Here I was stuck in a problem. I have a column of widgets with a stream builder and a text field. When i try to input some text, the keyboard pops up and then the stream builder rebuilds again or when the keyboard closes, the stream builder rebuilds again. As i am building a chat screen, I don't want to rebuild the stream builder again as it increases in number of reads.
Any sort of suggestions helpful.
Flutter calls the build() method every time it wants to change
anything in the view, and this happens surprisingly often.
You can pass the stream into the stateless widget
MyApp({Key key, this.stream}) : super(key: key);
Or build the stream in the initState method if the widget is statefull.
#override
void initState() {
super.initState();
post = buildStream();
}
What #TuanNguyen means by
build the stream in the initState method
is the following, if for you are using Firestore for exemple:
class MyStateFullWidget extends StatefulWidget {
const MyStateFullWidget({Key key}) : super(key: key);
#override
_MyStateFullWidgetState createState() => _MyStateFullWidgetState();
}
class _MyStateFullWidgetState extends State<MyStateFullWidget> {
Stream _myStream;
#override
void initState() {
super.initState();
_myStream = FirebaseFirestore.instance.collection(myCollection) ... .snapshots();
}
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return SomeUpperWidget(
child:
StreamBuilder(
stream: _myStream,
builder: (ctx, snap) => ... ,
)
);
}
}
I was facing the same issue. I could not find simple alternative to avoid re-rendering without changing much code. So I ended up like this:
So in the Bloc class, first initiated a variable say
streamStateIndex = 0;
And wherever I am using
sink.add(data)
, I started using
streamStateIndex++;
sink.add({"data": data, "streamStateIndex":streamStateIndex});
And initiated another variable lets say localStreamStateIndex = 0; inside Stateful flutter class to compare streamStateIndex from bloc
And used inside StreamBuilder like this:
if(snapshot.hasData){
if(localStreamStateIndex < snapshot.data['streamStateIndex']){
updateLocalState(snapshot.data['data']);
localStreamStateIndex = snapshot.data['streamStateIndex'];
}
}
Related
What is the rule of thumb to use an initial method for a widget. Shall I use the:
A. classical stateful widget approach?
Or is it better to stick with the B. stateless widget approach?
Both seem to work from my testing. In terms of code reduction, it seems the B. approach is better, shorter, cleaner, and more readable. How about the performance aspect? Anything else that I could be missing?
Initializing a controller should be a one-time operation; if you do it on a StatelessWidget's build method, it will be triggered every time this widget is rebuilt. If you do it on a StatefulWidget's initState, it will only be called once, when this object is inserted into the tree when the State is initialized.
I was looking for initializing some values based on values passed in constructor in Stateless Widget.
Because we all know for StatefulWidget we have initState() overridden callback to initialize certain values etc. But for Stateless Widget no option is given by default. If we do in build method, it will be called every time as the view update. So I am doing the below code. It works. Hope it will help someone.
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
class Sample extends StatelessWidget {
final int number1;
final int number2;
factory Sample(int passNumber1, int passNumber2, Key key) {
int changeNumber2 = passNumber2 *
2; //any modification you need can be done, or else pass it as it is.
return Sample._(passNumber1, changeNumber2, key);
}
const Sample._(this.number1, this.number2, Key key) : super(key: key);
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Text((number1 + number2).toString());
}
}
Everything either a function or something else in widget build will run whenever you do a hot reload or a page refreshes but with initState it will run once on start of the app or when you restart the app in your IDE for example in StatefulWidget widget you can use:
void initState() {
super.initState();
WidgetsBinding.instance!
.addPostFrameCallback((_) => your_function(context));
}
To use stateful functionalities such as initState(), dispose() you can use following code which will give you that freedom :)
class StatefulWrapper extends StatefulWidget {
final Function onInit;
final Function onDespose;
final Widget child;
const StatefulWrapper(
{super.key,
required this.onInit,
required this.onDespose,
required this.child});
#override
State<StatefulWrapper> createState() => _StatefulWrapperState();
}
class _StatefulWrapperState extends State<StatefulWrapper> {
#override
void initState() {
// ignore: unnecessary_null_comparison
if (widget.onInit != null) {
widget.onInit();
}
super.initState();
}
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return widget.child;
}
#override
void dispose() {
if (widget.onDespose != null) {
widget.onDespose();
}
super.dispose();
}
}
Using above code you can make Stateful Wrapper which contains stateful widget's method.
To use Stateful Wrapper in our widget tree you can just wrap your widget with Stateful Wrapper and provide the methods or action you want to perform on init and on dispose.
Code available on Github
NOTE: You can always add or remove method from Stateful Wrapper Class according to your need!!
Happy Fluttering!!
The widget TrainsPage is added to the build graph in main.dart, when the corresponding menu button is clicked. This is done twice: once when _routes is empty and a second time when _routes is filled.
