How to handle connection status of sockets in Flutter? - flutter

Question

I am building an app that requires to connect to a videoconference device in order to send call commands.
My problem comes when the device gets disconnected because it's powered off, cable disconnection, or any other issue. In that scenario, I am able to show it in the app thanks to the vcfConnected variable. However, I can never get the connection back to work (only by restarting the app, which is not desirable)
I am connecting to the device via dart socket like follows. The idea behind this implementation is to try to reconnect whenever there is a problem. However, is not working fine.
Does anybody know how to better handle the connection state?
Is it better to connect to the device each time I have to send a command and close the socket after that each time?
void connect(){
Socket.connect('192.168.5.107', 55003).then((Socket socket) {
sock = socket;
vcfConnected = true;
socket.listen((data) {
String response = hex.encode(data);
dataHandler(context, response);
},
onError: (error) => errorHandler(error),
onDone: () => reconnect()
);
// Init protocol message
sendCommand('&IPV');
getMicMuteState();
getReceiveVolume();
timer = Timer.periodic(Duration(seconds: 10), (Timer t) => checkVcfStatus());
}).timeout(Duration(seconds: 15), onTimeout: () => onTimeout());
}
FutureOr<Null> onTimeout(){
reconnect();
}
void reconnect(){
print('VCF disconnected');
vcfConnected = false;
if (timer != null){
timer.cancel();
}
if (sock != null) {
sock.close();
}
sock = null;
connect();
}
void errorHandler(, error){
print('Error: $error');
reconnect();
}
void checkVcfStatus() {
sendCommand('?S');
}