I just arrived on a flutter project for a web app, and all developers have a problem using flutter provider for state management.
What is the problem
When you arrive on a screen, the variables of the corresponding provider are initialised by calling a function of the provider. This function calls an api, and sets the variables in the provider.
Problem : This function is called in the build section of the widget. Each time the window is resized, the widget is rebuilt, and the function is called again.
What we want
We want to call an api when the page is first displayed, set variables with the result, and not call the api again when the widget is rebuilt.
What solution ?
We use a push from the first screen to go to the second one. We can call the function of the provider at this moment, to initialise the provider just before the second screen.
→ But a refresh on the second page will clear the provider variables, and the function to initialise them will not be called again.
We call the function to initialise the provider in the constructor of the second screen. Is it a good pattern ?
Thank you for your help in my new experience with flutter :)
I think you're mixing a couple different issues here:
How do you correctly initialize a provider
How do you call a method on initialization (only once)
For the first question:
In your main.dart file you want to do something like this:
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return MultiProvider(
providers: [
ChangeNotifierProvider(create: (context) => SomeProvider()),
ChangeNotifierProvider(create: (context) => AnotherProvider()),
],
child: YourRootWidget();
);
}
Then in a widget (that probably represents a "screen" in your app), you need to do something like this to consume state changes from that provider:
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Container(
child: Consumer<SomeProvider>(
builder: (context, provider, child) {
return Text(provider.someState);
}
),
)
}
And you need to do something like this to get access to the provider to mutate state:
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
SomeProvider someProvider = Provider.of<SomeProvider>(context, listen: false);
return Container(
child: TextButton(
child: Text('Tap me'),
onPressed: () async {
await someProvider.mutateSomeState();
}
),
)
}
Regarding the second question... You can (I think) just use the initState() method on a widget to make the call only 1 time. So...
#override
void initState() {
super.initState();
AnotherProvider anotherProvider = Provider.of<AnotherProvider>(context, listen: false);
Future.microtask(() {
anotherProvider.doSomethingElse();
});
}
If I'm off on any of that, I'm sorry. That mirrors my implementation and works fine/well.
A caveat here is that I think RiverPod is likely the place you really want to go (it's maybe easier to work with and has additional features that are helpful, etc.) but I've not migrated to RiverPod yet and do not have that figured out all the way.
Anyway... Good luck!
As far as I understood, you can wrap your application with MultiProvider and call the API before going to the second screen.
Related
I hope some simple pseudocode is enough so that both me and you can understand the question and answer.
The problem I'm facing is especially hard when using flutter-web, where the refresh restarts the whole program.
I want to use the path parameters to build objects in a child widgets build method.
GoRouter(routes:...,GoRoute(path="/categories/:category/",
builder:(context,state){
category = state.params['category];
return ParentWidget(category);}
ParentWidget extends StatelessWidget {
build(context){
return ChildWidget();}}
ChildWidget extends StatlessWidget {
build(context){
return "do something with category";}}
Now one way which I can think of and should technically work without any errors would be to pass the params first into the ParentWidget and then pass it along to the next child and so on. But if there's a long chain of child widgets it gets quite tedious and I'm guessing error prone as well. The other thing I was thinking was to use providers: pass the param once again to the parent widget and then make the parent widget send it to a provider. But then the question becomes, where do I do it? Apparently I shouldn't update a provider on build(), but if I do it on initState() it only does it bugs out if I change into a route that include the same widget tree but different path e.g. /categories/apples -> /categories/bananas.
Ps. For some reason I don't remember what the problem with refreshing was. (It has something to do with resetting the providers). But I'll update it when I remember.
go_router has it's params in its state.
Hence pass the state to the page
Router
GoRoute(
name: "test",
path: "/test/:id",
builder: (context, state) {
return SampleWidget(
goRouterState: state, 👈 Pass state here
);
},
),
Usage
context.goNamed("test", params: {"id": "123"}),
Accesing in the page
class SampleWidget extends StatelessWidget {
GoRouterState? goRouterState;
SampleWidget({super.key, this.goRouterState});
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
print(goRouterState?.params.toString()); 👈 access anywhere like so
return const Scaffold(
body: ...
