Is there a way to keep fragment alive when using BottomNavigationView with new NavController?

Question

Try this.

Navigator

Create custom navigator.

@Navigator.Name("custom_fragment")  // Use as custom tag at navigation.xml
class CustomNavigator(
    private val context: Context,
    private val manager: FragmentManager,
    private val containerId: Int
) : FragmentNavigator(context, manager, containerId) {

    override fun navigate(destination: Destination, args: Bundle?, navOptions: NavOptions?) {
        val tag = destination.id.toString()
        val transaction = manager.beginTransaction()

        val currentFragment = manager.primaryNavigationFragment
        if (currentFragment != null) {
            transaction.detach(currentFragment)
        }

        var fragment = manager.findFragmentByTag(tag)
        if (fragment == null) {
            fragment = destination.createFragment(args)
            transaction.add(containerId, fragment, tag)
        } else {
            transaction.attach(fragment)
        }

        transaction.setPrimaryNavigationFragment(fragment)
        transaction.setReorderingAllowed(true)
        transaction.commit()

        dispatchOnNavigatorNavigated(destination.id, BACK_STACK_DESTINATION_ADDED)
    }
}

NavHostFragment

Create custom NavHostFragment.

class CustomNavHostFragment: NavHostFragment() {
    override fun onCreateNavController(navController: NavController) {
        super.onCreateNavController(navController)
        navController.navigatorProvider += PersistentNavigator(context!!, childFragmentManager, id)
    }
}

navigation.xml

Use custom tag instead of fragment tag.

<navigation xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" android:id="@+id/navigation"
    app:startDestination="@id/navigation_first">

    <custom_fragment
        android:id="@+id/navigation_first"
        android:name="com.example.sample.FirstFragment"
        android:label="FirstFragment" />
    <custom_fragment
        android:id="@+id/navigation_second"
        android:name="com.example.sample.SecondFragment"
        android:label="SecondFragment" />
</navigation>

activity layout

Use CustomNavHostFragment instead of NavHostFragment.

<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:id="@+id/container"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/nav_host_fragment"
        android:name="com.example.sample.CustomNavHostFragment"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@+id/bottom_navigation"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
        app:navGraph="@navigation/navigation" />

    <com.google.android.material.bottomnavigation.BottomNavigationView
        android:id="@+id/bottom_navigation"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:menu="@menu/navigation" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

---

Update

I created sample project. link

I don't create custom NavHostFragment. I use navController.navigatorProvider += navigator.

Update 19.05.2021 Multiple backstack
Since Jetpack Navigation 2.4.0-alpha01 we have it out of the box. Check Google Navigation Adavanced Sample

Old answer:
Google samples link Just copy NavigationExtensions to your application and configure by example. Works great.

After many hours of research I found solution. It was all the time right in front of us :) There is a function: popBackStack(destination, inclusive) which navigate to given destination if found in backStack. It returns Boolean, so we can navigate there manually if the controller won't find the fragment.

if(findNavController().popBackStack(R.id.settingsFragment, false)) {
        Log.d(TAG, "SettingsFragment found in backStack")
    } else {
        Log.d(TAG, "SettingsFragment not found in backStack, navigate manually")
        findNavController().navigate(R.id.settingsFragment)
    }

If you have trouble passing arguments add:

fragment.arguments = args

in class KeepStateNavigator

Not available as of now.

As a workaround you could store all your fetched data into view model and have that data readly available when you recreate the fragment. Make sure you get the view using activities context.

You can use LiveData to make your data lifecycle-aware observable