How would I "wrap" this not-quite-"by lazy" result caching function call in idiomatic Kotlin? - kotlin

Question

I can't use "by lazy" because the callbacks require suspendCoroutine, which borks in android if it blocks the main thread, so I have to use the following "cache the result" pattern over and over. Is there a way to wrap it in a funButUseCachedResultsIfTheyAlreadyExist pattern to encapsulate the xCached object?
private var cameraDeviceCached: CameraDevice? = null
private suspend fun cameraDevice(): CameraDevice {
cameraDeviceCached?.also { return it }
return suspendCoroutine { cont: Continuation<CameraDevice> ->
... deep callbacks with cont.resume(camera) ...
}.also {
cameraDeviceCached = it
}
}
When what I'd really like to write is
private suspend fun cameraDevice(): CameraDevice = theMagicFunction { cont ->
... deep callbacks with cont.resume(camera) ...
}

Answer 1

You can build a generalized solution by wrapping an async call as follows:
import kotlinx.coroutines.*
import kotlinx.coroutines.CoroutineStart.LAZY
class LazySuspendFun<out T>(
scope: CoroutineScope,
private val block: suspend () -> T
) {
private val deferred = scope.async(Dispatchers.Unconfined, LAZY) { block() }
suspend operator fun invoke() = deferred.await()
}
fun <T> CoroutineScope.lazySuspendFun(block: suspend () -> T) =
LazySuspendFun(this, block)
This is a simple example of how you can use it. Note that we are able to compose them so that we use a lazy-inited value as a dependency to getting another one:
val fetchToken = lazySuspendFun<String> {
suspendCoroutine { continuation ->
Thread {
info { "Fetching token" }
sleep(3000)
info { "Got token" }
continuation.resume("hodda_")
}.start()
}
}
val fetchPosts = lazySuspendFun<List<String>> {
val token = fetchToken()
suspendCoroutine { continuation ->
Thread {
info { "Fetching posts" }
sleep(3000)
info { "Got posts" }
continuation.resume(listOf("${token}post1", "${token}post2"))
}
}
}
On the calling side you must be inside some coroutine context so you can call the suspending functions:
myScope.launch {
val posts = fetchPosts()
...
}
This solution is robust enough that you can concurrently request the value several times and the initializer will run only once.

Answer 2

I'll write this as an answer, since it's not possible to post much code in comments.
What you're looking for is something like this:
private suspend fun cameraDevice() = theMagicFunction {
CameraDevice()
}()
suspend fun theMagicFunction(block: ()->CameraDevice): () -> CameraDevice {
var cameraDeviceCached: CameraDevice? = null
return fun(): CameraDevice {
cameraDeviceCached?.also { return it }
return suspendCoroutine { cont: Continuation<CameraDevice> ->
cont.resume(block())
}.also {
cameraDeviceCached = it
}
}
}
Unfortunately, this will not compile, since closures cannot be suspendable, and neither are local functions.
Best I can suggest, unless I miss a solution there, is to encapsulate this in a class, if this variable bothers you too much.