How can I update a DateTime? - flutter

Question

I'm developing a realtime chat app with fisebase. The problem is that the time of a sent message does not update and I don't know what else can I do.
Here's some part of my code:
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:heyou/helper/constants.dart';
import 'package:heyou/screens/conversation_screen/send_menu_items.dart';
import 'package:heyou/services/database.dart';
import 'package:intl/intl.dart';
class ConversationScreen extends StatefulWidget {
final String chatScreenId;
ConversationScreen(this.chatScreenId);
#override
_ConversationScreenState createState() => _ConversationScreenState();
}
class _ConversationScreenState extends State<ConversationScreen> {
DateTime _currentDate = new DateTime.now();
DatabaseMethods databaseMethods = new DatabaseMethods();
TextEditingController messageController = new TextEditingController();
Stream chatMessageStream;
Widget chatMessageList() {
return StreamBuilder(
stream: chatMessageStream,
builder: (context, snapshot) {
return snapshot.hasData ? ListView.builder(
padding: EdgeInsets.only(bottom: 70.0),
itemCount: snapshot.data.documents.length,
reverse: true,
itemBuilder: (context, index) {
return MessageTile(
snapshot.data.documents[index].data['message'],
snapshot.data.documents[index].data['sendBy'] == Constants.myName,
snapshot.data.documents[index].data['time'],
snapshot.data.documents[index].data['messageTimeTile'],
);
}
) : Container();
},
);
}
sendMessage() {
if(messageController.text.isNotEmpty) {
Map<String, dynamic> messageMap = {
'message': messageController.text,
'sendBy': Constants.myName,
'time': DateTime.now().toString(),
'messageTimeTile': new DateFormat.Hms().format(_currentDate).toString(),
};
databaseMethods.addConversationMessages(widget.chatScreenId, messageMap);
messageController.text = '';
}
}
#override
void initState(){
databaseMethods.getConversationMessages(widget.chatScreenId).then((value) {
setState(() {
chatMessageStream = value;
});
});
super.initState();
}
}
And here's my database code:
import 'package:cloud_firestore/cloud_firestore.dart';
class DatabaseMethods {
getUserByUsername(String username) async {
return await Firestore.instance.collection('users').where('name', isEqualTo: username).getDocuments();
}
getUserByUserEmail(String userEmail) async {
return await Firestore.instance.collection('users').where('email', isEqualTo: userEmail).getDocuments();
}
uploadUserInfo(userMap) {
Firestore.instance.collection('users').add(userMap);
}
createChatScreen(String chatScreenId, chatScreenMap) {
Firestore.instance.collection('ChatScreen').document(chatScreenId).setData(chatScreenMap).catchError((e){
print(e.toString());
});
}
addConversationMessages(String chatScreenId, messageMap) {
Firestore.instance.collection('ChatScreen').document(chatScreenId).collection('chats').add(messageMap)
.catchError((e){
print(e.toString());
});
}
getConversationMessages(String chatScreenId) async {
return Firestore.instance.collection('ChatScreen').document(chatScreenId).collection('chats')
.orderBy('time', descending: true).snapshots();
}
getHomeScreen(String userName) async {
return Firestore.instance.collection('ChatScreen').where('users', arrayContains: userName).snapshots();
}
}
I'm trying to fix it by myself but I can't, that's why I'm here.

Answer 1

When you create _currentDate, it is never updated. Consequently, it will always be the time at which the State object was created. You can either use Midhun MP's suggestion in the comments, or replacing DateTime _currentDate = new DateTime.now(); with DateTime get _currentDate => DateTime.now(); to always get a copy of the current date, in case you use it in multiple places.