Hi, I am new to Compose and I'm having some doubts about state management. I have an `AppState` obje...

# compose-desktop

[Jacob Bosco]

Hi, I am new to Compose and I'm having some doubts about state management. I have an AppState object and it has some values in nested properties that I want to access. If I use mutableStateOf() , the state only updates when the entire AppState object is changed not when its properties change.
I have also tried kotllin Flow for the first time but the only solution I could get was to make each of the properties a flow and then individually watch them in the main compose function.
Is there any other way to manage state where I need to watch nested properties?

[Albert Chang]

You can use mutableStateOf() at property level. Something similar to this.

[Jacob Bosco]

Is structuralEqualityPolicy() the thing that helps deal with the nested properties?

[Albert Chang]

No. That has nothing to do with whether it is a property or not. Read the doc for what it is used for.

[Jacob Bosco]

I looked at the link you sent but i couldn't find anything different from what was doing. Adding the equality policy didn't make any difference cause that is the default value already.

[Jacob Bosco]

class AppState {
    var fileState = mutableStateOf(File(""))
    var coreState = mutableStateOf(emptyCore())

    private fun createCore() {
        val (instructions: List<Instruction>, parsedVariableData: List<ParsedData>) = Parser.parseDataFromFile(fileState.value)
        val program = Program(
            instructions = instructions,
            parsedData = parsedVariableData
        )
        coreState.value = Core(program = program)
    }

    val loadFile: (File) -> Unit = {
        fileState.value = it
        createCore()
    }

    val executeProgram: () -> Unit = coreState.value::runProgram
}

[Jacob Bosco]

This is my state file, when I update the file, the UI related to the file updates but the ones that related to the core do not. I don't get why that's happening.

[Albert Chang]

You can do something like this:

class AppState {
    var file by mutableStateOf(File(""))
    val core by derivedStateOf {
        val (instructions: List<Instruction>, parsedVariableData: List<ParsedData>) = Parser.parseDataFromFile(file)
        val program = Program(
            instructions = instructions,
            parsedData = parsedVariableData
        )
        Core(program = program)
    }
}

[Albert Chang]

And if you meant that executeProgram is not updating, it's expected because you are not updating it.

[Jacob Bosco]

runProgram updates it's internal state. If I use derivedStateOf then it won't be able to reflect that change.

[Jacob Bosco]

Cause as far as I understand, derivedStateOf will evaluate the block that I pass to it when I call core.value so it'll create a new core every-time something changes.

[Albert Chang]

What is runProgram? And you don't want core to be updated every time file changes? Can you describe what you want more specifically?

[Jacob Bosco]

I am trying to create an ARM simulator. I load a program (with some instructions) into the core and when i run it the properties of the core like the memoryArray and registerArray will get updated ( will have new values after running instructions like ADD, SUB etc.).
The instructions come from the file, so when I load a new file I have to parse it and for now it creates a new core.
So when file changes I need a new core, but after runProgram I need the same core but its property values will be different.

[Albert Chang]

So when file changes I need a new core

The code I posted above does exactly this.
If you want the properties of Core to be observable, just define them as states (e.g. var memoryArray by mutableStateOf(emptyArray())).

[Jacob Bosco]

So I have to do this for all the properties? registerArray has some values that I need to observe that are nested in some more objects. I already thought of doing this but doing it individually for all of them is repetitive and fragile so I was trying to find a better approach.

[Albert Chang]

I don't think var memoryArray by mutableStateOf(emptyArray()) and var memoryArray = emptyArray() differ much in terms of verbosity. You can't expect properties to automatically become observable.

[Jacob Bosco]

I am trying to keep the UI logic and the application logic separate in different modules so if you meant I have to place the memoryArray by mutableStateOf where Core or MemoryArray is defined I can't do that

[Albert Chang]

What make you think mutableStateOf() is UI logic?

[Jacob Bosco]

It's specific to Compose right

[Jacob Bosco]

If later I want to make the UI using Tornado FX I'll have to change that

[Albert Chang]

Then you have to use StateFlow. Anyway you need an observable mechanism as

You can't expect properties to automatically become observable.

[Jacob Bosco]

For now I'll just go with what you said making each of them properties a mutableStateOf but I'll try to make them properties in AppState by individually referencing them from the core variable.

[Jacob Bosco]

Yeah or I'll try with Flows again.

[Jacob Bosco]

Thanks 👍

[Colton Idle]

I had this problem too at first where using mutableStateOf felt wrong because it felt like I was strongly tying myself to compose. Now I just use it instead of trying to use flows or anything and everything is easy and it just works. /shruggie

[Michael Paus]

I also found it helpful to use persistent data structures to represent more complex state. This way the mutableStateOf always changes when any of the nested properties is changed.