live_cells 0.7.0 live_cells: ^0.7.0 copied to clipboard
A better way to manage state in Flutter applications
This package provides a replacement (ValueCell
) for ChangeNotifier
and ValueNotifier
that is simpler to use and more flexible, as well as a library of widgets which expose their properties
via ValueCell
's replacing the need for controller objects and event handlers.
Features #
This package provides ValueCell
, an interface which offers the following benefits
over ChangeNotifier
/ ValueNotifier
:
- Implementing a
ValueCell
which is an expression of otherValueCell
's, e.g.a + b
, can be done in a functional manner without manually adding and removing listeners usingaddListener
,removeListener
. - Simpler resource management, no need to call
dispose
. - (Still in early stages) A library of widgets which replaces "controller" objects with
ValueCell
's. This allows for a style of programming which fits in with the reactive paradigm of Flutter. - Effortless state restoration, when your app is resumed after being terminated by the OS, with no additional boilerplate.
This package also has the following advantages over other state management libraries:
- Tightly integrated with a widget library replacing the need for event listeners and controller objects. Other libraries ignore this part and leave it up to the user to integrate the state management library with widgets.
- Supports two-way data flow, whereas most other libraries, if not all, only support one-way data flow.
Usage #
Basics #
The basis of this package is the ValueCell
interface which provides the cell interface. Every
cell has a value
and a set of observers which react to changes in the value.
A MutableCell
is a cell which can have its value
property set directly:
final cell = MutableCell(0);
...
cell.value = 1;
When the value
property is set the observers of the cell react to the change.
A cell which is a function of other cells can be created using the ValueCell.computed
constructor,
which takes the function that computes the cell's value.
final a = MutableCell(0);
final b = MutableCell(1);
final sum = ValueCell.computed(() => a() + b());
In the above example, cell sum
computes the sum of the values of cells a
and b
. Whenever the
value of either a
or b
changes the value of sum
is recomputed using the new values.
NOTE: The values of a
and b
are accessed using the function call syntax rather than by
accessing the value
property. This is so that the computed cell can observe changes to the values
of those cells and automatically recompute its own value.
ValueCell.watch
is like ValueCell.computed
but instead of creating a new ValueCell
a function
is called whenever the values of the cells referenced within the watch function change. This is
useful for side effects, such as printing to a log.
Example:
final watcher = ValueCell.watch(() => print('a = ${a()}, b = ${b()}'));
...
// Stop calling the watch function
watcher.stop();
In the above example ValueCell.watch
is used to print the values of the cells a
and b
,
referenced within the watch function, whenever they change. watch()
returns a cell
watcher object which provides a stop()
method. After calling stop()
, the watch function is no
longer called.
Putting it all together let's implement the most trivial of examples, a simple counter:
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:live_cells/live_cells.dart';
class CounterDemo extends StatefulWidget {
@override
State<CounterDemo> createState() => _CounterDemoState();
}
class _CounterDemoState extends State<CounterDemo> {
final counter = MutableCell(0);
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Column(
children: [
CellWidget.builder((context) =>
Text('You clicked the button ${counter()} times')
),
ElevatedButton(
child: const Text('Increment Counter'),
onPressed: () => counter.value += 1,
)
],
);
}
}
CellWidget.builder
is used to create a widget which is rebuilt whenever the value of counter
changes. Like ValueCell.computed
, the widget is rebuilt when the value of a cell, that is
referenced within the widget builder function, changes.
NOTE: ValueCell
's do not require manually calling a dispose
method once they're no longer
used. Disposal is taken care of automatically.
This example can be condensed further by moving the counter
cell initialization directly within
the build
method:
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:live_cells/live_cells.dart';
class CounterExample extends CellWidget with CellInitializer {
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
final counter = cell(() => MutableCell(0));
return Column(
children: [
CellWidget.builder((context) =>
Text('You clicked the button ${counter()} times')
),
ElevatedButton(
child: const Text('Increment Counter'),
onPressed: () => counter.value += 1,
)
],
);
}
}
The counter
cell is created directly within the build
method using the cell
method, provided by
the CellInitializer
mixin, which creates an instance of a ValueCell
, using the provided function,
on the first build of the widget and retrieves the existing instance in subsequent builds.
