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I have come across articles that recommend switching to StateFlow. Like the one here. Also in the new Android studio, StateFlow support is automatically included in the functionality of data binding, including the coroutines dependencies. Live data is already in use in most of the apps. Should we migrate from LiveData to StateFlow? What are the benefits?
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StateFlow and LiveData have similarities. Both are observable data holder classes, and both follow a similar pattern when used in your app architecture. The StateFlow and LiveData do behave differently: StateFlow requires an initial state to be passed into the constructor, while LiveData does not.
StateFlow requires an initial state to be passed in to the constructor, while LiveData does not. LiveData. observe() automatically unregisters the consumer when the view goes to the STOPPED state, whereas collecting from a StateFlow or any other flow does not stop collecting automatically.
LiveData only emits when the LifecycleOwner is on active state. It pauses its consumption if the lifecycle state is “lower” than Started. In order to replicate this behaviour, we need to use launchWhenStarted .
StateFlow is just a subtype of Flow. It's kind of like saying it's advantageous to use Comparable in a project that has Ints. There's no risk to not switching, unless you're afraid LiveData might get deprecated soon.
The Main difference come in that State Flow requires an Initial value hence no need to check for nullability. The Second Difference come in unregistering the consumer; Live Data does this automatically when the view goes to STOPPED state while State Flow does not.
SharedFlow and StateFlow to the rescue! SharedFlow is a type of Flow that shares itself between multiple collectors, so it is only materialized once for every subscriber. What else it can do? SharedFlow in contrast to a normal Flow is hot, every collector uses the same SharedFlow, because it is shared.
At a glance, this actually sounds very similar to what LiveData objects aim to accomplish, and it is. Under the hood however, flows are a more rich and flexible API that expands upon the capabilities of LiveData, without some of the drawbacks. Let’s explore further:
There is not much difference between State Flow and Live Data. The Main difference come in that State Flow requires an Initial value hence no need to check for nullability. The Second Difference come in unregistering the consumer; Live Data does this automatically when the view goes to STOPPED state while State Flow does not. To achieve similar behaviour as Live Data, you can collect the flow in a Lifecycle.repeatOnLifecycle block.
Benefits of State Flow
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It depends on what you want,
If you want a manual, full and versatile control over the app , go for state flow
If you want a partially automatic or relatively easy-to-use method for your app , I will say - stick with live data
In case If you want to know my personal opinion, it's state flow, as i prefer control over easy-to-use. I don't mind writing a few extra lines for it as it can be useful for me sometimes.
Think of it like using a soda opener for soda and using a nail cutter I can do it with both but the soda opener Is easy to use in this case but , don't have much versatility like nail cutter.
And at the end of the day , I use state flow everytime because, I am lazy to learn live data for some projects as state flow can do what live data can even though live data will be much easier.
And you should decide what you want to choose and if you're not as lazy as me , I recommend go with both and use the one which is suitable each time.
Cheers.
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