);
}
}
For my flutter project, I am using the following multiple providers below:
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return MultiProvider(
providers: [
ChangeNotifierProvider<FirstProvider>(
create: (context) => FirstProvider(),
),
ChangeNotifierProvider<SecondProvider>(
create: (context) => SecondProvider(),
),
ChangeNotifierProvider<ThirdProvider>(
create: (context) => ThirdProvider(),
),
ChangeNotifierProvider<FourthProvider>(
create: (context) => FourthProvider(),
),
],
child: const MainApp(),
);
}
Because sometimes I need to either get data or call functions from different providers from another provider, I am using it like this:
//First Provider
class FirstProvider with ChangeNotifier {
void callFunctionFromSecondProvider({
required BuildContext context,
}) {
//Access the SecondProvider
final secondProvider= Provider.of<SecondProvider>(
context,
listen: false,
);
secondProvider.myFunction();
}
}
//Second Provider
class SecondProvider with ChangeNotifier {
bool _currentValue = true;
void myFunction(){
//Do something
}
}
The callFunctionFromSecondProvider()of the FirstProvider is called from a widget and it will call myFunction() successfully, most of times.
Depending on the complexity of the function, I am sometimes experiencing that I can't access the SecondProvider, presumably due to context being null, when the widget state changes.
I am reading some documents online regarding provider, and they are suggesting changenotifierproxyprovider for what I understood as 1 to 1 provider relationship.
However, in my case, one provider needs to be accessed by multiple providers and vice versa.
Question:
Is there a more appropriate way that I can approach my case where one provider can be accessed by multiple providers?
EDIT:
Accessing provider should also be able to access different variable values without creating a new instance.
Instead of passing context to the callFunctionFromSecondProvider function add the second provider as the parameter. So the function looks like the below.
Not sure this is the correct way of doing that but my context null issue was fixed this way.
void callFunctionFromSecondProvider({
required SecondProvider secondProvider,
}) {
secondProvider.myFunction();
}
}
Alright.
So it looks like Riverpod by the same author is the way to go as it addresses alot of flaws such as Provider being dependent on the widget tree, in my case, where the underlying issue came from.
—--------
For the time being, I still need to use the provider and for a quick and dirty solution, I am providing the context of not only the current widget that I am trying to access the provider, but also passing the parent context of the widget directly, so that in case a modal (for example) is closed, then any subsequent provider call can still be executed using the parent context.
Hope this helps.
According to Flutter's documentation and this example, as I'm understanding it, a key difference between the Provider package's context.read<T> and context.watch<T> methods relate to triggering widget rebuilds. You can call context.watch<T>() in a build method of any widget to access current state, and to ask Flutter to rebuild your widget anytime the state changes. You can't use context.watch<T>() outside build methods, because that often leads to subtle bugs. Instead, they say, use context.read<T>(), which gets the current state but doesn't ask Flutter for future rebuilds.
I tried making this simple app:
class MyDataNotifier extends ChangeNotifier {
String _testString = 'test';
// getter
String get testString => _testString;
// update
void updateString(String aString) {
_testString = aString;
notifyListeners();
}
}
void main() {
runApp(
ChangeNotifierProvider(
create: (_) => MyDataNotifier(),
child: MyApp(),
),
);
}
class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return MaterialApp(
home: Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(
title: Text(context.read<MyDataNotifier>().testString),
),
body: Container(
child: Level1(),
),
),
);
}
}
class Level1 extends StatelessWidget {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Column(
children: [
TextField(
onChanged: (val) {
context.read<MyDataNotifier>().updateString(val);
},
),
Text(context.read<MyDataNotifier>().testString),
],
);
}
}
All the calls are to counter.read<T>(). The app's state changes, but the UI is not rebuilt with the new value. I have to change one of the calls to counter.watch<T>() to get the state to rebuild.
On the other hand, in DZone's simple example, the UI rebuilds, and all the calls are to context.read().
What's different between their code and mine? Why can't I rebuild with counter.read() calls?
TLDR: after a quick glance, the DZone article looks like it has a bug.
Longer answer
context.watch<Foo>() does 2 things:
return the instance of the state from the tree
mark context as dependent on Foo
context.read<Foo>() only does 1).
