As an Android app developer, I’ve always known that managing the Activity Lifecycle is crucial to crafting high-quality applications. For years, I relied on the tried-and-true Activity Lifecycle, hesitant to embrace anything new. However, my skepticism was shattered when I finally gave Compose Lifecycle a chance. The experience left me in awe of how it transformed my development journey, making everything so much easier and enjoyable.

The Complexities of the Activity Lifecycle: In the realm of the Activity Lifecycle, countless methods exist, each requiring meticulous attention. The complexity can quickly overwhelm even the most experienced developers. It’s all too easy to lose track of the intricate dance between onCreate(), onResume(), onPause(), and their companions. The pressure to manage UI components while ensuring a smooth user experience can become overwhelming.

Discovering the Simplicity of Compose: Enter Compose Lifecycle—a breath of fresh air for developers seeking a simpler approach. The Compose framework relieves us of the burden of managing intricate lifecycle methods. Instead, it empowers us to focus on what we do best: creating delightful user interfaces.

Remember lifecycle of an Activity

The lifecycle of an Activity in Android is a series of states that an Activity can go through as it is created, used, and destroyed. The Android system manages the lifecycle of an Activity and calls different methods on the Activity at different points in its lifecycle.

The lifecycle of an Activity is as follows:

1.onCreate(): This method is called when the Activity is first created. It is here that you should do initialization work, such as setting up the UI, initializing variables, or reading data from a database.

2. onStart(): This method is called when the Activity becomes visible to the user, but before the user can interact with it.

3. onResume(): This method is called when the Activity is ready for the user to interact with. It is here that you should start animations, play audio, or anything else that requires user interaction.

4. onPause(): This method is called when the Activity loses focus, such as when the user receives a phone call or opens another app. It is here that you should pause animations, stop audio, or anything else that requires user interaction to be stopped.

5. onStop(): This method is called when the Activity is no longer visible to the user. It is here that you should release resources, such as closing database connections or stopping background services.

6. onRestart(): This method is called when the Activity is being restarted, such as when the user presses the back button.

7. onDestroy(): This method is called when the Activity is being destroyed, such as when the user navigates away from the Activity or the system needs to free up resources.

By understanding the lifecycle of an Activity, you can manage its resources effectively and ensure that your app is providing the best possible user experience.

Imagine you are building a photo gallery app that allows users to view and manage their photos. When the user opens the app, the first screen they see is the gallery screen, which displays all of their photos. Here’s how the Activity lifecycle would come into play in this scenario:

1. onCreate(): In this method, you would initialize the UI components of the gallery screen, such as the RecyclerView or ListView that displays the photos. You would also initialize any data structures or variables needed to manage the photos.
2. onStart(): This method is called when the gallery screen becomes visible to the user, but before the user can interact with it. In this method, you would start any necessary background processes, such as loading thumbnails of the photos from disk or over the network.
3. onResume(): This method is called when the gallery screen is ready for the user to interact with. In this method, you would start any animations, such as a slideshow of the photos, or enable touch gestures to allow the user to swipe through the photos.
4. onPause(): This method is called when the gallery screen loses focus, such as when the user receives a phone call or opens another app. In this method, you would pause any animations or background processes, such as stopping the slideshow or cancelling any network requests.
5. onStop(): This method is called when the gallery screen is no longer visible to the user. In this method, you would release any resources, such as closing database connections or stopping background services.
6. onRestart(): This method is called when the gallery screen is being restarted, such as when the user navigates back to the gallery screen after viewing a photo. In this method, you would resume any background processes or animations that were paused in the onPause() method.
7. onDestroy(): This method is called when the gallery screen is being destroyed, such as when the user navigates away from the app or the system needs to free up resources. In this method, you would release any remaining resources, such as unregistering event listeners or freeing up memory.

What is Jetpack Compose?

Jetpack Compose is a new way of building UI components in Android apps. In traditional Android app development, the UI components are created using XML and Java/Kotlin code. The lifecycle of these UI components is managed by the Android system, through the Activity or Fragment lifecycle callbacks.

