ValueAnimator Lint Error: This animation should be started with #start() [Recycle]

Question

I'm creating ValueAnimator in init() method like this:

internal var animator: ValueAnimator? = null

@CallSuper
open fun init() {
    animator = ValueAnimator.ofFloat(-1F, 2F)
    animator?.duration = ANIMATION_DURATION
    animator?.interpolator = LinearInterpolator()
    animator?.repeatCount = ValueAnimator.INFINITE
    animator?.repeatMode = ValueAnimator.REVERSE
    animator?.addUpdateListener(this)
}

I'm starting/stopping it depending on the visibility of the view:

override fun onVisibilityChanged(changedView: View, visibility: Int) {
    super.onVisibilityChanged(changedView, visibility)
    when (visibility) {
        VISIBLE -> animator?.start()
        INVISIBLE, GONE -> animator?.cancel()
    }
}

I'm getting the following Lint error:

Error: This animation should be started with #start() [Recycle] animator = ValueAnimator.ofFloat(-1F, 2F) ~~~~~~~

Explanation for issues of type "Recycle": Many resources, such as TypedArrays, VelocityTrackers, etc., should be recycled (with a recycle() call) after use. This lint check looks for missing recycle() calls.

There's no recycle() method for ValueAnimator. I tried to create a new animator each time I need to start it, but I couldn't find a way to provide needed properties without getting this Lint error. How can I fix this?

Answer 1

To avoid the lint error u can create a value animator instance every time when the view is visible like this:-

fun createAndStartAnim() {
     animator = ValueAnimator.ofFloat(-1F, 2F).apply {
             duration = ANIMATION_DURATION
             interpolator = LinearInterpolator()
             repeatCount = ValueAnimator.INFINITE
             repeatMode = ValueAnimator.REVERSE
             addUpdateListener(this@YourUpdateListener)
             start() // this removes the lint error
     }
}

We need to cancel by :-

fun cancelAndNullifyAnim() {
    animator?.cancel()
    animator = null
}

Now on visibility change:-

when (visibility) {
        VISIBLE -> createAndStartAnim()
        INVISIBLE, GONE -> cancelAndNullifyAnim()
}

The lint error should be gone if we start the value anim before accessing any other recyclable properties of it.