CellInitializer
also provides a watch
method which is like ValueCell.watch
but automatically
calls stop()
when the widget is removed from the tree.
The following example demonstrates computed cells:
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:live_cells/live_cells.dart';
class ComputedExample extends CellWidget with CellInitializer {
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
final a = cell(() => MutableCell(0));
final b = cell(() => MutableCell(0));
final sum = cell(() => ValueCell.computed(() => a() + b()));
return Column(
children: [
Row(
children: [
Expanded(
child: TextField(
onChanged: (value) {
a.value = int.tryParse(value) ?? 0;
},
keyboardType: const TextInputType.numberWithOptions(decimal: false),
),
),
const SizedBox(width: 5),
const Text('+'),
const SizedBox(width: 5),
Expanded(
child: TextField(
onChanged: (value) {
b.value = int.tryParse(value) ?? 0;
},
keyboardType: const TextInputType.numberWithOptions(decimal: false),
),
),
],
),
const SizedBox(height: 10),
CellWidget.builder((_) => Text(
'${a()} + ${b()} = ${sum()}',
style: const TextStyle(
fontWeight: FontWeight.bold,
fontSize: 20
)
))
],
);
}
}
The above example demonstrates how the value of a computed cell, created using ValueCell.computed
,
is recomputed whenever the values of the referenced argument cells change.
The definition of the sum
cell above can be simplified further to the following:
final sum = cell(() => a + b);
The arithmetic and relational operators are overloaded for ValueCell
's holding num
values, so that
a computed cell can be defined as an expression of ValueCell
's. This is not only simpler
but more efficient since the argument cells are determined at compile time.
User Input #
So far we've used the onChanged
callback with the stock TextField
provided by Flutter. This has
two disadvantages:
- The content of the
TextField
cannot be set externally without aTextEditingController
. - You have to manually synchronize the state of the cells with the state of the text field, in an event handler.
Live cells provides a CellTextField
widget which allows its content to be accessed and controlled
by a ValueCell
.
Example:
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:live_cells/live_cell_widgets.dart';
import 'package:live_cells/live_cells.dart';
class CellTextFieldDemo extends CellWidget with CellInitializer {
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
final input = cell(() => MutableCell(''));
return Column(
mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
children: [
const SizedBox(height: 10),
CellTextField(content: input),
const SizedBox(height: 10),
const Text(
'You wrote:',
style: TextStyle(
fontWeight: FontWeight.bold,
fontSize: 20
)
),
const SizedBox(height: 10),
CellWidget.builder((_) => Text(input())),
ElevatedButton(
child: const Text('Clear'),
onPressed: () {
input.value = '';
},
)
],
);
}
}
The CellTextField
constructor takes a content
cell parameter, in this example the cell input
is provided. The value of the provided content cell, which must be a MutableCell
, is updated to
reflect the content of the text field whenever it is changed by the user. Whatever the user writes
in the field is reflected in the widget below.
The "Clear" button clears the text field by setting the input
cell to the empty string. The benefits
of this approach are:
- No need for a
TextEditingController
- No need for event handlers allowing for a declarative style of programming
- The content of the text field is a cell and can be referenced by a computed cell
Two-way data flow #
Whilst the above is an improvement over what is offered by the stock Flutter TextField
, it is still
quite limited in that the content cell has to be a string cell. You'll run into difficulties,
if instead of string input you require numeric input, as in the sum example.
Mutable computed cells are MutableCell
's which ordinarily function like normal computed cells,
created with ValueCell.computed
, in that they compute a value out of one or more argument cells.
