Android Dagger2 + OkHttp + Retrofit dependency cycle error

Question

Hey there I am using Dagger2, Retrofit and OkHttp and I am facing dependency cycle issue.

When providing OkHttp :

@Provides
@ApplicationScope
OkHttpClient provideOkHttpClient(TokenAuthenticator auth,Dispatcher dispatcher){
    return new OkHttpClient.Builder()
            .connectTimeout(Constants.CONNECT_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
            .readTimeout(Constants.READ_TIMEOUT,TimeUnit.SECONDS)
            .writeTimeout(Constants.WRITE_TIMEOUT,TimeUnit.SECONDS)
            .authenticator(auth)
            .dispatcher(dispatcher)
            .build();
}

When providing Retrofit :

@Provides
@ApplicationScope
Retrofit provideRetrofit(Resources resources,Gson gson, OkHttpClient okHttpClient){
    return new Retrofit.Builder()
            .baseUrl(resources.getString(R.string.base_api_url))
            .addConverterFactory(GsonConverterFactory.create(gson))
            .addCallAdapterFactory(RxJava2CallAdapterFactory.create())
            .client(okHttpClient)
            .build();
}

When providing APIService :

@Provides
@ApplicationScope
APIService provideAPI(Retrofit retrofit) {
    return retrofit.create(APIService.class);
}

My APIService interface :

public interface  APIService {
@FormUrlEncoded
@POST("token")
Observable<Response<UserTokenResponse>> refreshUserToken();

--- other methods like login, register ---

}

My TokenAuthenticator class :

@Inject
public TokenAuthenticator(APIService mApi,@NonNull ImmediateSchedulerProvider mSchedulerProvider) {
    this.mApi= mApi;
    this.mSchedulerProvider=mSchedulerProvider;
    mDisposables=new CompositeDisposable();
}

@Override
public  Request authenticate(Route route, Response response) throws IOException {

    request = null;

    mApi.refreshUserToken(...)
            .subscribeOn(mSchedulerProvider.io())
            .observeOn(mSchedulerProvider.ui())
            .doOnSubscribe(d -> mDisposables.add(d))
            .subscribe(tokenResponse -> {
                if(tokenResponse.isSuccessful()) {
                    saveUserToken(tokenResponse.body());
                    request = response.request().newBuilder()
                            .header("Authorization", getUserAccessToken())
                            .build();
                } else {
                    logoutUser();
                }
            },error -> {

            },() -> {});

    mDisposables.clear();
    stop();
    return request;

}

My logcat :

Error:(55, 16) error: Found a dependency cycle:
com.yasinkacmaz.myapp.service.APIService is injected at com.yasinkacmaz.myapp.darkvane.modules.NetworkModule.provideTokenAuthenticator(…, mApi, …)
com.yasinkacmaz.myapp.service.token.TokenAuthenticator is injected at
com.yasinkacmaz.myapp.darkvane.modules.NetworkModule.provideOkHttpClient(…, tokenAuthenticator, …)
okhttp3.OkHttpClient is injected at
com.yasinkacmaz.myapp.darkvane.modules.NetworkModule.provideRetrofit(…, okHttpClient)
retrofit2.Retrofit is injected at
com.yasinkacmaz.myapp.darkvane.modules.NetworkModule.provideAPI(retrofit)
com.yasinkacmaz.myapp.service.APIService is provided at
com.yasinkacmaz.myapp.darkvane.components.ApplicationComponent.exposeAPI()

So my question: My TokenAuthenticator class is depends on APIService but I need to provide TokenAuthenticator when creating APIService. This causes dependency cycle error. How do I beat this , is there anyone facing this issue ? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Your problem is:

1. Your OKHttpClient depends on your Authenticator
2. Your Authenticator depends on a Retrofit Service
3. Retrofit depends on an OKHttpClient (as in point 1)

Hence the circular dependency.

One possible solution here is for your TokenAuthenticator to depend on an APIServiceHolder rather than a APIService. Then your TokenAuthenticator can be provided as a dependency when configuring OKHttpClient regardless of whether the APIService (further down the object graph) has been instantiated or not.

A very simple APIServiceHolder:

public class APIServiceHolder {

    private APIService apiService;

    @Nullable
    APIService apiService() {
        return apiService;
    }

    void setAPIService(APIService apiService) {
        this.apiService = apiService;
    }
}

Then refactor your TokenAuthenticator:

@Inject
public TokenAuthenticator(@NonNull APIServiceHolder apiServiceHolder, @NonNull ImmediateSchedulerProvider schedulerProvider) {
    this.apiServiceHolder = apiServiceHolder;
    this.schedulerProvider = schedulerProvider;
    this.disposables = new CompositeDisposable();
}

@Override
public  Request authenticate(Route route, Response response) throws IOException {

    if (apiServiceHolder.get() == null) {
         //we cannot answer the challenge as no token service is available

         return null //as per contract of Retrofit Authenticator interface for when unable to contest a challenge
    }    

    request = null;            

    TokenResponse tokenResponse = apiServiceHolder.get().blockingGet()

    if (tokenResponse.isSuccessful()) {
        saveUserToken(tokenResponse.body());
        request = response.request().newBuilder()
                     .header("Authorization", getUserAccessToken())
                     .build();
    } else {
       logoutUser();
    }

    return request;
}

Note that the code to retrieve the token should be synchronous. This is part of the contract of Authenticator. The code inside the Authenticator will run off the main thread.

Of course you will need to write the @Provides methods for the same:

@Provides
@ApplicationScope
apiServiceHolder() {
    return new APIServiceHolder();
}

And refactor the provider methods:

@Provides
@ApplicationScope
APIService provideAPI(Retrofit retrofit, APIServiceHolder apiServiceHolder) {
    APIService apiService = retrofit.create(APIService.class);
    apiServiceHolder.setAPIService(apiService);
    return apiService;
}

Note that mutable global state is not usually a good idea. However, if you have your packages organised well you may be able to use access modifiers appropriately to avoid unintended usages of the holder.