Angular6 rxjs unsubscribing to timer subscription OnDestroy does not work?

Question

So I have a timer where I call an api every 60 seconds (it's a digital signage app so there won't be any interaction yet I want it to auto update)

I have various components that load different api calls but the problem is, when I'm trying to unsubscribe to these timer subscriptions ondestroy it simply does not work.

I go in, test by routing to 2 components back and forth 5-6 times. This should normally kil subscription everytime I go to the next one.

After 60 seconds passes, there's as many api calls being made as many times I've switched between those two. so I've created a timer subscription everytime I went on one of the components but did not destroy them.

EDIT, added my full OnInit and OnDestroy code below:

ngOnInit() {

    let mainTimer = timer(0, 60000);

    this.dataSourceSubscription = mainTimer.subscribe(t => {
      this.service.getSection3();
      this.dataSourceSubscription = this.section3.subscribe(data => {
        let countAccepted = data => {
          for (let i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
            if (
              data[i].DeliveryStatus == "Accepted" &&
              data[i].BookingId == "0"
            ) {
              this.multidropAccepted++;
            }
          }
        };

        let countDepartedSite = data => {
          for (let i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
            if (
              data[i].DeliveryStatus == "Departed Site" &&
              data[i].BookingId == "0"
            ) {
              this.multidropDepartedSite++;
            }
          }
        };


        let countPending = data => {
          for (let i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
            if (
              data[i].DeliveryStatus == "Pending" &&
              data[i].BookingId == "0"
            ) {
              this.multidropPending++;
            }
          }
        };

        let countOnSite = data => {
          for (let i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
            if (
              data[i].DeliveryStatus == "On Site" &&
              data[i].BookingId == "0"
            ) {
              this.multidropOnSite++;
            }
          }
        };

        let countTurnedAway = data => {
          for (let i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
            if (
              data[i].DeliveryStatus == "Turned Away" &&
              data[i].BookingId == "0"
            ) {
              this.multidropTurnedAway++;
            }
          }
        };


        (this.dataSource = new MatTableDataSource(
          data.filter(
            (value, index, array) =>
              !array.filter(
                (v, i) => JSON.stringify(value) == JSON.stringify(v) && i < index
              ).length
          )
        )),
          (this.dataSource.sort = this.sort),
          (this.dataSource.paginator = this.paginator),
          this.multidropAccepted = 0;
          this.multidropDepartedSite = 0;
          this.multidropPending = 0;
          this.multidropOnSite = 0;
          this.multidropTurnedAway = 0;
          countAccepted(data),
          countDepartedSite(data),
          countPending(data),
          countOnSite(data),
          countTurnedAway(data),
          this.totalDeliveries = data.length;
      });

      this.lastUpdated.subscribe(data => {
        console.log(data);
      })
    })


    let pageTimer = timer(10000, 10000);

    this.pageSubscription = pageTimer.subscribe(t => {
      if (
        this.dataSource.paginator._pageIndex ==
        this.dataSource.paginator.getNumberOfPages()
      ) {
        this.dataSource.paginator.firstPage();
      } else {
        this.dataSource.paginator.nextPage();
      }
    });
  }

  ngOnDestroy() {
    this.dataSourceSubscription.unsubscribe();
    this.pageSubscription.unsubscribe();
  }

  applyFilter(filterValue: string) {
    this.dataSource.filter = filterValue.trim().toLowerCase();

    if (this.dataSource.paginator) {
      this.dataSource.paginator.firstPage();
    }
  }

Answer 1

So from what you described in the question, generally speaking, I don't think there is anything wrong with how you subscribe & unsubscribe the observable.

Which means the mistake must be something silly.

To investigate further, please check:

1. Is there any typo with your code?

2. Is ngOnDestroy() really executed? - put a console log there and see if it really gets called when you switch away from your current page. If not, you probably staying the same route rules even if the page seems to be changed.

---

The subscription gets overwritten so it's no longer pointing to the timer. When you destroy (unsubscribe) it, it's actually unsubscribe the inner observable, not the timer observable.

this.dataSourceSubscription = mainTimer.subscribe(t => {
  this.dataSourceSubscription = this.section3.subscribe(data => {});
});