I haven't found much about inter-bloc communication, so I came up with an own, simple solution that might be helpful to others.
My problem was: for one screen I use 2 blocs for different information clusters, one of them also re-used on another screen. While passing data is well documented, I had issues with figuring out how to pass events or trigger states to/of the other bloc.
There are probably much better solutions, but for other flutter or bloc beginners like me it might be helpful. It is fairly simple and the logic is easy to follow.
If you inject Bloc A as dependency to Bloc B (looked simple to me and I do not need further Blocs), I can get/set values in Bloc A from Bloc B (not vice versa). If I want to get data back to Bloc A, or if I just want the Bloc A build to reload, I can trigger events in the BlocBuilder of B to pass the information.
// ========= BLOC FILE ===========
class BlocA extends BlocAEvent, BlocAState> {
int myAVar = 1;
}
class BlocB extends BlocBEvent, BlocBState> {
BlocB({#required this.blocA}) : super(BInitial());
final BlockA blockA;
// passing data back and forth is straight forward
final myBVar = blockA.myAVar + 1;
blockA.myAVar = myBVar;
#override
Stream<BState> mapEventToState(BEvent event) async* {
if (event is BInitRequested) {
// trigger state change of Bloc B and request also reload of Bloc A with passed argument
yield LgSubjectShowSingle(blocAReloadTrigger: true);
}
}
}
// ========= UI FILE ===========
class MyPage extends StatelessWidget {
MyPage({Key key, this.title}) : super(key: key);
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
// inject dependency of page on both Blocs: A & B
return MultiBlocProvider(
providers: [
BlocProvider<BlocA>(
create: (BuildContext context) =>
BlocA().add(BlocAInit()),
),
BlocProvider<BlocB>(
create: (BuildContext context) =>
BlocB(BlocA: BlocProvider.of<BlocA>(
context),).add(BInitRequested()),
),
],
child: BlocBuilder<BlocB, BState>(
builder: (context, state) {
if (state is BShowData) {
// If a reload of Bloc A is requested (we are building for Bloc B, here) this will trigger an event for state change of Bloc A
if (state.triggerStmntReload) {
BlocProvider.of<BlocA>(context).add(AReloadRequested());
};
return Text("abc");
}
}
)
);
}
}
Related
I am using Bloc for my Flutter project. I have created three blocs. These are AuthenticationBloc, FirebaseDatabaseBloc, and ChatMessagesBloc. When the user gets authenticated, AuthenticationBloc emits a state called authenticated with a user object.
I want to make this user object available inside FirebaseDatabaseBloc and ChatMessagesBloc. What is the clean way of doing this?
Well, This is year 2022 and a lot has changed. Bloc to Bloc to communication via the constructor is now considered a bad practice. Nobody said it won't work though but trust me, you'd end up tightly coupling your code.
Generally, sibling dependencies between two entities in the same architectural layer should be avoided at all costs, as it creates tight-coupling which is hard to maintain. Since blocs reside in the business logic architectural layer, no bloc should know about any other bloc.
documentation.
You should rather try this:
class MyWidget extends StatelessWidget {
const MyWidget({Key? key}) : super(key: key);
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return BlocListener<WeatherCubit, WeatherState>(
listener: (context, state) {
// When the first bloc's state changes, this will be called.
//
// Now we can add an event to the second bloc without it having
// to know about the first bloc.
BlocProvider.of<SecondBloc>(context).add(SecondBlocEvent());
},
child: TextButton(
child: const Text('Hello'),
onPressed: () {
BlocProvider.of<FirstBloc>(context).add(FirstBlocEvent());
},
),
);
}
}
I hope it helps!
