Flutter: Video player not initialized - flutter

Question

I have a video preview widget that takes either a string url or a video file. If the parameter is a String, it downloads the file from online/the cache. With this is mind, my implementation is as follows:
import 'dart:io';
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:hero/helpers/cache_manager/cache_manager.dart';
import 'package:video_player/video_player.dart';
import 'package:chewie/chewie.dart';
class WaveVideoPreview extends StatefulWidget {
final File? videoFile;
final String? videoUrl;
WaveVideoPreview({this.videoFile, this.videoUrl});
#override
_WaveVideoPreviewState createState() => _WaveVideoPreviewState();
}
class _WaveVideoPreviewState extends State<WaveVideoPreview> {
late VideoPlayerController? _controller;
late ChewieController _chewieController;
void initState() {
super.initState();
_initAsync();
}
void _initAsync() async {
File? _videoFile = widget.videoFile;
if (_videoFile == null) {
_videoFile = await getVideo(_videoFile);
}
_controller = VideoPlayerController.file(_videoFile!)
..initialize().then((_) {
setState(() {
_chewieController = ChewieController(
videoPlayerController: _controller!,
aspectRatio: _controller!.value.aspectRatio,
autoPlay: false,
looping: true,
allowFullScreen: false,
);
});
});
}
Future<File?> getVideo(File? _videoFile) async {
_videoFile = await MyCache.getVideo(widget.videoUrl!);
return _videoFile;
}
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Container(
height: 200.0,
child: (_controller?.value.isInitialized ?? false)
? Chewie(
controller: _chewieController,
)
: SizedBox.shrink(),
);
}
#override
void dispose() {
_controller!.dispose();
_chewieController.dispose();
super.dispose();
}
}
with
static Future<File?> getVideo(String url) async {
DefaultCacheManager _cacheManager = DefaultCacheManager();
File? file = await _cacheManager.getSingleFile(url);
return file;
}
Which is throwing the error:
════════ Exception caught by widgets library ═══════════════════════════════════
The following LateError was thrown building WaveVideoPreview(dirty, state: _WaveVideoPreviewState#659ef):
LateInitializationError: Field '_controller#1875314998' has not been initialized.
The relevant error-causing widget was
WaveVideoPreview
lib/…/widget/wave_tile.dart:84
When the exception was thrown, this was the stack
#0 _WaveVideoPreviewState._controller (package:hero/screens/home/home_screens/views/waves/widget/video/wave_video_preview.dart)
package:hero/…/video/wave_video_preview.dart:1
#1 _WaveVideoPreviewState.build
package:hero/…/video/wave_video_preview.dart:57
Anyone know whats going on? I've tried changing the video player between nullable and non nullable, but still to no avail. Also as you can see i have a null check, but still nothing.

Answer 1

_initAsync is using async and it will take some frame to initialize the controllers.
It would be better to use FutureBuilder for this. or make those nullable and the do a null check while using it.
VideoPlayerController? _controller;
ChewieController? _chewieController;