Custom hook to subscribe to array of observables and take the latest value from each

Question

I have an array of Observables streams$ which each emit a value once, when the associated async operation completes. I want to aggregate the results in an array arr, where arr[i] = undefined if streams$[i] hasn't completed, and the resolved value of streams$[i] if it has, so for 3 observables, the hook should return the following:

[undefined, undefined, undefined] // 1
['A', undefined, undefined] // 2
['A', undefined, 'C'] // 3
['A', 'B', 'C'] // 4
// done, unsubscribe

This is what I have currently:

const useLatest = <T>(streams$: Observables<T>[]) => {
   const [state, setState] = useState<T[]>(Array(streams$.length).fill(undefined));
   const latest$ = combineLatest(streams$.map($ => $.pipe(startWith(undefined))));
   
   useEffect(() => {
      const subscription = latest$.subscribe((values) => setState(values));
      return () => {
          subscription.unsubscribe();
      }
   }, []);
   return state;   
}

This gives me close to the correct return values (prints all undefined twice), but due to the empty dependency array will not recompute if streams$ becomes a different array of new observables. Other things I've done to try and fix this either result in infinite emissions of either [undefined, undefined, undefined] or ['A', 'B', 'C']. Using things like piping latest$ to takeWhile with second parameter true, or piping the individual streams$[i] to take(2), etc.

Answer 1

Toward a solution

Not sure why you can put streams as a dependency. I've never used react (or react hooks), but I've read up on the basics. Looks like you'll want the effect to clean up and re-run whenever you've got a new streams array, (by reference). If I understand correctly, the dependency array works by reference equality.

const useLatest = <T>(streams: Observable<T>[]) => {
  const [state, setState] = useState<T[]>(Array(streams.length).fill(undefined));
  
  useEffect(() => {
    const sub = combineLatest(
      streams.map($ => $.pipe(
        startWith(undefined)
      ))
    ).pipe(
      filter(latest => !latest.every(v => v === undefined))
    ).subscribe((values) => setState(values));

    return sub.unsubscribe.bind(sub);
    
  }, [streams]);

  return state;   
}

Some other operators in action :P

Something like this should work the same.

const useLatest = <T>(streams: Observable<T>[]) => {
  const defaultState = () => Array(streams.length).fill(undefined);
  const [state, setState] = useState<T[]>(defaultState());
  
  useEffect(() => {
    const sub = merge(...streams.map((s,i) => s.pipe(
      map(v => ({i,v}))
    ))).pipe(
      scan((acc, {i,v}) => {
        acc[i] = v;
        return acc;
      }, defaultState())
    ).subscribe((values) => setState(values));

    return sub.unsubscribe.bind(sub);
    
  }, [streams]);

  return state;   
}