This is achievable by BLoC-to-BLoC communication. The simplest way is to pass your BLoC reference by the other's constructor and subscribe to BLoC changes:
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
final authenticationBloc = AuthenticationBloc();
return MultiBlocProvider(
providers: [
BlocProvider<AuthenticationBloc>.value(value: authenticationBloc),
BlocProvider<FirebaseDatabaseBloc>(
create: (_) => FirebaseDatabaseBloc(
authenticationBloc: authenticationBloc,
),
),
],
child: ...,
);
}
Then, inside the FirebaseDatabaseBloc you can subscribe to changes:
class FirebaseDatabaseBloc extends Bloc<FirebaseDatabaseEvent, FirebaseDatabaseBloc> {
final AuthenticationBloc authenticationBloc;
StreamSubscription<AuthenticationState> _authenticationStateStreamSubscription;
FirebaseDatabaseBloc({
#required this.authenticationBloc,
}) : super(...) {
_authenticationStateStreamSubscription = authenticationBloc.listen(_onAuthenticationBlocStateChange);
}
#override
Future<void> close() async {
_authenticationStateStreamSubscription.cancel();
return super.close();
}
void _onAuthenticationBlocStateChange(AuthenticationState authState) {
// Do whatever you want with the auth state
}
}
For more info, you can check this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ricBLKHeubM
I'm trying to access context so i can read my provider but since this lifecycle hook is out side the widget tree. it's not accessible. is there a way to get access to context?
I researched a little bit and finally discussed with narcodico from the flutter bloc community, so the credits are for him.
Therefore, mixin WidgetsBindingObserver on a state class, the context is available even in the overrides like didChangeAppLifecycleState since they are part of the state class.
Also, take in consideration to move to BlocProvider above the state widget.
Example
class HomePageProvider extends StatelessWidget {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return BlocProvider(
create: (context) => getIt<InAppPurchasesBloc>(),
child: HomePage(),
);
}
}
class HomePage extends StatefulWidget {
#override
State<StatefulWidget> createState() {
return _HomePageState();
}
}
class _HomePageState extends State<HomePage> with WidgetsBindingObserver {
...
#override
void didChangeAppLifecycleState(AppLifecycleState state) {
if (state == AppLifecycleState.resumed) {
context
.read<InAppPurchasesBloc>()
.add(const InAppPurchasesEvent.getPurchaserInfo());
}
}
...
}
I am afraid you can't access context inside didChangeAppLifecycleState.
For anyone interested, you can save your scaffold state in a global key, and access the context from its current state.
You can use useEffect function, read more:
https://pub.dev/documentation/flutter_hooks/latest/flutter_hooks/useEffect.html;
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
useEffect(() {
//what would you write in initState
},
);
You may consider using the Riverpod package instead of Provider. Riverpod is from the same author as Provider and considered the "better Provider", but with many improvements including Flutter independence, meaning it does not rely on a context to work, and you can use it almost the same way as provider.
Using Riverpod, along with Flutter Hooks, you can do something like:
// create a provider in a global context
final myProvider = Provider((ref) => myClass());
// access the provider inside your class
class MyWidget extends HookWidget{
//access the provider using a hook
final myClassProvider = useProvider(myProvider);
//... your logic
#override
Widget build (BuildContext context){/* ... build widget tree... */}
}
Consider this very useful and concise tutorial with how to use Riverpod with Flutter Hooks and StateNotifier, ChangeNotifier, etc...
My bloc is yielding new states e.g. like this:
yield Loaded();
yield Loaded();
My BlocListener retrieves both of these, even though they are the same.
My BlocBuilder on the other hand does not. It will only retrieve the first (or last?) one.
I'm not using equatable and I don't understand why BlocBuilder wont be triggered both times.
In my case I simply want to update the UI again without actually changing the state.
Building widgets is an expensive task and Flutter tries to minimize this cost wherever possible. One of them is preventing repetitive building when state changes. Here is an example:
class TestPage extends StatefulWidget {
#override
_TestPageState createState() => _TestPageState();
}
class _TestPageState extends State<TestPage> {
int a = 0;
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
print(a);
return Scaffold(
floatingActionButton: FloatingActionButton(onPressed: () {
setState(() => a = 1);
setState(() => a = 1);
}),
);
}
}
This example prints 0 at the first build. After clicking on the button you should expect 2 prints with value of 1 but you will get only one message in the console. Why? Because setState is an async function and Flutter batches them together when they've been called repetitively or in a small fraction of time and fires build only once. Now if you change the last setState in that code to setState(() => a = 2) you will get 2 in the console after clicking on button. If you reverse them (set a to be 2 at first and then 1) you will get 1 in the console. Now with that in mind let's see how BlocBuilder works?
