How to set state a class from another class in flutter? - flutter

I'm trying to implement dark mode in my flutter app using provider, but I'm having some issues:
I have a home screen that it has a scaffold widget. The body of the scaffold is a Stack with two different classes, as you can see here:
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return ClipRRect(
borderRadius: Constant.menuOn
? BorderRadius.circular(60.0)
: BorderRadius.circular(0.0),
child: Scaffold(
body: Stack(
children: const [
Menu(),
HomeScreen(),
],
),
),
);
}
The home screen class has another Scaffold widget, where hos body has another class called body.
It is from the body where I'm able to change the theme of my app using a switch where I can set state my BODY class with the provider as you can see here:
lsetState(() {
final provider = Provider.of<ThemeProvider>(
context,
listen: false);
rovider.toggleTheme(Constant.isDarkMode);
});
My body class change the theme however the class that is under the body class (Remember that my class "MENU" is under the class BODY because the first stake), does not change theme until restart my app (I'm using the same parameters of the body in order to know when has to change the class)...
I want to know how I can set the theme state of my menu class, or in general how I can change any other state from any class.
Note: Both of my class are StatefulWidget.

In general, setState is a very local intra-widget operation. Local data has changed, so the local view needs updating. Wanting to call the setState of another widget is a bad code smell. If you need other views depending on data you've updated, consider one of the state management solutions. (I would, for example, use a Riverpod Provider to hold the data, then watch that in every dependent view.)

Related

About the benefits of const for Stateles widget in Flutter

There is a custom appbar:
class _MyAppBar extends StatelessWidget {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return SliverAppBar(
title: Text('Catalog', style: Theme.of(context).textTheme.headline1),
...
);
}
}
and usage of it
return Scaffold(
body: CustomScrollView(
slivers: [
_MyAppBar(),
const SliverToBoxAdapter(child: SizedBox(height: 12)),
...
In that code const using wildly (it's the Flutter team code as an example of a particular package usage) and why in this case const isn't used for _MyAppBar() (we could add const constructor in _MyAppBar definition)?
When you create a widget and is able to prefix it with const that widget will not rebuild. The framework knows not to rebuild such widgets because it can tell that the objects did not change. Constant objects are resolved at compile-time, and due to a process known as canonicalization if two or more objects have the same parameters, and are constant, they will refer to the same instance.
For example, if you have
#override
Widget build() {
const MyWidget();
}
And then somewhere you call setState, MyWidget will not be reconstructed because it was already resolved at compile-time, and the framework will also not call its build method which makes sense because non of the arguments passed to MyWidget (which are none here) has changed as a result of issuing the rebuild so the configuration is still the same.
Moreover if somewhere else you call const MyWidget(); you will still refer to the same object/instance so it's more optimal.
And they added the lint rule so that people add a const constructor and are able to invoke their widgets/classes with const and it uses by default in flutter. Flutter apps, packages, and plugins created with flutter create starting with Flutter version 2.3.0 are already set up to use the lints defined in this package.
Disabling individual rules
include: package:lints/recommended.yaml
linter:
rules:
avoid_shadowing_type_parameters: false
await_only_futures: true
For more read this analysis option and const keyword.
After reading this, it would be helped you to understand why in your case const isn't used for _MyAppBar().
SRC From: remove const
when you use const behind widgets it changes the way it is rebuilt it will not rebuild completely from scratch when you setState the widget.it uses the data that has been stored on ram and rebuilds it with that.
when your widget does not change with rebuilding the page it is recommended to improve the application behavoiur

How do I keep my widget state when reordering them via Draggable&DragTarget?

I'm using this reorderables package. This package works by having a list of children widgets that are each wrapped with a Draggable and put inside a DragTarget. Before that the childs key is assigned to a GlobalObjectKey.
After the dragTarget is created, it is assigned(or rebuild?) to a KeyedSubTree:
dragTarget = KeyedSubtree(key: keyIndexGlobalKey, child: dragTarget);
According to the comments in the package source code, this should preserve the child widgets state (toWrap) when being dragged:
// We pass the toWrapWithGlobalKey into the Draggable so that when a list
// item gets dragged, the accessibility framework can preserve the selected
// state of the dragging item.
final GlobalObjectKey keyIndexGlobalKey = GlobalObjectKey(toWrap.key);
The reordering itself happens not with the DragTarget accepting the Draggable dragged into it, but rather by using the DragTarget around each child to get index of the current position the Draggable is hovering over. When the Draggable is let go, a reorder function will get called, which removes the widget (that was being dragged) from the list and inserting it into the new position.
Now comes my problem: The state of the widget is not being preserved. I made a simple TestWidget to test this:
class TestWidget extends StatefulWidget{
#override
_TestWidgetState createState() => _TestWidgetState();
}
class _TestWidgetState extends State<TestWidget> {
Color boxColor;
#override
void initState() {
super.initState();
boxColor= Colors.blue;
}
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Column(
children: [
Container(
decoration: BoxDecoration(color: boxColor),
child: Text("Test"),
),
FlatButton(
onPressed: (){
setState(() {
boxColor = Colors.red;
});
},
padding: EdgeInsets.all(8.0),
child: Text("Change to Red"),
color: Colors.grey,
)
],
);
}
}
This widget has a Container with a initial blue background (boxColor) and a button. When the button is pressed, it will change the boxColor to red. The moment the dragging on the widget is initiated, it is rebuild and defaults to the initial state (at least the Draggable feedback is). After the reordering that doesn't change and the widget is still in it's default state.
My plan here is to have a list of different custom widgets, where the User can modify their content and if they are not happy with the order, they can drag those widgets around and rearrange them.
My question is: How do I preserve the state of my widgets?
I'm thinking of creating a class for each widget with all state relevant variables and use that to build my widgets but that seems very bloated and not really in the mind of flutter. Isn't that supposed to be the role of the state of the StatefulWidget?
EDIT:
So I solved my problem by creating an additional class for my widget state with ChangeNotifier and then moving all my variables that I want to keep track of into this class. So I basically now have two lists, one for my widgets in the reorderable list and one for their states. I still think that this is kinda scuffed. If a widget in my list has additional children of its own, I would need to create separate state classes for each of them that need it and save them somewhere. This can get very messy, very quickly.