Widget pageSelector() {
if (_selectedIndex == 2) {
return new TrainsPage(routes: _routes);
} else
return Text("");
}
In TrainsPage.dart, I have the code for the stateful widget TrainsPage.
class TrainsPage extends StatefulWidget {
const TrainsPage({Key? key, required this.routes}) : super(key: key);
final List<RSRoute> routes;
#override
_TrainsPageState createState() => _TrainsPageState();
}
class _TrainsPageState extends State<TrainsPage> {
List<RSRoute> _routes = List.empty();
#override
void initState() {
super.initState();
this._routes = new List<RSRoute>.from(widget.routes);
Now, the second time, TrainsPage gets called in main.dart (now with routes filled), initState() of _TrainsPageState is not called, which is responsible to read the data in routes. And because routes was empty the first time, there is nothing in display on the trains page.
Why does TrainsPage not rebuild _TrainsPageState, when it clearly got new data in the constructor?
This is exactly why the State exists : to keep the state of the current context alive even when the widget is rebuild.
If it was recreated each time the statefull widget is rebuild it could not keep the state of its own variables.
class MyWidget extends StatelessWidget {
var _someStateVariable = 0;
#override
void build(BuildContext context){
// here an action that increment _someStateVariable
}
}
Here _someStateVariable would be reset to 0 at each rebuild. Or if we wanted a StateFullWidget in the first place it's because we'll update this variable later and want to keep its updated value through the multiple widget rebuilds.
If you don't have such state variable to maintain maybe you don't need a StateFullWidget here.
Now to the solution to your problem : you can override didUpdateWidget instead of initstate since it will be called at each widget rebuild :
#override
void didUpdateWidget() {
didUpdateWidget();
_routes = new List<RSRoute>.from(widget.routes);
}
I'm making a website and I would like to show a loading_page until the home_page is loaded and then transition from one to the other as soon as possible (no fixed timers).
There are multiple ways to do this (ie., using the simplest setState, Streams, multiple packages for state management, just to name a few). I'll give you a simple example just by using a StatefulWidget where you call your API on initState and then navigate when you're done to your new screen.
class LoadingPage extends StatefulWidget {
const LoadingPage({Key? key}) : super(key: key);
#override
_LoadingPageState createState() => _LoadingPageState();
}
class _LoadingPageState extends State<LoadingPage> {
#override
void initState() {
super.initState();
_fetchFromAPI();
}
Future<void> _fetchFromAPI() async {
// Call some API, do anything you want while loading
Navigator.pushReplacementNamed(context, '/home_page');
}
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
body: const CircularProgressIndicator(),
);
}
}
You can use future builder for this purpose.
Have a look at: https://api.flutter.dev/flutter/widgets/FutureBuilder-class.html
You can fetch the data as snapshot and use the snapshot.hasdata to check if data is being received or not and till then you can show CircularProgreswIndicator() to show the loading..
I created a custom widget that listens to a ChangeNotifier and invokes a provided callback whenever the notifier fires. This is used for performing one-time tasks like navigation when the notifier changes.
Everything seems to work fine, but just by accident I stumbled upon the documentation of didUpdateWidget that states:
If a State's build method depends on an object that can itself change state, for example a ChangeNotifier or Stream, or some other object to which one can subscribe to receive notifications, then be sure to subscribe and unsubscribe properly in initState, didUpdateWidget, and dispose:
In initState, subscribe to the object.
In didUpdateWidget unsubscribe from the old object and subscribe to the new one if the updated widget configuration requires replacing the object.
In dispose, unsubscribe from the object.
I'm handling the first and last point for obvious reasons, but could somebody shed a light on why I also have to implement didUpdateWidget? What could go wrong if I don't?
Bonus question: I'm not using provider in my application, yet. Does it offer something like this already out of the box? I couldn't find something like this.
My widget code:
class ChangeNotifierListener<T extends ChangeNotifier> extends StatefulWidget {
final Widget child;
final T changeNotifier;
final void Function(T changeNotifier) onChanged;
ChangeNotifierListener(
{#required this.child,
#required this.changeNotifier,
#required this.onChanged});
#override
_ChangeNotifierListenerState createState() =>
_ChangeNotifierListenerState<T>();
}
class _ChangeNotifierListenerState<T extends ChangeNotifier>
extends State<ChangeNotifierListener<T>> {
VoidCallback _callback;
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) => widget.child;
#override
void initState() {
super.initState();
_callback = () {
widget.onChanged(widget.changeNotifier);
};
widget.changeNotifier.addListener(_callback);
}
#override
void dispose() {
widget.changeNotifier.removeListener(_callback);
super.dispose();
}
}
This part of the documentation is about how it is feasible that your widget rebuilds with a different parameters.
For example, with StreamBuilder, a first build may be similar to:
StreamBuilder(
stream: Stream.value(42),
builder: ...
)
And then something changes, and StreamBuilder is rebuilt with:
StreamBuilder(
stream: Stream.value(21),
builder: ...
)
In which case, stream changed. Therefore, StreamBuilder needs to stop listening to the previous Stream and listen to the new one.
This would be done though the following didUpdateWidget:
StreamSubscription<T> subscription;
#override
void didUpdateWidget(StreamBuilder<T> oldWidget) {
super.didUpdateWidget(oldWidget);
if (widget.stream != oldWidget.stream) {
subscription?.cancel();
subscription = widget.stream?.listen(...);
}
}
The same logic applies to ChangeNotifier and any other observable object.
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.