However, a mutable computed cell can also have its value changed by setting its value
property
as though it is a MutableCell
. When the value of a mutable computed cell is set, it reverses
the computation by setting the argument cells to a value such that when the mutable computed
cell is recomputed, the same value will be produced as the value that was set. Thus mutable
computed cells support two-way data flow, which is what sets Live Cells apart from other reactive
state management libraries.
Mutable computed cells can be created using the MutableCell.computed
constructor, which takes the
computation function and reverse computation function. The computation function computes the cell's
value as a function of argument cells, like ValueCell.computed
. The reverse computation
function reverses the computation by assigning a value to the argument cells. It is given the
value that was assigned to the value
property.
Here's a simple example:
final a = MutableCell<num>(0);
final strA = MutableCell.computed(() => a().toString(), (value) {
a.value = num.tryParse(value) ?? 0;
});
The above mutable computation cell converts the value of its argument cell a
, which is a num
in this case, to a string. The reverse computation function parses a num
from the string which was
assigned to the cell. Assigning a string value to strA
will result in the num
parsed from the
string being assigned to cell a
.
strA.value = '100';
print(a.value + 1); // Prints 101
The above definition will prove useful when implementing a text field for numeric input. In-fact, this
library already provides a definition for this cell with the mutableString
extension
method on MutableCell
's holding int
, double
and num
values.
final a = MutableCell<num>(0);
final strA = a.mutableString();
We can now reimplement the sum example from earlier using CellTextField
and mutableString
:
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:live_cells/live_cell_widgets.dart';
import 'package:live_cells/live_cells.dart';
class ComputedExample extends CellWidget with CellInitializer {
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
final a = cell(() => MutableCell<num>(0));
final b = cell(() => MutableCell<num>(0));
final strA = cell(() => a.mutableString());
final strB = cell(() => b.mutableString());
final sum = cell(() => a + b);
return Column(
children: [
Row(
children: [
Expanded(
child: TCellTextField(
content: strA,
keyboardType: TextInputType.number,
),
),
const SizedBox(width: 5),
const Text('+'),
const SizedBox(width: 5),
Expanded(
child: CellTextField(
content: strB,
keyboardType: TextInputType.number,
),
),
],
),
const SizedBox(height: 10),
CellWidget.builder((_) => Text(
'${a()} + ${b()} = ${sum()}',
style: const TextStyle(
fontWeight: FontWeight.bold,
fontSize: 20
)
)),
ElevatedButton(
child: const Text('Reset'),
onPressed: () {
a.value = 0;
b.value = 0;
},
)
],
);
}
}
In the above example two mutable computed cells strA
and strB
are created using mutableString
,
which are used as the content cells for the text fields for a
and b
respectively. There is also
a "Reset" button which resets the values of cells a
and b
to 0 when pressed. When the values of
a
and b
are set, the value of sum
is automatically recomputed and the content of the text
fields is updated to reflect the new values of a
and b
.
The benefits of using CellTextField
and mutable computed cells are:
- No need for a
TextEditingController
which you have to remember todispose
. - No manual synchronization of state between the
TextEditingController
and the widgetState
/ChangeNotifier
object. Your state is instead stored in one place and in one representation. - No need to use
StatefulWidget
or make ugly empty calls tosetState(() {})
to force the widget to update when thetext
property of theTextEditingController
is updated.
NOTE:
The reverse computation functions of mutable computed cells are called in a batch update, which means that all cell value updates performed within the function will be reflected, in the observers of the cells, only after the function returns.
A batch update can be done outside of a reverse computation function using Mutable.batch
. In-fact
the proper implementation of the "Reset" button is:
ElevatedButton(
child: const Text('Reset'),
onPressed: () {
MutableCell.batch(() {
a.value = 0;
b.value = 0;
});
},
)
With the above implementation cells a
and b
are both set to 0
simultaneously after the batch
update function returns. With this implementation the sum
cell, which is an observer of both a
and b
will only be recomputed once after both a
and b
are set to 0
.