In contrast, the Jetpack Compose UI toolkit uses a declarative programming model to define UI components. Developers define the UI components using Composable functions, which are functions annotated with the @Composable annotation. When a Composable function is called, it describes the UI component it represents, rather than building it directly.

The Jetpack Compose UI toolkit manages the lifecycle of the UI components in a way that is similar to the traditional Android lifecycle, but with some differences.

The Jetpack Compose lifecycle consists of three main phases:

1. Composition (created)
2. Recomposition (updated)
3. Disposal. (destroyed)

Composition: When a UI component is first created, it enters the composition phase. In this phase, the Compose runtime calls the Composable function that defines the UI component. The Composable function describes the structure and behavior of the UI component.

Recomposition: The UI component can be recomposed whenever there is a change in the data that it depends on. In the recomposition phase, the Compose runtime checks whether the UI component needs to be updated, and if so, it calls the Composable function again. The Composable function can update the UI component by modifying its properties or structure.

Disposal: When a UI component is no longer needed, it enters the disposal phase. In this phase, the Compose runtime removes the UI component from the UI hierarchy and calls any cleanup logic that was registered for the component.

The Jetpack Compose framework in Android provides a new lifecycle for UI components, which is different from the Activity lifecycle. Here are some key differences between the two:

1. Initialization: In the Activity lifecycle, UI components are typically initialized in the onCreate() method. In contrast, in the Compose lifecycle, UI components are initialized in the setContent() method, which is called when the Composable is first inflated.
2. Updating: In the Activity lifecycle, UI components are updated in response to events or changes in the application state. In contrast, in the Compose lifecycle, UI components are recomposed whenever their input data or state changes. This means that Composables are more reactive and can update more frequently and efficiently than traditional UI components.
3. Separation of Concerns: The Compose lifecycle separates the concerns of UI composition and UI logic, whereas in the Activity lifecycle, these concerns are often mixed together. This can lead to cleaner and more maintainable code in Compose, as UI logic can be separated into different Composables and reused across different screens or components.
4. Simplicity: The Compose lifecycle is simpler and more streamlined than the Activity lifecycle. In Compose, there are fewer lifecycle methods to manage, and the framework takes care of many of the details of managing the UI components. This can make it easier to develop and maintain Compose-based UIs.
5. Easier Testing: Finally, Compose makes testing easier because it provides better support for unit testing. With Compose, developers can test individual UI components in isolation, which makes it easier to find and fix bugs.

A real-life example

A real-life example of the Compose lifecycle could be a weather app that displays the current temperature, weather condition, and other related information. In this case, the Composable function would CREATE the UI elements based on the current weather data, such as the temperature, humidity, and wind speed.

As the weather changes, the Compose framework would update the UI elements to reflect the new data. For example, if the temperature drops, the Composable function would be invoked again and the UI elements would be UPDATED to display the new temperature.

Finally, when the user closes the app, the Composable function would no longer be needed and the UI elements would be DESTROYED.

Here’s an example of a simple Composable function that displays a text message and updates it when a button is clicked:

@Composable
fun ComposeLifecycleExample() {
    var message by remember { mutableStateOf("Hello, World!") }

    Column {
        Text(text = message)
        Button(onClick = { message = "Button clicked!" }) {
            Text(text = "Click me")
        }
    }
}

In this example, the Composable function creates a Column that contains a Text element and a Button element. The message variable is declared using the mutableStateOf function, which allows the Composable function to update the value of message and trigger a recomposition of the UI.

When the Button is clicked, the onClick callback is triggered, which updates the value of message to “Button clicked!”. As a result, the Text element is recomposed with the new message text.

This is a simplified example, but it demonstrates the basic idea of how the Compose lifecycle works. When the Composable function is first invoked, the initial message value of “Hello, World!” is displayed. When the button is clicked, the message value is updated and the UI is recomposed with the new message text

In conclusion, Compose Lifecycle is a powerful tool that can make Android app development easier and more efficient. By streamlining the lifecycle, making the UI more reactive and efficient, and separating the concerns of UI composition and UI logic, Compose allows developers to focus on writing high-quality code that is easier to test and maintain. So, if you’re an Android app developer, consider giving Compose Lifecycle a try and see how it can benefit your projects.