how to handle callback using kotlin coroutines

Question

the following snippet returns the result as 'null' on sequential code flow. I understand coroutines could be a viable solution to handle the callback asynchronously.

    fun getUserProperty(path: String): String? {
        var result: String? = null
        database.child(KEY_USERS).child(getUid()).child(path)
            .addListenerForSingleValueEvent(object : ValueEventListener {
                override fun onCancelled(error: DatabaseError) {
                    Log.e(TAG, "error: $error")
                }

                override fun onDataChange(snapshot: DataSnapshot) {
                    Log.w(TAG, "value: ${snapshot.value}")
                    result = snapshot.value.toString()
                }
            })
        return result
    }

Can the coroutines be of any help in this scenario to wait until the result of the callbacks (onDataChange()/onCancelled())?

Answer 1

Since the Firebase Realtime Database SDK doesn't provide any suspend functions, coroutines are not helpful when dealing with its APIs. You would need to convert the callback into a suspend function in order for you to be able to await the result in a coroutine.

Here's a suspend extension function that does this (I discovered a solution it by doing a google search):

suspend fun DatabaseReference.getValue(): DataSnapshot {
    return async(CommonPool) {
        suspendCoroutine<DataSnapshot> { continuation ->
            addListenerForSingleValueEvent(FValueEventListener(
                    onDataChange = { continuation.resume(it) },
                    onError = { continuation.resumeWithException(it.toException()) }
            ))
        }
    }.await()
}

class FValueEventListener(val onDataChange: (DataSnapshot) -> Unit, val onError: (DatabaseError) -> Unit) : ValueEventListener {
    override fun onDataChange(data: DataSnapshot) = onDataChange.invoke(data)
    override fun onCancelled(error: DatabaseError) = onError.invoke(error)
}

With this, you now how a getValue() suspect method on DatabaseReference that can be awaited in a coroutine.

Answer 2

The @Doug example for singleValueEvent if you want to keep listing you can use coroutine flow like below:

@ExperimentalCoroutinesApi
inline fun <reified T> DatabaseReference.listen(): Flow<DataResult<T?>> =
  callbackFlow {
    val valueListener = object : ValueEventListener {
      override fun onCancelled(databaseError: DatabaseError) {
        close(databaseError.toException())
      }

      override fun onDataChange(dataSnapshot: DataSnapshot) {
        try {
          val value = dataSnapshot.getValue(T::class.java)
          offer(DataResult.Success(value))
        } catch (exp: Exception) {
          Timber.e(exp)
          if (!isClosedForSend) offer(DataResult.Error(exp))
        }
      }
    }
    addValueEventListener(valueListener)

    awaitClose { removeEventListener(valueListener) }
  }