Fun with mutable computed cells
Let's say we want the user to be able to enter the result of the addition and have the values for
a
and b
automatically computed and displayed in the corresponding fields:
We can do this with another mutable computed cell, this time with two arguments:
final sum = MutableCell.computed(() => a() + b(), (sum) {
final half = sum / 2;
a.value = half;
b.value = half;
});
The reverse computation cell assigns the sum divided by two to both cells a
and b
.
Here's the full example with a CellTextField
for the result of the addition:
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:live_cells/live_cell_widgets.dart';
import 'package:live_cells/live_cells.dart';
class ComputedExample extends CellWidget with CellInitializer {
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
final a = cell(() => MutableCell<num>(0));
final b = cell(() => MutableCell<num>(0));
final sum = cell(() => MutableCell.computed(() => a() + b(), (sum) {
final half = sum / 2;
a.value = half;
b.value = half;
}));
return Column(
mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
children: [
const SizedBox(height: 10),
Row(
children: [
Expanded(
child: CellTextField(
content: cell(() => a.mutableString()),
keyboardType: TextInputType.number,
),
),
const SizedBox(width: 5),
const Text('+'),
const SizedBox(width: 5),
Expanded(
child: CellTextField(
content: cell(() => b.mutableString()),
keyboardType: TextInputType.number,
),
),
const SizedBox(width: 5),
const Text('='),
const SizedBox(width: 5),
Expanded(
child: CellTextField(
content: cell(() => sum.mutableString()),
keyboardType: TextInputType.number,
),
)
],
),
const SizedBox(height: 10),
CellWidget.builder((_) => Text(
'${a()} + ${b()} = ${sum()}',
style: const TextStyle(
fontWeight: FontWeight.bold,
fontSize: 20
)
)),
ElevatedButton(
child: const Text('Reset'),
onPressed: () {
MutableCell.batch(() {
a.value = 0;
b.value = 0;
});
},
)
],
);
}
}
For brevity the definitions of the string conversion cells are placed directly in the CellTextField
constructor. When a value for a
and b
is entered, the result of the addition is displayed in the
result text field. When a value for the result is entered in the result text field, the values of a
and b
and reflected in their corresponding text fields. This example also demonstrates how
mutable computed cells can be chained.
Other Widgets #
We've already covered CellTextField
. The live_cell_widgets
library also provides the following
widgets which expose their properties via ValueCell
's:
CellCheckbox
- ACheckbox
with thevalue
property controlled by a cellCellCheckboxListTile
- ACheckboxListTile
with thevalue
property controlled by a cellCellRadio
- ARadio
with thegroupValue
property controlled by a cellCellRadioListTile
- ARadioListTile
with thegroupValue
property controlled by a cell`CellSlider
- ASlider
with thevalue
property controlled by a cellCellSwitch
- ASwitch
with thevalue
property controlled by a cellCellSwitchListTile
- ASwitchListTile
with thevalue
property controlled by a cell
Error Handling #
The user might enter text in the text field from which a number cannot be parsed. mutableString
,
as used in the previous examples, handles this by assigning a default value to its argument cell,
which is controlled by the errorValue
argument.
Example:
final strA = a.mutableString(
errorValue: -1.cell
);
strA.vaue = 'not a valid number';
print(a.value); // Prints -1
In the above example a default vaue of -1
was set in the case that a number cannot be parsed from
the value of the string cell.
NOTE: The errorValue
argument is a ValueCell
, which allows the default value to be changed
dynamically. The cell
extension property was used in the above example to create a constant
value cell.
Usually, however, we want to handle the error rather than assigning a default value. This can be
done with Maybe
cells. A Maybe
object either holds a value or an exception that was thrown
while computing a value.
A Maybe
cell, a cell holding a Maybe
, can easily be created from a
MutableCell
with the maybe()
method. The resulting Maybe
cell is a mutable computed cell with
the following behaviour:
- Its computed value is the value of the argument cell wrapped in a
Maybe
. - When the cell's value is set, it sets the value of the argument cell to the value wrapped in the
Maybe
if it is holding a value.