BlocBuilder is a StatefulWidget and uses BlocListener to update it's state and rebuild the widgets if needed. Here is it's build method:
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return BlocListener<C, S>(
cubit: _cubit,
listenWhen: widget.buildWhen,
listener: (context, state) => setState(() => _state = state),
child: widget.build(context, _state),
);
}
As you can see the same logic we saw in our example applies here too and if you yield multiple states repetitively in a short time, It will be built once with the latest state.
When using flutter bloc what is the recommendation, is it recomended for each page to have its own bloc or can i reuse one block for multiple pages, if so how?
I think that the best solution is to have one BLoC per page. It helps you to always know in which state each screen is just by looking at its BLoC. If you want to show the state of each of your tabs independently you should create one BLoC for each tab, and create one Repository which will handle fetching the data. But if the state of every tab will be the same, (for example you fetch data only once for all of the screens, so you don't show loading screen on every tab) then I think that you could create just one BLoC for all of this tabs.
It is also worth to add, that BLoCs can communicate with each other. So you can get state of one BLoC from another, or listen to its state changes. That could be helpful when you decide to create separate BLoCs for tabs.
I have addressed this topic in my latest article. You can check it out if you want to dive deeper.
There are no hard-set rules about this. It depends on what you want to accomplish.
An example: if each page is "radically" from each other, then yes, a BLoC per page makes sense. You can still share an "application-wide" BLoC between those pages if some kind of sharing or interaction is required between the pages.
In general, I've noticed that usually a BLoC "per page" is useful as there are always specific things related for each page that you handle within their BLoC. You can the use a general BLoC to share data or some other common thing between them.
You can combine the BLoC pattern with RxDart to handle somewhat more complex interaction scenarios between a BLoC and the UI.
Sharing a BLoC is fairly simple, just nest them or use a MultiProvider (from the provider package):
runApp(
BlocProvider(
builder: (_) => SettingsBloc(),
child: BlocProvider(
builder: (_) => ApplicationBloc(),
child: MyApp()
)
)
);
and then you can just retrieve them via the Provider:
class MyApp extends ... {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
final settingsBloc = Provider.of<SettingsBloc>(context);
final appBloc = Provider.of<ApplicationBloc>(context);
// do something with the above BLoCs
}
}
You can share different bloc's in different pages using BlocProvider.
Let's define some RootWidget that will be responsible for holding all Bloc's.
class RootPage extends StatefulWidget {
#override
_RootPageState createState() => _RootPageState();
}
class _RootPageState extends State<RootPage> {
NavigationBloc _navigationBloc;
ProfileBloc _profileBloc;
ThingBloc _thingBloc;
#override
void initState(){
_navigationBloc = NavigationBloc();
_thingBloc = ThingBloc();
_profileBloc = ProfileBloc();
super.initState();
}
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return MultiBlocProvider(
providers: [
BlocProvider<NavigationBloc>(
builder: (BuildContext context) => _navigationBloc
),
BlocProvider<ProfileBloc>(
builder: (BuildContext context) => _profileBloc
),
BlocProvider<ThingBloc>(
builder: (BuildContext context) => _thingBloc
),
],
child: BlocBuilder(
bloc: _navigationBloc,
builder: (context, state){
if (state is DrawProfilePage){
return ProfilePage();
} else if (state is DrawThingsPage){
return ThingsPage();
} else {
return null
}
}
)
)
}
}
And after that, we can use any of bloc from parent and all widgets will share the same state and can dispatch event on the same bloc
class ThingsPage extends StatefulWidget {
#override
_ThingsPageState createState() => _ThingsPageState();
}
class _ThingsPageState extends State<ThingsPage> {
#override
void initState(){
_profileBloc = BlocProvider.of<ProfileBloc>(context);
super.initState();
}
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Container(
child: BlocBuilder(
bloc: _profileBloc,
builder: (context, state){
if (state is ThingsAreUpdated){
return Container(
Text(state.count.toList())
);
} else {
return Container()
}
}
)
);
}
}
I'm trying to understand the best practice for controlling a StatefulWidget's state outside of that Widgets State.
