A MutableLiveData variant that introduces a volatile behavior

VolatileLiveData.kt

package com.und0.vocabularymate.x.utils

import androidx.annotation.MainThread
import androidx.lifecycle.LifecycleOwner
import androidx.lifecycle.MutableLiveData
import androidx.lifecycle.Observer
import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger

/**
 * A [MutableLiveData] variant that introduces a _volatile_ behavior. Namely, it has no "memory" of values set
 * prior to the moment of subscription of any observer, with respect to that observer. This allows for the
 * concrete observer to be certain of that all received info is "fresh", published in real time.
 *
 * This comes alongside the default behavior, which typically invokes the subscriber immediately upon
 * subscription with the last value set (if such exists).
 *
 * >Note: this behavior isn't inherent in the [MutableLiveData] itself, but in the complementing
 * [LifecycleRegistry][androidx.lifecycle.LifecycleRegistry], which can invoke observers depending on
 * lifecycle events.
 *
 * ### Implementation details (optional read)
 *
 * The core idea is to subscribe a wrapper around the user's observer, which, by default, initially suppresses the premature,
 * unwanted invocation to the actual observer, if applied.
 *
 * Naively, this could have been achieved by setting aside the current live data value - when registering an observer, and
 * excluding all observer invocations for the same value. But doing that introduces some caveats, such as the risk of indirectly
 * holding references to expired resources (e.g. activities) for an undetermined period of time.
 *
 * To stick with this idea without introducing such risks, we instead associate a unique sequence with each published value,
 * and compare based on the sequence: Each wrapper-observer would hold the initial sequence which was in-effect
 * when it was born; When invoked, it would only pass the call through to the actual observer if the concurrent sequence has
 * changed compared to its initial one.
 */
open class VolatileLiveData<T> : MutableLiveData<T>() {
    private val lastValueSeq = AtomicInteger(0)
    private val wrappers = HashMap<Observer<in T>, Observer<T>>()

    @MainThread
    public override fun setValue(value: T) {
        lastValueSeq.incrementAndGet()
        super.setValue(value)
    }

    @MainThread
    public override fun observe(owner: LifecycleOwner, observer: Observer<in T>) {
        val observerWrapper = ObserverWrapper(lastValueSeq, observer)
        wrappers[observer] = observerWrapper
        super.observe(owner, observerWrapper)
    }

    @MainThread
    public override fun observeForever(observer: Observer<in T>) {
        val observerWrapper = ObserverWrapper(lastValueSeq, observer)
        wrappers[observer] = observerWrapper
        super.observeForever(observerWrapper)
    }

    @MainThread
    public override fun removeObserver(observer: Observer<in T>) {
        val observerWrapper = wrappers[observer]
        observerWrapper?.let {
            wrappers.remove(observerWrapper)
            super.removeObserver(observerWrapper)
        }
    }
}

private class ObserverWrapper<T>(private var currentSeq: AtomicInteger, private val observer: Observer<in T>) : Observer<T> {
    private val initialSeq = currentSeq.get()
    private var _observer: Observer<in T> = Observer {
        if (currentSeq.get() != initialSeq) {
            // Optimization: this wrapper implementation is only needed in the beginning.
            // Once a valid call is made (i.e. with a different concurrent sequence), we
            // get rid of it any apply the real implementation as a direct callthrough.
            _observer = observer
            _observer.onChanged(it)
        }
    }

    override fun onChanged(value: T) {
        _observer.onChanged(value)
    }
}