The Maybe
cell provides an error
property which retrieves a ValueCell
that evaluates to the
exception held in the Maybe
or null
if the Maybe
is holding a value. This can be used to
determine whether an error occurred while computing a value.
To handle errors while parsing a number, mutableString
should be called on a cell containing
a Maybe<num>
rather than a num
. We can then check whether the error
cell is non-null to check
if an error occurred.
Putting it all together the cell definition for a
now becomes:
final a = cell(() => MutableCell<num>(0));
final maybeA = cell(() => a.maybe());
final strA = cell(() => maybeA.mutableString());
final errorA = cell(() => maybeA.error);
maybeA
holds the the value ofa
wrapped in aMaybe
.strA
will be used as the content cell fora
which binds the value of the text field tomaybeA
.errorA
holds the error which occurred while parsing a number fromstrA
.
The definition of the text field for a
becomes:
CellTextField(
content: strA,
keyboardType: TextInputType.number,
decoration: InputDecoration(
errorText: errorA() != null
? 'Please enter a valid number'
: null
),
)
Here we're testing whether errorA
is non-null, that is whether an error occurred while parsing a
number from strA
and providing an error message in the errorText
of the InputDecoration
.
NOTE: The value of errorA
is accessed directly in the CellWidget
, this can be done but it
will cause the entire CellWidget
to be rebuilt which may be inefficient.
The error message can be made more descriptive by also checking whether the field is empty, or not.
For example:
final isEmptyA = cell(() => ValueCell.computed(() => strA().isEmpty));
...
CellTextField(
content: strA,
keyboardType: TextInputType.number,
decoration: InputDecoration(
errorText: isEmpty()
? 'Cannot be empty'
: error() != null
? 'Not a valid number'
: null
),
);
)
Here we've created a new cell isEmptyA
which depends directly on strA
(the content cell) and has
a value of true if the strA
holds an empty string.
You'll notice the cell definitions are becoming a bit unwieldy. To clean things up the definition for the text field, along with its related cells, can be packaged in a function:
Widget inputField(MutableCell<num> cell) {
return CellWidget.builder((context) {
final maybe = context.cell(() => cell.maybe());
final content = context.cell(() => maybe.mutableString());
final error = context.cell(() => maybe.error);
final isEmpty = context.cell(() => ValueCell.computed(() => content().isEmpty));
return CellTextField(
content: content,
keyboardType: TextInputType.number,
decoration: InputDecoration(
errorText: isEmpty()
? 'Cannot be empty'
: error() != null
? 'Not a valid number'
: null
),
);
});
}
Note we've used CellWidget.builder
to create a CellWidget
without subclassing and the cells are
defined using the cell
method of the context
object provided to the builder function. This is
identical to the cell
method provided by the CellInitializer
mixin. NOTE: This method may
only be called on the BuildContext
of a CellWidget
with the CellInitializer
mixin or a
CellWidget
created using CellWidget.builder
.
The UI definition now becomes the following:
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
final a = cell(() => MutableCell<num>(0));
final b = cell(() => MutableCell<num>(0));
final sum = cell(() => a + b);
return Column(
children: [
Row(
children: [
Expanded(
child: inputField(a),
),
const SizedBox(width: 5),
const Text('+'),
const SizedBox(width: 5),
Expanded(
child: inputField(b),
),
],
),
const SizedBox(height: 10),
CellWidget.builder((_) => Text(
'${a()} + ${b()} = ${sum()}',
style: const TextStyle(
fontWeight: FontWeight.bold,
fontSize: 20
)
)),
ElevatedButton(
child: const Text('Reset'),
onPressed: () {
MutableCell.batch(() {
a.value = 0;
b.value = 0;
});
},
)
],
);
}
State Restoration #
A mobile application may be terminated at any point when the user is not interacting with it. When it is resumed, due to the user navigating back to it, it should restore its state to the point where it was when terminated.