Whenever your UI depends on Foo, you should use context.watch, since this appropriately informs Flutter about that dependency, and it will be rebuilt properly.
In general, it boils down to this rule of thumb:
Use context.watch in build() methods, or any other method that returns a Widget
Use context.read in onPressed handlers (and other related functions)
The main reason people seem to use context.read inappropriately is for performance reasons. In general, preferring context.read over context.watch for performance is an anti-pattern. Instead, you should use context.select if you want to limit how often a widget rebuilds. This is most useful whenever you have a value that changes often.
Imagine you have the following state:
class FooState extends ChangeNotifier {
// imagine this us updated very often
int millisecondsSinceLastTap;
// updated less often
bool someOtherProperty = false;
}
If you had a widget that displays someOtherProperty, context.watch could cause many unnecessary rebuilds. Instead, you can use context.select only depend on a processed part of the state:
// read the property, rebuild only when someOtherProperty changes
final property = context.select((FooState foo) => foo.someOtherProperty);
return Text('someOtherProperty: $property');
Even with a frequently updating value, if the output of the function provided to select doesn't change, the widget won't rebuild:
// even though millisecondsSinceLastTap may be updating often,
// this will only rebuild when millisecondsSinceLastTap > 1000 changes
final value = context.select((FooState state) => state.millisecondsSinceLastTap > 1000);
return Text('${value ? "more" : "less"} than 1 second...');
I have a MainBloc that resides inside a main route, this route has a bottom app bar with multiple sub-routes, I want the same BLoC to run on all five sub-routes so that when one of them changes the state of the block the others will see the effect.
I tried this SO question but its really far from what I'm looking for, also I tried following what the error advised me to, but didn't work, here is the message that I got:
This can happen if:
1. The context you used comes from a widget above the BlocProvider.
2. You used MultiBlocProvider and didn't explicity provide the BlocProvider types.
Good: BlocProvider<MainBloc>(builder: (context) => MainBloc())
Bad: BlocProvider(builder: (context) => MainBloc()).
Main route:
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return MultiBlocProvider(
providers: [
BlocProvider<MainBloc>(
builder: (BuildContext context) => MainBloc(),
),
BlocProvider<OtherBloc>(
builder: (BuildContext context) => OtherBloc(),
),
],
child: /..., //here I have the bottom app bar with 5 buttons to navigate between sub-routes
);
one of the sub-routes:
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
final MainBloc bloc = BlocProvider.of<MainBloc>(context);
return /...; //here I have the context of this sub-route.
}
from what I've seen from tutorials and articles this code should work, but I can't seem to find why not.
The problem is you cannot access InheritedWidgets across routes unless you provide the InheritedWidget above MaterialApp. I would recommend wrapping your new route in BlocProvider.value to provide the existing bloc to the new route like:
Navigator.of(context).push(
MaterialPageRoute<MyPage>(
builder: (_) {
return BlocProvider.value(
value: BlocProvider.of<MyBloc>(context),
child: MyPage(),
);
},
),
);
You can find more detailed information about this in the bloc documentation
As this child has the bottom app bar:
child: /..., //here I have the bottom app bar
then I assume that the MultiBlocProvider(..) is not wrapping the whole part of app which is using this Bloc, my suggestion here is to wrap the "MaterialApp" with "MultiBlocProvider".
return MultiBlocProvider(
providers: [..],
child: MaterialApp(..) // Set MaterialApp as the child of the MultiBlocProvider
//..
