[FIXED] ViewModelProviders is deprecated in 1.1.0

Issue

Looking at the Google docs for ViewModel, they show the below sample code on how to get a ViewModel:

val model = ViewModelProviders.of(this).get(MyViewModel::class.java)

When using the latest dependency android.arch.lifecycle:extensions:1.1.1 there is no such class ViewModelProviders.

Going to the documentation for ViewModelProviders, I saw a comment saying:

This class was deprecated in API level 1.1.0. Use ViewModelProvider.AndroidViewModelFactory

The problem is, when trying to use ViewModelProvider.AndroidViewModelFactory, cannot find an equivalent of method to get the instance of the ViewModel.

What i tried doing:

ViewModelProvider.AndroidViewModelFactory.getInstance(application).create(PlayerViewHolder::class.java)

Hence the name of the method create, I get a new instance of the ViewModel every-time I call it, which is not what I am after.

Any ideas what is the replacement of deprecated code above?

Solution

UPDATE 2020-06-16: Presently ViewModelProviders is deprecated and should no longer be used. This question and answer were from late 2018, when that was not the case. This question and answer are also for the older Architecture Components edition of ViewModelProviders, not the AndroidX edition.

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When using the latest dependency android.arch.lifecycle:extensions:1.1.1 there is no such class ViewModelProviders.

Yes, there is. To demonstrate this:

• Create a new project in Android Studio 3.2.1 (with Kotlin, minSdkVersion 21, "empty activity" template)

• Add android.arch.lifecycle:extensions:1.1.1 to the dependencies of the app module

This will give you an app/build.gradle like:

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

apply plugin: 'kotlin-android'

apply plugin: 'kotlin-android-extensions'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 28
    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.commonsware.myandroidarch"
        minSdkVersion 21
        targetSdkVersion 28
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
        testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    implementation fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
    implementation"org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib-jdk7:$kotlin_version"
    implementation 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:28.0.0'
    implementation 'com.android.support.constraint:constraint-layout:1.1.3'
    implementation 'android.arch.lifecycle:extensions:1.1.1'
    testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.12'
    androidTestImplementation 'com.android.support.test:runner:1.0.2'
    androidTestImplementation 'com.android.support.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.0.2'
}

You will then see that library show up in "External Libraries" with that class:

And you will be able to reference that class:

package com.commonsware.myandroidarch

import android.arch.lifecycle.ViewModelProviders
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity
import android.os.Bundle

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

  override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

    val provider = ViewModelProviders.of(this)
  }
}

Going to the documentation for ViewModelProviders, I saw a comment saying: This class was deprecated in API level 1.1.0. Use ViewModelProvider.AndroidViewModelFactory

That comment is underneath the ViewModelProviders.DefaultFactory class entry and refers to that class, not ViewModelProviders:

Any ideas what is the replacement of deprecated code above?

Use ViewModelProviders.

Answered By - CommonsWare