I have the following interface defined.
abstract class StartupView {
Stream<String> get onAppSelected;
set showActivity(bool activity);
set message(String message);
}
I would like to create a StatefulWidget StartupPage that implements this interface. I expect the Widget to do the following:
When a button is pressed it would send an event over the onAppSelected stream. A controller would listen to this event and perform some action ( DB call, service request, etc ).
The controller can call showActivity or set message to have the view show progress with a message.
Because a Stateful Widget does not expose its State as a property, I don't know the best approach for accessing and modifying the State's attributes.
The way I would expect to use this would be something like this:
Widget createStartupPage() {
var page = new StartupPage();
page.onAppSelected.listen((app) {
page.showActivity = true;
//Do some work
page.showActivity = false;
});
}
I've thought about instantiating the Widget by passing in the state I want it to return in createState() but that feels wrong.
Some background on why we have this approach: We currently have a Dart web application. For view-controller separation, testability, and forward-thinking towards Flutter, we decided that we would create an interface for every view in our application. This would allow a WebComponent or a Flutter Widget to implement this interface and leave all of the controller logic the same.
There are multiple ways to interact with other stateful widgets.
1. findAncestorStateOfType
The first and most straightforward is through context.findAncestorStateOfType method.
Usually wrapped in a static method of the Stateful subclass like this :
class MyState extends StatefulWidget {
static of(BuildContext context, {bool root = false}) => root
? context.findRootAncestorStateOfType<_MyStateState>()
: context.findAncestorStateOfType<_MyStateState>();
#override
_MyStateState createState() => _MyStateState();
}
class _MyStateState extends State<MyState> {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Container();
}
}
This is how Navigator works for example.
Pro:
Easiest solution
Con:
Tempted to access State properties or manually call setState
Requires to expose State subclass
Don't use this method when you want to access a variable. As your widget may not reload when that variable change.
2. Listenable, Stream and/or InheritedWidget
Sometimes instead of a method, you may want to access some properties. The thing is, you most likely want your widgets to update whenever that value changes over time.
In this situation, dart offer Stream and Sink. And flutter adds on the top of it InheritedWidget and Listenable such as ValueNotifier. They all do relatively the same thing: subscribing to a value change event when coupled with a StreamBuilder/context.dependOnInheritedWidgetOfExactType/AnimatedBuilder.
This is the go-to solution when you want your State to expose some properties. I won't cover all the possibilities but here's a small example using InheritedWidget :
First, we have an InheritedWidget that expose a count :
class Count extends InheritedWidget {
static of(BuildContext context) =>
context.dependOnInheritedWidgetOfExactType<Count>();
final int count;
Count({Key key, #required Widget child, #required this.count})
: assert(count != null),
super(key: key, child: child);
#override
bool updateShouldNotify(Count oldWidget) {
return this.count != oldWidget.count;
}
}
Then we have our State that instantiate this InheritedWidget
class _MyStateState extends State<MyState> {
int count = 0;
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Count(
count: count,
child: Scaffold(
body: CountBody(),
floatingActionButton: FloatingActionButton(
onPressed: () {
setState(() {
count++;
});
},
),
),
);
}
}
Finally, we have our CountBody that fetch this exposed count
class CountBody extends StatelessWidget {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Center(
child: Text(Count.of(context).count.toString()),
);
}
}
Pros:
More performant than findAncestorStateOfType
Stream alternative is dart only (works with web) and is strongly integrated in the language (keywords such as await for or async*)
Automic reload of the children when the value change
Cons:
More boilerplate
Stream can be complicated
3. Notifications
Instead of directly calling methods on State, you can send a Notification from your widget. And make State subscribe to these notifications.
An example of Notification would be :
class MyNotification extends Notification {
final String title;
const MyNotification({this.title});
}
To dispatch the notification simply call dispatch(context) on your notification instance and it will bubble up.
MyNotification(title: "Foo")..dispatch(context)
Note: you need put above line of code inside a class, otherwise no context, can NOT call notification.
