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Q&A Proper way of sending large amount of data from View to ViewModel

The problem I am working on a simple drawing app for Android. I have a custom view on which the user can draw. This means that a lot of data (a list of points) is generated in this View. I want t...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by FractionalRadix‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by nnlei‭

Question java android binding
#4: Post edited by user avatar Alexei‭ · 2020-11-08T11:32:36Z (about 4 years ago)
added relevant tag
#3: Post edited by user avatar hkotsubo‭ · 2020-11-07T09:19:33Z (about 4 years ago)
#2: Post edited by user avatar hkotsubo‭ · 2020-11-07T09:18:54Z (about 4 years ago)
Formatting / added android tag
#1: Initial revision by user avatar FractionalRadix‭ · 2020-11-07T07:37:19Z (about 4 years ago)
Proper way of sending large amount of data from View to ViewModel
**The problem**

I am working on a simple drawing app for Android. I have a custom view on which the user can draw. This means that a lot of data (a list of points) is generated in this View.

I want to store this data in the ViewModel. 

If I need to update a View after something changes in the ViewModel, I can just use LiveData in the ViewModel and put an observer in the View.
However, what I need is the other direction: changes in the View should lead to an update of the data in the ViewModel.

**What I've learnt so far**

I can use MutableLiveData for this, however, it is unclear to me what the right way is to give the View access to the MutableLiveData.

I can access a ViewModel from an Activity, by calling:

`viewModel = new ViewModelProvider(this).get(MyViewModel.class);`

But, I cannot access the ViewModel from the View. `ViewModelProvider` takes a `ViewModelStoreOwner` as its parameter. An `Activity` is a `ViewModelStoreOwner`,  but a View is not.  
I believe this is intentional, otherwise the View would be a ViewModelStoreOwner itself. I could pass a reference to the Activity or the ViewModel itself to the View, but this feels wrong.

It seems that I need to use MutableLiveData. I could then use `setValue` or `postValue` on the MutableLiveData whenever the View has more data to send.  
However, that just shifts the problem: how should the View get access to the MutableLiveData?

**What I've tried**

For now, I have a workaround.  
I have created an interface "ListOfPoints" that is implemented by the Activity. The View has a method `setPointsOwner(ListOfPoints)` . So, effectively, the View still gets a reference to the Activity, but can only use it to manipulate the data. The implementation of the interface, inside the Activity, then updates the MutableLiveData it gets from the ViewModel.

This works, but still feels wrong. 

**The question**

How can I send a lot of data from a View to a ViewModel?

Is it proper coding style to give the View access to MutableLiveData from the owning Activity?  
Or is there a way in which I can make the ViewModel observe the View, without letting it have a direct reference to the View?