Extension to DreamService to allow usage of Jetpack Compose inside

DreamServiceCompat.kt

import android.service.dreams.DreamService
import androidx.annotation.CallSuper
import androidx.compose.runtime.Composable
import androidx.compose.ui.platform.ComposeView
import androidx.compose.ui.platform.ViewCompositionStrategy
import androidx.lifecycle.Lifecycle
import androidx.lifecycle.LifecycleRegistry
import androidx.lifecycle.ViewModelStore
import androidx.lifecycle.ViewModelStoreOwner
import androidx.lifecycle.setViewTreeLifecycleOwner
import androidx.lifecycle.setViewTreeViewModelStoreOwner
import androidx.savedstate.SavedStateRegistry
import androidx.savedstate.SavedStateRegistryController
import androidx.savedstate.SavedStateRegistryOwner
import androidx.savedstate.setViewTreeSavedStateRegistryOwner

abstract class DreamServiceCompat : DreamService(), SavedStateRegistryOwner, ViewModelStoreOwner {
	@Suppress("LeakingThis")
	private val lifecycleRegistry = LifecycleRegistry(this)

	@Suppress("LeakingThis")
	private val savedStateRegistryController = SavedStateRegistryController.create(this).apply {
		performAttach()
	}

	override val lifecycle: Lifecycle get() = lifecycleRegistry
	override val viewModelStore = ViewModelStore()
	override val savedStateRegistry: SavedStateRegistry get() = savedStateRegistryController.savedStateRegistry

	@CallSuper
	override fun onCreate() {
		super.onCreate()

		savedStateRegistryController.performRestore(null)
		lifecycleRegistry.currentState = Lifecycle.State.CREATED
	}

	override fun onDreamingStarted() {
		super.onDreamingStarted()

		lifecycleRegistry.currentState = Lifecycle.State.STARTED
	}

	override fun onDreamingStopped() {
		super.onDreamingStopped()

		lifecycleRegistry.currentState = Lifecycle.State.CREATED
	}

	fun setContent(content: @Composable () -> Unit) {
		val view = ComposeView(this)
		// Set composition strategy
		view.setViewCompositionStrategy(ViewCompositionStrategy.DisposeOnViewTreeLifecycleDestroyed)

		// Inject dependencies normally added by appcompat activities
		view.setViewTreeLifecycleOwner(this)
		view.setViewTreeViewModelStoreOwner(this)
		view.setViewTreeSavedStateRegistryOwner(this)

		// Set content composable
		view.setContent(content)

		// Set content view
		setContentView(view)
	}
}

Hello @nielsvanvelzen ,

I've been implementing a daydream service using DreamServiceCompat and encountered an issue with ViewModels that have dependencies injected via Hilt. I wanted to report this issue and see if there might be a more elegant solution than my current workaround.

The issue:
When trying to use hiltViewModel() in a Compose UI inside DreamServiceCompat, I'm getting this error:

java.lang.RuntimeException: Cannot create an instance of class [ViewModel class]
Caused by: java.lang.NoSuchMethodException: <init> []

This happens because the DreamServiceCompat class doesn't implement HasDefaultViewModelProviderFactory, which Compose's hiltViewModel() relies on to create ViewModels with dependencies.

This throws the error.

@HiltViewModel
class DaydreamViewModel
    @Inject
    constructor(
        private val getImagesUseCase: GetImagesUseCase // if the constructor is not empty the app crashes ❌
    ) : ViewModel()

This works fine.

@HiltViewModel
class DaydreamViewModel
    @Inject
    constructor(
        // no parameters ✅
    ) : ViewModel()

My current workaround:
I've managed to solve this by directly injecting dependencies and manually creating the ViewModel:

@AndroidEntryPoint
class MyTvDaydream : DreamServiceCompat() {
    @Inject
    lateinit var useCase: GetImagesUseCase

    override fun onAttachedToWindow() {
        super.onAttachedToWindow()
        
        val viewModel = DaydreamViewModel(useCase)
        
        setContent {
            val screenState by viewModel.screenState.collectAsState()
            // ...
        }
    }
}

This works, but it bypasses the standard ViewModel lifecycle management and other benefits of the ViewModelProvider system.

Potential solution:
It would be great if DreamServiceCompat implemented ViewModelStoreOwner and HasDefaultViewModelProviderFactory interfaces, similar to how ComponentActivity does. This would allow for proper integration with Jetpack Compose's hiltViewModel() and the standard ViewModel architecture.