property_change_notifier

A drop-in replacement for ChangeNotifier for observing only certain properties of a model.

Why?

ChangeNotifier is useful for observing changes to a model. The problem is that it takes an all-or-none approach. There is no way to listen only to specific properties. To do so requires every property to be implemented as a ValueNotifier or similar. The Observable package has some powerful tools but they are not backwards-compatible with ChangeNotifier.

PropertyChangeNotifier is an implementation of a more granular observer pattern similar to PropertyChangeListener in Java and INotifyPropertyChanged in .NET. When a property changes, the name of the property is included in the notification. Listeners can then choose to observe only one or many properties.

How?

PropertyChangeNotifier works by extending ChangeNotifier in a way that makes it 100% backwards compatible with existing code.

  1. Replace ChangeNotifier with PropertyChangeNotifier in your model.
  2. Update your model to include the property name when calling notifyListeners().
  3. When ready, update existing listeners to observe only specific properties.

Usage in Dart

Model implementation

class MyModel with PropertyChangeNotifier<String> {
  int _foo = 0;
  int _bar = 0;

  int get foo => _foo;
  int get bar => _bar;

  set foo(int value) {
    _foo = value;
    notifyListeners('foo');
  }

  set bar(int value) {
    _bar = value;
    notifyListeners('bar');
  }
}

You can use PropertyChangeNotifier as a superclass or a mixin. Just indicate the generic type of the property you provide to notifyListeners(). This is typically a String but can be any type.

Listening to a single property

Provide an additional parameter containing the property name you wish to observe, wrapped in an Iterable (typically a List):

final model = MyModel();
model.addListener(_listener, ['foo']);

void _listener() {
  print('foo was changed');
}

Listening to multiple properties

Provide a Iterable containing the property names you wish to observe. The listener will be invoked when any of the given properties change. If the listener accepts a property parameter, it will be provided the name of the property that changed.

final model = MyModel();
model.addListener(_listener, ['foo', 'bar']);

void _listener(String property) {
  print('$property was changed');
}

Listening to all properties

This is the default behavior of ChangeNotifier and remains the same, even if you've update your model to invoke notifyListeners() with a property name. If the listener accepts a property parameter, it will be provided the name of the property that changed.

final model = MyModel();
model.addListener(_listenerOne);
model.addListener(_listenerTwo);

void _listenerOne() {
  print('model was changed');
}

void _listenerTwo(String property) {
  print('$property was changed');
}

Adding listeners

Listeners can be added at any time. Adding a listener with no parameters will cause it to listen to all properties. The same listener can be added to multiple properties. Adding the same listener again is a no-op. It doesn't hurt to add a listener to a non-existent property, but it serves no purpose; PropertyChangeNotifier has no way of knowing if the property actually exists.

final model = MyModel();
model.addListener(_fooListener, ['foo']);
model.addListener(_bothListener, ['foo', 'bar']);
model.addListener(_allListener);

// _fooListener is listening to foo only.
// _bothListener is listening to foo and bar only.
// _allListener is listening to all properties.

Removing listeners

Listeners can be removed at any time. A listener can be removed from one or more properties without being removed from other properties. Removing a listener that does not exist is a no-op.

final model = MyModel();
model.addListener(_listener, ['foo', 'bar', 'baz']);
model.removeListener(_listener, ['bar', 'baz']);

// _listener is now listening to foo only.

String constants as property names

Referring to properties using string literals is error-prone and leads to stringly-typed code. To avoid this, you can reference string constants in both your model and listeners so that they can be safely checked by the compiler:

// Properties
abstract class MyProperties {
  static String get foo => 'foo';
  static String get bar => 'bar';
}

// Model
class MyModel with PropertyChangeNotifier<String> {
  set foo(int value) {
    _foo = value;
    notifyListeners(MyProperties.foo);
  }
  …
}

// Listener
final model = MyModel();
model.addListener(_listener, [MyProperties.foo]);

Enum values as property names

It might be more convenient to use enum values for property names. Remember to pass the property type as a generic argument to the PropertyChangeNotifier declaration.

