jetc.dev Newsletter Issue #227
Published: 2024-08-13
The 1.7.0
betas for Compose never seem to end, as we peek at the last round
of updates!
We also look at state management, navigation, and biometrics in Compose Multiplatform, along with Multiplatform libraries for sticky headers and YouTube video playback.
Ooooo… What Did We Get?
Reviewing the release notes for the latest Jetpack Compose update!
The major Compose artifacts are up to 1.7.0-beta07
, as we continue on the beta
train. As expected, these just contain a smattering of bug fixes.
In terms of Compose-adjacent libraries, we got:
androidx.constraintlayout:constraintlayout-compose:1.1.0-alpha14
androidx.constraintlayout:constraintlayout-compose-android:1.1.0-alpha14
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-runtime-compose:2.9.0-alpha01
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-runtime-compose-android:2.9.0-alpha01
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-runtime-compose-desktop:2.9.0-alpha01
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-compose:2.9.0-alpha01
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-compose-android:2.9.0-alpha01
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-compose-desktop:2.9.0-alpha01
androidx.navigation:navigation-compose:2.8.0-beta07
androidx.navigation:navigation-fragment-compose:2.8.0-beta07
androidx.paging:paging-compose:3.3.2
androidx.paging:paging-compose-android:3.3.2
One Off the Stack, One Off the Slack
You’ve got questions. That’s understandable!
Do I Need to remember()
an Activity Property?
In a composable, most of the time if we use mutableStateOf()
, we then remember()
it,
to preserve that State
across recompositions. But, what if we use mutableStateOf()
in a property of the Activity
hosting our composition — do we need to use
remember()
? Learn more in this week’s highlighted Stack Overflow question.
State or Flow?
One of the conundrums for viewmodels is whether you should expose state via
State
or Flow
properties. Flow
can be problematic, and so State
probably
is a safer answer, as we see in this week’s highlighted Kotlinlang #compose
Slack thread.
Composable Commentary
Posts, videos, and other new information related to Jetpack Compose!
Medium: CMP for Mobile Native Developers — Part. 3: State Holders
Santiago Mattiauda is writing a series of posts introducing newcomers to Compose
Multiplatform some of the core concepts. In this post, Santiago reviews the
concept of state and what holds that state. Santiago also reviews several
implementations of viewmodels for CMP and reminds us to use collectAsStateWithLifecycle()
when consuming flows.
Medium: Android Jetpack Compose Image Crop Simply
Image cropping is a reasonably common UI operation, and there are many libraries for it. Alparslan Güney shows how to implement it directly, without requiring a third-party library.
Medium: Exploring Safe Navigation in Jetpack Compose Multiplatform
Kerry Bisset takes a look at JetBrains’ adoption of Navigation for Compose and how to use it for a Compose Multiplatform project, alongside Koin for dependency inversion. Along the way, Kerry describes how to use interfaces to describe navigable destinations, wrapping a navigation route along with details of how it gets rendered (e.g., as an entry in a navigation rail).
Medium: Biometric Authorization in Compose Multiplatform App
Medium user Mohitsoni describes how to implement biometric authentication for both Android and iOS in a Compose Multiplatform project. This includes both the actual authentication and leveraging an authenticated keystore for signing data to be sent to a (theoretical) backend.
Medium: Open Source a Compose Picture viewer library ImageViewer, supporting multiple gestures
Medium user ZhangKe published an image viewer library and walks us through its use. The library supports both double-click and pinch gestures for zooming, etc.
Problems with Glance
Lyubomir Ganev (@luboganev@androiddev.social) is less than completely impressed with Glance and explains why in a series of Mastodon posts.
Other Interesting Links
- Android Accessibility Checklist
- Medium: Android: Use ComposeView with RecyclerView
- Medium: Core Of JetPack Compose: What is Stateless, Stateful, Composition, Recomposition, and State Hoisting? (Explained With Practical Example)
- Medium: Edge-to-Edge Insets in Android Studio Using Jetpack Compose
- Medium: FloatingActionButton Lost in Jetpack Compose? A Material 3 Bottom Sheet Rescue Mission
- Medium: Formatting Brazilian CPF Input in Jetpack Compose with CpfVisualTransformation
- Medium: How to Create a Spinning Circles Loader in Jetpack Compose
- Medium: How to write Automated Unit Test and Instrumentation UI Test In Android?
- Medium: Launching Jetpack Compose Dialogs in an XML Activity
- Medium: Mastering Jetpack Compose: Optimizing Recomposition for Better Performance
- Medium: Mastering Layouts in Jetpack Compose: Understanding Padding and Margin
- Medium: Permission Requests in Android with Jetpack Compose
- Medium: Unlocking the Power of Recomposition in Jetpack Compose
Resource Roundup
100% pure code!
GitHub: nxoim / decomposite
GitHub user nxoim created a Compose Multiplatform navigation library, based on Decompose, supporting Android and desktop platforms. It offers viewmodel management and transition animations.
GitHub: adamglin0 / compose-shadow
GitHub user adamglin0 brings us implementations of drop shadows for composables in
Compose Multiplatform, supporting Android, iOS, and desktop. You control the shape,
color, offset, and additional properties of the shadow, via a dropShadow()
modifier.
GitHub: gregkorossy / lazy-sticky-headers
Gergely Kőrössy published a Compose Multiplatform library implementing the “sticky headers”
UI pattern, for all platforms. It ties into rememberLazyListState()
, so your list
and your headers remain synchronized.
GitHub: KhubaibKhan4 / MediaPlayer-KMP
Muhammad Khubaib Imtiaz implemented a Compose Multiplatform library for playing YouTube videos and audio clips, supporting all platforms.
Other Interesting Links
- GitHub: big-jared / motion-calendar (Compose Multiplatform calendar)
- GitHub: jocoand / compose-showcase (tooltip-style onboarding UI)
- GitHub: Tyzar / mantra-compose-paging (lazy container paging approach)
- GitHub: Vahid-Soudagar / basicformvalidator (form validation)
- GitHub: vgupta98 / compose-game (2D game framework)
Or, you can subscribe to the Atom feed or follow Mark Murphy in the Fediverse.
Recent Issues:
- 2024-12-03: Rebecca Franks on clipping and masking! Stefano Natali on graphicsLayer()! FunkyMuse on type-safe nav results! And... if we have enough maps, do we need to store our maps in a Map?!?
- 2024-11-26: Math! Shared element transitions! Custom modifiers! Macrobenchmark! Adapting to platform-specific design systems! And... why does wrapContentSize() not wrap my content size?!?
- 2024-11-19: Compose alphas! Compose Multiplatform patch! PaddingValues! Graphics layers! Swiping! Heatmaps! Navigation! And... why did we get a new production Compose BOM?!?