Convert `ReceiveChannel<T>` to `Flow<T>` without consuming

My ViewModel exposes a stream of events as a ReceiveChannel<T>

// in `ViewModel`
private val events = Channel(capacity = Channel.UNLIMITED) // these are "side effects"

fun events(): ReceiveChannel<T> = events

My activity/fragment observes this stream of events, without consuming on cancellation.

// in an Activity's onCreate

launch {
  for (event in viewModel.events()) {
    ui.handleEvent(event)
  }
}

By not consuming on cancellation (unsubscription), this allows my UI to re-use the same ReceiveChannel<T> instance across configuration changes.

// this exists already
fun <T> ReceiveChannel<T>.consumeAsFlow(): Flow<T>
// this does not
fun <T> ReceiveChannel<T>.asFlowWithoutConsuming: Flow<T>

I think the latter function would be useful. Can it be added?

[elizarov]

There should not be any cut-and-paste in this method implementation, as we are concerned about the overall size of the library. I’ve sketched the right-looking implementation in this commit: https://github.com/Kotlin/kotlinx.coroutines/commit/b16beb00b88a16a992e0d9f84184ae68a39d8226 It needs tests, though. There are also open design issue with respect to the consistency of operator naming and its interaction with emitAll. We’ll get back to it when time permits.

[elizarov]

Thanks. That’s clear. How about receiveAsFlow name for this conversion?