Flutter - Keep page static throughout lifecycle of app?

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)

Adding OverlayEntry in Flutter

I am trying to insert a Container to the Overlay, but I had an error with this code.
class _MyHomePageState extends State<MyHomePage> {
#override
void didChangeDependencies() {
super.didChangeDependencies();
final entry = OverlayEntry(builder: (BuildContext overlayContext) {
return Container(
height: 50.0,
width: 50.0,
color: Colors.blue,
);
});
_addOverlay(entry);
}
void _addOverlay(OverlayEntry entry) async {
Overlay.of(context).insert(entry);
}
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(
title: Text('Flutter'),
),
body: Center(),
);
}
}
This is error
setState() or markNeedsBuild() called during build. This Overlay widget cannot be marked as needing to build because the framework is already in the process of building widgets. A widget can be marked as needing to be built during the build phase only if one of its ancestors is currently building. This exception is allowed because the framework builds parent widgets before children, which means a dirty descendant will always be built. Otherwise, the framework might not visit this widget during this build phase...
Thank you in advance.
Since the last update to flutter 0.8.1 I noticed this change too. I fixed this to add the overlay after a minimal delay
Timer.run(() { Overlay.of(context).insert(calendarOverlay);});
Now this works but it feels like a hack...
So in my build i use this code when the overlay should present itself..
If anyone has a better solution, I am interested ;-)
John
UPDATE: I found this code to be working too:
final overlay = Overlay.of(context);
WidgetsBinding.instance.addPostFrameCallback((_) => overlay.insert(entry));
It saves me from including timers...
Just share some of my findings. I am about to implement overlay in my app too. So found this SO question by searching.
Many people build overlay before the normal widget. For example, in your code, the overlay insert in didChangeDependencies is called before building the Scaffold. This is the cause of all the async problems. I found people do this (couple the overlay insert and corresponding normal widget in a stateful widget) is because they want to find the corresponding child widget's position, but the child widget is build after the overlay insert call, thus the overlay insert has to be in an async function.
But If you just call overlay insert after building the normal widget (make overlay insert call independent from building the base widget. Separate/decouple them), you won't need any async or Timer functions at all. In my current implementation, I separate them just to make the code safe (I feel it's safer). So no need for any async calls.

InheritedWidget with Scaffold as child doesn't seem to be working

I was hoping to use InheritedWidget at the root level of my Flutter application to ensure that an authenticated user's details are available to all child widgets. Essentially making the Scaffold the child of the IW like this:
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return new AuthenticatedWidget(
user: _user,
child: new Scaffold(
appBar: new AppBar(
title: 'My App',
),
body: new MyHome(),
drawer: new MyDrawer(),
));
}
This works as expected on app start so on the surface it seems that I have implemented the InheritedWidget pattern correctly in my AuthenticatedWidget, but when I return back to the home page (MyHome) from elsewhere like this:
Navigator.popAndPushNamed(context, '/home');
This call-in the build method of MyHome (which worked previously) then results in authWidget being null:
final authWidget = AuthenticatedWidget.of(context);
Entirely possible I'm missing some nuances of how to properly implement an IW but again, it does work initially and I also see others raising the same question (i.e. here under the 'Inherited Widgets' heading).
Is it therefore not possible to use a Scaffold or a MaterialApp as the child of an InheritedWidget? Or is this maybe a bug to be raised? Thanks in advance!
MyInherited.of(context) will basically look into the parent of the current context to see if there's a MyInherited instantiated.
The problem is : Your inherited widget is instantiated within the current context.
=> No MyInherited as parent
=> crash
The trick is to use a different context.
There are many solutions there. You could instantiate MyInherited in another widget, so that the context of your build method will have a MyInherited as parent.
Or you could potentially use a Builder to introduce a fake widget that will pass you it's context.
Example of builder :
return new MyInheritedWidget(
child: new Builder(
builder: (context) => new Scaffold(),
),
);
Another problem, for the same reasons, is that if you insert an inheritedWidget inside a route, it will not be available outside of this route.
The solution is simple here !
Put your MyInheritedWidget above MaterialApp.
above material :
new MyInherited(
child: new MaterialApp(
// ...
),
)
Is it therefore not possible to use a Scaffold or a MaterialApp as the
child of an InheritedWidget?
It is very possible to do this. I was struggling with this earlier and posted some details and sample code here.
You might want to make your App-level InheritedWidget the parent of the MaterialApp rather than the Scaffold widget.
I think this has more to do with how you are setting up your MaterialWidget, but I can't quite tell from the code snippets you have provided.
If you can add some more context, I will see if I can provide more.