Any given widget can listen to notifications dispatched by their children using NotificationListener<T> :
class _MyStateState extends State<MyState> {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return NotificationListener<MyNotification>(
onNotification: onTitlePush,
child: Container(),
);
}
bool onTitlePush(MyNotification notification) {
print("New item ${notification.title}");
// true meaning processed, no following notification bubbling.
return true;
}
}
An example would be Scrollable, which can dispatch ScrollNotification including start/end/overscroll. Then used by Scrollbar to know scroll information without having access to ScrollController
Pros:
Cool reactive API. We don't directly do stuff on State. It's State that subscribes to events triggered by its children
More than one widget can subscribe to that same notification
Prevents children from accessing unwanted State properties
Cons:
May not fit your use-case
Requires more boilerplate
You can expose the state's widget with a static method, a few of the flutter examples do it this way and I've started using it as well:
class StartupPage extends StatefulWidget {
static StartupPageState of(BuildContext context) => context.ancestorStateOfType(const TypeMatcher<StartupPageState>());
#override
StartupPageState createState() => new StartupPageState();
}
class StartupPageState extends State<StartupPage> {
...
}
You can then access the state by calling StartupPage.of(context).doSomething();.
The caveat here is that you need to have a BuildContext with that page somewhere in its tree.
There is another common used approach to have access to State's properties/methods:
class StartupPage extends StatefulWidget {
StartupPage({Key key}) : super(key: key);
#override
StartupPageState createState() => StartupPageState();
}
// Make class public!
class StartupPageState extends State<StartupPage> {
int someStateProperty;
void someStateMethod() {}
}
// Somewhere where inside class where `StartupPage` will be used
final startupPageKey = GlobalKey<StartupPageState>();
// Somewhere where the `StartupPage` will be opened
final startupPage = StartupPage(key: startupPageKey);
Navigator.push(context, MaterialPageRoute(builder: (_) => startupPage);
// Somewhere where you need have access to state
startupPageKey.currentState.someStateProperty = 1;
startupPageKey.currentState.someStateMethod();
I do:
class StartupPage extends StatefulWidget {
StartupPageState state;
#override
StartupPageState createState() {
this.state = new StartupPageState();
return this.state;
}
}
class DetectedAnimationState extends State<DetectedAnimation> {
And outside just startupPage.state
While trying to solve a similar problem, I discovered that ancestorStateOfType() and TypeMatcher have been deprecated. Instead, one has to use findAncestorStateOfType(). However as per the documentation, "calling this method is relatively expensive". The documentation for the findAncestorStateOfType() method can be found here.
In any case, to use findAncestorStateOfType(), the following can be implemented (this is a modification of the correct answer using the findAncestorStateOfType() method):
class StartupPage extends StatefulWidget {
static _StartupPageState of(BuildContext context) => context.findAncestorStateOfType<_StartupPageState>();
#override
_StartupPageState createState() => new _StartupPageState();
}
class _StartupPageState extends State<StartupPage> {
...
}
The state can be accessed in the same way as described in the correct answer (using StartupPage.of(context).yourFunction()). I wanted to update the post with the new method.
You can use eventify
This library provide mechanism to register for event notifications with emitter
or publisher and get notified in the event of an event.
You can do something like:
// Import the library
import 'package:eventify/eventify.dart';
final EventEmitter emitter = new EventEmitter();
var controlNumber = 50;
List<Widget> buttonsGenerator() {
final List<Widget> buttons = new List<Widget>();
for (var i = 0; i < controlNumber; i++) {
widgets.add(new MaterialButton(
// Generate 10 Buttons afterwards
onPressed: () {
controlNumber = 10;
emitter.emit("updateButtonsList", null, "");
},
);
}
}
class AState extends State<ofYourWidget> {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
List<Widget> buttons_list = buttonsGenerator();
emitter.on('updateButtonsList', null, (event, event_context) {
setState(() {
buttons_list = buttonsGenerator();
});
});
}
...
}
I can't think of anything which can't be achieved by event driven programming. You are limitless!
"Freedom cannot be bestowed — it must be achieved."
- Elbert Hubbard
Have you considered lifting the state to the parent widget? It is a common, though less ideal than Redux, way to manage state in React as far as I know, and this repository shows how to apply the concept to a Flutter app.