Does Jetpack Compose have anything similar to the NavigationView in SwiftUI? Specifically: traversin...

# compose

[Sam]

Does Jetpack Compose have anything similar to the NavigationView in SwiftUI? Specifically: traversing deeper into a stack of screens with back button, swipe back to navigate, and of course the slide animation, etc. I know there is ModalDrawerLayout but that is more for a side menu..

[Ian Lake]

Integration between Compose and the Navigation Component is under way, feel free to follow along on the issue: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/161472731

[Ian Lake]

That would include navigating down a stack of screen, integration with Android's back button, and animating between screens

[Sam]

Are there examples of how this component will be used? Like will we be expected to create multiple activities or fragments? Will we have to create any xml for the nav graph?

[Zach Klippenstein (he/him) [MOD]]

From the last CLs I saw, I think you define destinations as composable functions, you don’t use activities/fragments. IDK if you need XML to define the nav graph itself though.

[Ian Lake]

There are samples attached to that issue if you want to take a look

[Ian Lake]

Navigation already has a Kotlin DSL as an alternative for the XML graph. We use that DSL as the base for the Compose integration, which allows you to define your navigation graph right inline alongside your other Composable code

[Sam]

@Ian Lake I’m looking here, is there a better place?

[Ian Lake]

Yep, that is what is checked in right now

[Ian Lake]

Coming soon is Navigation argument support, which has additional samples: https://android-review.googlesource.com/c/platform/frameworks/support/+/1423769/4/compose/navigation/navigation/integration-tests/navigation-demos/src/main/java/androidx/compose/navigation/demos/NavWithArgsDemo.kt

[Ian Lake]

Still working through the API surface. More official docs and integration with the Compose samples will happen when we release an alpha release

[Sam]

Thanks @Ian Lake, I can’t wait for the next alpha, it’s a struggle to build a production level app without proper navigation, since it’s so foundational

[allan.conda]

Navigation already has a Kotlin DSL as an alternative for the XML graph. We use that DSL as the base for the Compose integration, which allows you to define your navigation graph right inline alongside your other Composable code

🙀 Kotlin DSL does not support SafeArgs right? Will it be for the Compose Navigation?

[allan.conda]

Oh wait, I just saw the NavArgs link, so I guess that’s the same

[kioba]

Are there plans to extend NavArgs supported argument types in Compose?
Currently we are only limited to primitive types and parcellable + etc, but are there plans to support composable between navigations?

[Ian Lake]

Safe Args is a compile time code gen to based on parsing XML. There's no separate code gen for the Kotlin DSL, but we're still looking at what might be possible or what best practices will be

[Ian Lake]

Arguments must still be able to be put in a Bundle so that they can be saved and restored correctly across config changes and process death and recreation, no change there

[Javier]

and I would like to add a question too, will SafeArgs be available for Compose?

[Ian Lake]

We're talking with the Tools team about both the Navigation Editor and Safe Args longer term, but right now both of them are strictly tied to XML graphs and therefore unavailable when using the Compose Kotlin DSL (the same as if you were using the Kotlin DSL in the existing Navigation world: https://developer.android.com/guide/navigation/navigation-kotlin-dsl).

[Ian Lake]

We're also looking into what an XML graph would be like in a Compose world (which would enable at least basic editing in the Navigation Editor and Safe Args support), but the Kotlin DSL will generally always be the easiest way to build your graph in Compose

[allan.conda]

Thanks!