// Properties
enum MyProperties {
  foo,
  bar,
}

// Model
class MyModel with PropertyChangeNotifier<MyProperties> {
  set foo(int value) {
    _foo = value;
    notifyListeners(MyProperties.foo);
  }
  …
}

// Listener
final model = MyModel();
model.addListener(_listener, [MyProperties.foo]);

You can even use your own custom types as property names. They just must extend Object and correctly implement equality using == and hashCode.

Mixin compilation error

If you are using PropertyChangeNotifier as a mixin and see the following compilation error:

error: The class 'PropertyChangeNotifier' can't be used as a mixin because it extends a class other than Object.

The solution is to ignore the mixin_inherits_from_not_object static analyzer rule. You can do this by adding the following line above your model class declaration:

// ignore: mixin_inherits_from_not_object
class MyModel with PropertyChangeNotifier<String> {
...
}

Or you can add the following to your analysis_options.yaml file:

analyzer:
  errors:
    mixin_inherits_from_not_object: ignore

Or you can use PropertyChangeNotifier as a superclass instead (using the extends keyword).

Usage with Widgets

PropertyChangeProvider can be used to expose a PropertyChangeNotifier instance to descendant widgets, and optionally rebuild them when all or certain properties change. First, create a root PropertyChangeProvider widget with an instance of your model. Be sure to provide the two generic type parameters: the first being your model type and the second, your property type:

PropertyChangeProvider<MyModel, String>(
  value: MyModel(),
  child: MyApp(...)
};

Then, from any descendant widget, listen for changes to all or some properties by using the standard of() syntax typically used with InheritedWidget. You can then access either the model itself or its last changed property. Again, remember to provide the same two generic type parameters. Here are a few different examples:

Rebuilding when any property changes

Just call the static of() method anywhere from your widget, passing in its BuildContext.

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  PropertyChangeProvider.of<MyModel, String>(context);
  return Text('MyModel changed!);
}

Rebuilding when a single property changes

Provide a properties parameter list with a single value.

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  PropertyChangeProvider.of<MyModel, String>(context, properties: ['foo']);    
  return Text('Foo changed!);
}

Rebuilding when multiple properties change

Provide a properties parameter list with multiple values.

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  PropertyChangeProvider.of<MyModel, String>(context, properties: ['foo', 'bar']);    
  return Text('Foo or Bar changed!);
}

Accessing the model instance

Call value on the return value of the of() method.

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  final model = PropertyChangeProvider.of<MyModel, String>(context).value;
  ...
}

Accessing the model instance without rebuilding

You may want to just access the model without registering for a rebuild. For example, a button that mutates the model does not need to listen for changes. Provide a listen parameter with a value of false:

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  final model = PropertyChangeProvider.of<MyModel, String>(context, listen: false).value;
  ...
}

Accessing the changed properties

Useful if you are listening to all or multiple properties and wish to know which ones were changed in the current build frame. Call properties on the return value of the of() method.

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  final properties = PropertyChangeProvider.of<MyModel, String>(context).properties;
  ...
}

Accessing as a widget

PropertyChangeConsumer is a widget-based listener for cases where a BuildContext is hard to access, or if you prefer this kind of API. You can access both the model value and the changed properties via the builder callback. Again, remember to provide both generic type parameters:

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  return PropertyChangeConsumer<MyModel, String>(
    properties: ['foo', 'bar'],
    builder: (context, model, properties) {
      ...
    },
  );
}

Type Alases

Thanks to the new type alias feature avaiable as of Dart 2.13, this package comes with several less verbose alternatives to use in the common use case where property names are of type String.

  • StringPropertyChangeNotifier
  • StringPropertyChangeProvider<MyModel>
  • StringPropertyChangeConsumer<MyModel>

Unit Tests

This library has 100% test coverage.

Libraries

property_change_notifier