called by vert.x and this means you're breaking one of the pivotal rules of vert.x:
Don’t block me!
Vert.x is mostly based on very fast single-threaded work, what this means is that when you block the thread in caller, it is unable to execute the coroutine scheduled with launch leading to a deadlock.
The proper way to solve this is to remove your blocking code through the integration vert.x provides for kotlin coroutines.
Alternatively using a different dispatcher for launch would also work since the other thread would unblock the vert.x dispatcher. But this would not solve the primary issue of blocking calls in the vert.x dispatcher.
The main idea is to have non-suspend function runInBackgroundAndUseInCallerThread(callback: (SomeModel) -> Unit) which run some work asynchronously in background (another thread) and after work is done - run callback in the caller thread (thread that launched runInBackgroundAndUseInCallerThread).
Below I wrote an example code, but I'm not sure how correct it is and whether it is possible at all. With the println("1/2/3/...") I marked the desired call order.
getDispatcherFromCurrentThread - if is possible to implement this function, then solution can be used, but I don't know how to implement it and is it right to do it like that at all.
Therefore, please do not consider it as the only solution.
import kotlinx.coroutines.*
import kotlin.concurrent.thread
fun main() {
println("1")
runInBackgroundAndUseInCallerThread {
println("4")
println("Hello ${it.someField} from ${Thread.currentThread().name}") // should be "Hello TestField from main"
}
println("2")
thread(name = "Second thread") {
runInBackgroundAndUseInCallerThread {
println("5")
println("Hello ${it.someField} from ${Thread.currentThread().name}") // should be "Hello TestField from Second thread"
}
}
println("3")
Thread.sleep(3000)
println("6")
}
fun runInBackgroundAndUseInCallerThread(callback: (SomeModel) -> Unit) {
val dispatcherFromCallerThread: CoroutineDispatcher = getDispatcherFromCurrentThread()
CoroutineScope(Dispatchers.IO).launch {
val result: SomeModel = getModelResult()
launch(dispatcherFromCallerThread) { callback(result) }
}
}
data class SomeModel(val someField: String)
suspend fun getModelResult(): SomeModel {
delay(1000)
return SomeModel("TestField")
}
fun getDispatcherFromCurrentThread(): CoroutineDispatcher {
// TODO: Create dispatcher from current thread... How to do that?
}
Unless the thread is designed to work as a dispatcher there isn't a universal way to make it do so.
The only way which comes to mind is the fact that runBlocking is re-entrant and will create an event-loop in the existing thread, however it will block all non-coroutine code from executing on that thread until it completes.
This ends up looking like:
fun runInBackgroundAndUseInCallerThread(callback: (SomeModel) -> Unit) {
callback(runBlocking(Dispatchers.IO) {
getModelResult()
})
}
dispatcher really is a coroutineContext and it is meaningful when used inside a scope
thus if you want pass dispatcher of parent scope to child scope you can do it.
GlobalScope.launch {
val dispatcher = this.coroutineContext
CoroutineScope(dispatcher).launch {
}
}
therefor getDispatcherFromCurrentThread should be like this.
fun getDispatcherFromCurrentThread(scope: CoroutineScope): CoroutineContext {
return scope.coroutineContext
}
and
GlobalScope.launch {
val dispatcher = getDispatcherFromCurrentThread(this)
CoroutineScope(dispatcher).launch {
}
}
which run some work asynchronously in background (another thread) and after work is done - run callback in the caller thread
First try to answer this question: what is the calling thread supposed to do while the background work is in progress?
Clearly it can't go on to the next line of your code, which is supposed to run after finishing the background work.
You also don't want it to block and wait.
What code should it run, then?
And the only reasonable answer is as follows: the calling thread should, at its topmost level of execution (entry-point function), run an infinite event loop. The code in your question should be inside an event handler submitted to the event loop. At the point you want to wait for the background work, the handler must return so the thread can go on handling other events, and you must have another handler ready to submit when the background work is done. This second handler, corresponding to your callback, is called the continuation and Kotlin provides it automatically. You don't in fact need your own callback.
However, now the most sensitive issue arises: how will you submit the continuation to the event loop? This is not something you can abstract over, you must use some API specific to the event loop in question.
And this is why Kotlin has the notion of a Dispatcher. It captures the case-specific concern of dispatching continuations to the desired thread. You seem to want to solve it without the need to write a dispatcher dedicated to each specific event loop, and unfortunately this is impossible.
Is there any kotlin idiomatic way to read a file content's asynchronously? I couldn't find anything in documentation.
A least as of Java 7 (which is where Android is stuck), there isn't any API that would tap into the low-level async file IO support (like io_uring). There is a class called AsynchronousFileChannel, but, as its docs state,
An AsynchronousFileChannel is associated with a thread pool to which tasks are submitted to handle I/O events and dispatch to completion handlers that consume the results of I/O operations on the channel.
That makes it no better than the following, bog-standard Kotlin idiom:
launch {
val contents = withContext(Dispatchers.IO) {
FileInputStream("filename.txt").use { it.readBytes() }
}
processContents(contents)
}
go_on_with_other_stuff_while_file_is_loading()
This uses Kotlin's own dedicated IO thread pool and unblocks the UI thread. If you're on Android, that is your actual concern, anyway.
Java NIO Asynchronous Channel is the tool you want.
Check out this AsynchronousFileChannel.aRead extension function from coroutine example:
suspend fun AsynchronousFileChannel.aRead(buf: ByteBuffer): Int =
suspendCoroutine { cont ->
read(buf, 0L, Unit, object : CompletionHandler<Int, Unit> {
override fun completed(bytesRead: Int, attachment: Unit) {
cont.resume(bytesRead)
}
override fun failed(exception: Throwable, attachment: Unit) {
cont.resumeWithException(exception)
}
})
}
You just open an AsynchronousFileChannel then call this aRead() in a coroutine,
val channel = AsynchronousFileChannel.open(Paths.get(fileName))
try {
val buf = ByteBuffer.allocate(4096)
val bytesRead = channel.aRead(buf)
} finally {
channel.close()
}
It's an essential function, don't know why it is not part of coroutine-core lib.
javasync/RxIo uses Java NIO Asynchronous Channel to provide a non-blocking API to read and write a file content's asynchronously, including kotlin idiomatic way. Next you have two examples: one reading/writing in bulk through coroutines, and other iterating lines through an asynchronous Kotlin Flow:
suspend fun copyNio(from: String, to: String) {
val data = Path(from).readText() // suspension point
Path(to).writeText(data) // suspension point
}
fun printLinesFrom(filename: String) {
Path(filename)
.lines() // Flow<String>
.onEach(::println)
.collect() // block if you want to wait for completion
}
Disclaimer I am the author and main contributor of javasync/RxIo