jetc.dev Newsletter Issue #239

Published: 2024-11-05

We got a Compose patch release and a new alpha, so let’s check them out!

We also see what JetBrains plans for 2025, spend some time with Glance, and port a library from Compose to Compose Multiplatform. Plus, we see how to consume broadcasts from composables, along with a scrollable table implementation.

Ooooo… What Did We Get?

Reviewing the release notes for the latest Jetpack Compose update!

The Compose BOMs (main, alpha, and beta) are up to 2024.10.01. The main BOM picks up 1.7.5 artifacts for the main Compose libraries, plus 1.3.1 for Compose Material3. This update fixes a few bugs.

The main Compose artifacts also have a 1.8.0-alpha05 release. These include:

Preliminary autofill support
Support for autosizing text via an AutoSize parameter to BasicText(), etc.
A new onRectChanged() modifier, to track the movement of a LayoutNode, as a lighter-weight alternative to onGloballyPositioned()
Support for configuring overscroll for scrollable containers, including lazy ones

Wear Compose is up to 1.5.0-alpha05, with a bunch of improvements to TransformingLazyColumn().

And in Compose integration libraries, we have:

androidx.activity:activity-compose:1.10.0-alpha03
androidx.camera:camera-compose:1.5.0-alpha03
androidx.camera.viewfinder:viewfinder-compose:1.4.0-alpha10
androidx.constraintlayout:constraintlayout-compose:1.1.0
androidx.constraintlayout:constraintlayout-compose-android:1.1.0
androidx.fragment:fragment-compose:1.8.5
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-runtime-compose:2.8.7
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-runtime-compose:2.9.0-alpha06
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-runtime-compose-android:2.8.7
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-runtime-compose-android:2.9.0-alpha06
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-runtime-compose-jvmstubs:2.8.7
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-runtime-compose-jvmstubs:2.9.0-alpha06
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-runtime-compose-linuxx64stubs:2.8.7
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-runtime-compose-linuxx64stubs:2.9.0-alpha06
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-compose:2.8.7
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-compose:2.9.0-alpha06
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-compose-android:2.8.7
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-compose-android:2.9.0-alpha06
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-compose-desktop:2.8.7
androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-compose-desktop:2.9.0-alpha06
androidx.navigation:navigation-fragment-compose:2.9.0-alpha02
androidx.navigation:navigation-compose:2.9.0-alpha02

One Off the Stack, One Off the Slack

You’ve got questions. That’s understandable!

The Kotlin Slack archive remains stuck, with no updates in a couple of weeks. 😞

How Can I Follow a Finger?

You might want to have a composable follow a finger (or stylus or whatever) as it drags across the screen. This can be implemented using awaitEachGesture() in the pointerInput() DSL, as we see in this week’s highlighted Stack Overflow question.

Composable Commentary

Posts, videos, and other new information related to Jetpack Compose!

Video: AnchoredDraggable | Compose Tips

Google’s Jossi Wolf looks at AnchoredDrawable(), a lower-level drag detection composable used to power drawers, swipe-to-dismiss/swipe-to-reveal, and similar features.

Video: #TheAndroidShow November 2024

Google published another episode of #TheAndroidShow. Clara Bayarri covers the latest changes to Compose, such as shared element transitions, in one of several segments in this episode.

Kotlin Multiplatform Development Roadmap for 2025

JetBrains’ Egor Tolstoy (@etolstoy@hachyderm.io) reviews what JetBrains has in store for Kotlin Multiplatform next year. This includes getting Compose for iOS to a stable release and boosting its rendering speed, along with feature parity to Jetpack Compose itself.

Medium: Widgets with Glance: Standing out

Katie Barnett has a bunch of new material out focused on Glance and app widgets. The above post focuses on ensuring that your Glance app widget has decent contrast with whatever the user has for wallpaper. This post looks at using dynamic system color theming to help your app widget blend in with the rest of the device. And this GDG Melbourne presentation video covers even more about Glance and app widgets!

Medium: We migrated an Image Cropping library to Kotlin Multiplatform in few easy steps!

Tamim Attafi writes about how a team ported the easycrop image cropping library to support Compose Multiplatform. This included deciding what code could go in commonMain versus androidMain, what needed new platform implementations, and other general updates.

Medium: Implementing a CustomSide Sheet in Jetpack Compose

Kerry Bisset is back, this time exploring what it takes to implement a side sheet — a drawer opening from the side, rather than the bottom sheet pattern. Kerry’s CustomSideDrawerOverlay() offers drag support, a scrim, a custom system BACK navigation handler, and more!

Medium: Compose for app architecture

Jean Tuffier looks at ways to have @Composable functions generate streams of data, so they can power more of the app architecture than just rendering a UI. This pattern can be seen in molecule and Circuit; Jean unpacks how these sorts of frameworks work.

Compose Performace - Finding Regressions

theapache64 (@theapache64@androiddev.social) writes about how we can identify what composable caused a performance regression, using Perfetto and theapache64’s own Diffetto. Diffetto generates a diff of two Perfetto traces (hence, the name).

Medium: 9 Tips to improve your Jetpack Compose Previews

Oliver Vicente walks us through ways to make our @Preview composables more powerful (e.g., leverage LoremIpsum() and @PreviewLightDark) and more stable (e.g., avoid passing viewmodels into previewed composables).

Resource Roundup

100% pure code!

GitHub: efe-egbevwie / DataTable

Efe Egbevwie has created a Compose Multiplatform library, supporting at least Android and desktop, for rendering data in scrollable tables. You get to supply dedicated modifiers for header rows and regular rows, in addition to cell composables and other configuration.

GitHub: shubhamsinghshubham777 / ComposeBroadcasts

GitHub user shubhamsinghshubham777 offers a convenient set of remember...() functions backed by system broadcasts, such as rememberBatteryLevel() and rememberIsHeadsetConnected(). You can create your own via rememberBroadcastReceiverAsState().

GitHub: malaa101 / compose-multiplatform-color-picker

Mohammed Alaa forked a color picker library and is adding Compose Multiplatform support.

GitHub: kdroidFilter / ComposeNativeNotification

GitHub user kdroidFilter is creating a Compose Multiplatform library to try to unify platform-specific notification APIs, including supporting custom actions, integrated permission requests, and more.

Notable Releases

Maps for Compose is up to 6.2.0, with an improvement for MarkerInfoWindow.

Coil inches closer to its next stable major release, shipping 3.0.0-rc02. This update fixes a few bugs and apparently can decode black holes. 😁

Compose Unstyled is up to 1.19.1. 1.18.2 fixed some bugs, and 1.19.1 changes ModalBottomSheet() to not dim the navigation bar by default.

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