)
I have created an AppDrawer widget to wrap my primary drawer navigation and reference it in a single place, like so:
class AppDrawer extends StatelessWidget {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Drawer(
child: new ListView(
children: <Widget>[
new ListTile(
title: new Text("Page1"),
trailing: new Icon(Icons.arrow_right),
onTap: () {
Navigator.of(context).pop();
Navigator.of(context).push(new MaterialPageRoute(builder: (BuildContext context) => Page1.singleInstance));
}
),
new ListTile(
title: new Text("Page2"),
trailing: new Icon(Icons.arrow_right),
onTap: () {
Navigator.of(context).pop();
Navigator.of(context).push(new MaterialPageRoute(builder: (BuildContext context) => new Page2("Page 2")));
}
),
]
),
);
}
}
I have also created a custom AppScaffold widget, which simply returns a consistent AppBar, my custom AppDrawer, and body:
class AppScaffold extends StatelessWidget {
final Widget body;
final String pageTitle;
AppScaffold({this.body, this.pageTitle});
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
appBar: new AppBar(title: new Text(pageTitle), backgroundColor: jet),
drawer: AppDrawer(),
body: body
);
}
}
I have created two pages: Page1, and Page2. They are simple right now, and look something like this:
class Page1 extends StatelessWidget {
final String pageText;
Page1(this.pageText);
static Page1 get singleInstance => Page1("Page1");
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return AppScaffold(
pageTitle: this.pageText,
body: SafeArea(
child: Stack(
children: <Widget>[
Center(child: SomeCustomWidget())
],
)
),
);
}
}
class Page2 extends StatelessWidget {
final String pageText;
Page2(this.pageText);
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return AppScaffold(
pageTitle: this.pageText,
body: SafeArea(
child: Stack(
children: <Widget>[
Center(child: SomeOtherCustomWidget())
],
)
),
);
}
}
When I run my app, I can see the navbar and drawer correctly. I can click on the links in the drawer to navigate between my pages. However, each time I navigate to a page, all of the widgets on that page get reset to their initial state. I want to ensure that the widgets do not get reset. Another way to think of this is: I only want one instance of each page throughout the lifecycle of the app, instead of creating them new whenever a user navigates to them.
I tried creating a static instance of Page1 that the Drawer uses when the onTap event is fired, but this does not work. Am I thinking about this incorrectly? Do I need to convert to a Stateful widget?
Oh, you're in for a treat... This will be kinda long (sorry) but please read all of it before making decisions and taking action - I promise I am saving you time.
There are many different solutions to this problem, but in general what you're asking about is state management (which is really software engineering, more info here - Understanding state management, and why you never will).
I'll try my best to explain what is happening in your specific case...
Problem:
Think of Navigator as a List of application states, which you can manipulate via its various methods (i.e. pop(), push(), etc.), with this in mind it is clear what is happening - on a button press you're actually removing the current state (page) and right after that you're pushing a new instance of your state (page).
Solution(s):
As I said, there are many solutions to this problem, for example, you may be tempted to store the state (the changes you made to a particular "page") somewhere in a var and inject that var when navigating between "pages", when creating a new instance of that page, but you'll soon run into other problems. This is why I don't think anyone can provide a simple solution to this problem...
First, may I suggest you some useful reads on the matter:
Flutter official docs on state management - When you get to the "Options" section of this, the fun part begins and can quickly get overwhelming, but fear not :P
Be sure to read the medium article mentioned in the start of my answer too, I found it really helpful.
These reads will be more than enough to help you make a decision, plus there are a ton of articles on Medium and YouTube videos touching on the matter of state management with Flutter (even some from the authors of the framework) - just search for "State management with Flutter".
Now my own personal opinion:
If it's a really simple use case and you don't plan to grow (which is almost never the case, trust me), you can just use StatefulWidgets in combination with setState() and maybe InheritedWidget (for dependency injection down the tree, or like React guys call it "lifting state up"). Or instead of the above, maybe have a look at scoped_model, which kinda abstracts all of this for you (tho, I haven't played with it).
What I use right now for a real world project is bloc and flutter_bloc (BLoC = Business Logic Component), I will not get into the details of it, but basically it takes the idea of scoped_model one step further, without over-complicating abstractions. bloc is responsible for abstracting away the "business logic" of your application and flutter_bloc to "inject" the state in your UI and react to state changes (official Flutter position on the matter is that UI = f(State)).
A BLoC has an input and an output, it takes in events as an input (can be user input, or other, any type of event really) and produces a state. In summary that's it about bloc.
A great way to get started is BLoC's official documentation. I highly recommend it. Just go through everything.
(p.s. This may be my personal opinion, but in the end state management in Flutter is all based on some form of using InheritedWidget and setState() in response to user input or other external factors that should change the application state, so I think the BLoC pattern is really on point with abstracting those :P)