LiveData Observer not Called

Question

I have an activity, TabBarActivity that hosts a fragment, EquipmentRecyclerViewFragment. The fragment receives the LiveData callback but the Activity does not (as proofed with breakpoints in debugging mode). What's weird is the Activity callback does trigger if I call the ViewModel's initData method. Below are the pertinent sections of the mentioned components:

TabBarActivity

override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
    initVM()
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_nav)
    val equipmentRecyclerViewFragment = EquipmentRecyclerViewFragment()
    supportFragmentManager
            .beginTransaction()
            .replace(R.id.frameLayout, equipmentRecyclerViewFragment, equipmentRecyclerViewFragment.TAG)
            .commit()
    navigation.setOnNavigationItemSelectedListener(mOnNavigationItemSelectedListener)

}

var eVM : EquipmentViewModel? = null
private fun initVM() {
    eVM = ViewModelProviders.of(this).get(EquipmentViewModel::class.java)
    eVM?.let { lifecycle.addObserver(it) } //Add ViewModel as an observer of this fragment's lifecycle
    eVM?.equipment?.observe(this, loadingObserver)//        eVM?.initData() //TODO: Not calling this causes Activity to never receive the observed ∆
}
val loadingObserver = Observer<List<Gun>> { equipment ->
    ...}

EquipmentRecyclerViewFragment

override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
    columnCount = 2
    initVM()
}

//MARK: ViewModel Methods
var eVM : EquipmentViewModel? = null
private fun initVM() {
    eVM = ViewModelProviders.of(this).get(EquipmentViewModel::class.java)
    eVM?.let { lifecycle.addObserver(it) } //Add ViewModel as an observer of this fragment's lifecycle
    eVM?.equipment?.observe(this, equipmentObserver)
    eVM?.initData()
}
override fun onCreateView(inflater: LayoutInflater, container: ViewGroup?, savedInstanceState: Bundle?): View? {
    val view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_equipment_list, container, false)
    if (view is RecyclerView) { // Set the adapter
        val context = view.getContext()
        view.layoutManager = GridLayoutManager(context, columnCount)
        view.adapter = adapter
    }
    return view
}

EquipmentViewModel

class EquipmentViewModel(application: Application) : AndroidViewModel(application), LifecycleObserver {
var equipment = MutableLiveData<List<Gun>>()
var isLoading = MutableLiveData<Boolean>()

fun initData() {
    isLoading.setValue(true)
    thread { Thread.sleep(5000) //Simulates async network call
        var gunList = ArrayList<Gun>()
        for (i in 0..100){
            gunList.add(Gun("Gun "+i.toString()))
        }
        equipment.postValue(gunList)
        isLoading.postValue(false)
    }
}

The ultimate aim is to have the activity just observe the isLoading MutableLiveData boolean, but since that wasn't working I changed the activity to observe just the equipment LiveData to minimize the number of variables at play.

Answer 1

To get same reference of ViewModel as in your Activity you need to pass the same Activity reference, you should use ViewModelProviders.of(getActivity), when you pass this you receive new instance of ViewModel for your Fragment.

For more info Share data between fragments