In order for the state of cells to be restored RestorableCellWidget
has to be used instead of
CellWidget
. RestorableCellWidget
provides the same interface as CellWidget
however it also
restores the state of the cells using cell(..)
within the build
method. Therefore
all you need to do, for the most part, to make your widgets restorable is to replace CellWidget
with RestorableCellWidget
.
Here is an example:
class CellRestorationExample extends RestorableCellWidget {
@override
String get restorationId => 'cell_restoration_example';
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
final sliderValue = cell(() => MutableCell(0.0));
final switchValue = cell(() => MutableCell(false));
final checkboxValue = cell(() => MutableCell(true));
final textValue = cell(() => MutableCell(''));
return Column(
children: [
const Text('A Slider'),
Row(
children: [
CellWidget.builder((context) => Text(sliderValue().toStringAsFixed(2))),
Expanded(
child: CellSlider(
min: 0.0,
max: 10,
value: sliderValue
),
)
],
),
CellSwitchListTile(
value: switchValue,
title: const Text('A Switch'),
),
CellCheckboxListTile(
value: checkboxValue,
title: Text('A checkbox'),
),
const Text('Enter some text:'),
CellTextField(content: textValue),
CellWidget.builder((context) => Text('You wrote: ${textValue()}')),
],
);
}
}
The above example demonstrates how the state of cells created within a RestorableCellWidget
is
restored automatically. Notice there is an additional restorationId
property. When using
RestorableCellWidget
, you'll need to provide a unique identifier, via this property, to associated
the saved state with the widget. See
RestorationMixin.restorationId
,
for more information.
The build
method defines four widgets, a slider, a switch, a checkbox and a text field as well as
four cells, creating using cell
for holding the state of the widgets. The code defining the cells
is exactly the same as it would be with CellWidget
, however when the app is resumed the
state of the cells, and likewise the widgets which are dependent on the cells, is restored.
NOTE:
CellSlider
,CellSwitchListTile
andCellCheckboxListTile
are the live cell equivalents, provided bylive_cell_widgets
, ofSlider
,SwitchListTile
andCheckboxListTile
which allow their state to be controlled by aValueCell
.- You can use any widgets not just those provided by
live_cell_widgets
. The state of the cells defined byRestorableCellWidget.cell
will be restored regardless of the widgets you use.
In order for cell state restoration to be successful there are some things you need to take into account:
- Only cells implementing the
RestorableCell
interface can have their state restored. All cells provided by Live Cells implement this interface except:- Lightweight computed cells, which do not have a state
DelayCell
- The values of the cells to be restored must be encodable by
StandardMessageCodec
. This means that only cells holding primitive values (num
,bool
,null
,String
,List
,Map
) can have their state saved and restored. - To support state restoration of cells holding values not supported by
StandardMessageCodec
, aCellValueCoder
has to be provided.
CellValueCoder
is an interface for encoding, and decoding, a value using a primitive value
representation that is supported by StandardMessageCodec
. Two methods have to be implemented:
encode()
which takes a value and encodes it to a primitive value representationdecode()
which decodes a value from its primitive value representation
The following example demonstrates state restoration
of a radio button group using a CellValueCoder
to encode the group value which is an enum
.
enum RadioValue {
value1,
value2,
value3
}
class RadioValueCoder implements CellValueCoder {
@override
RadioValue? decode(Object? primitive) {
if (primitive != null) {
final name = primitive as String;
return RadioValue.values.byName(name);
}
return null;
}
@override
Object? encode(covariant RadioValue? value) {
return value?.name;
}
}
class CellRestorationExample extends RestorableCellWidget {
@override
String get restorationId => 'cell_restoration_example';
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
final radioValue = cell(
() => MutableCell<RadioValue?>(RadioValue.value1),
coder: RadioValueCoder.new
);
return Column(
children: [
const Text('Radio Buttons:',),
CellWidget.builder((context) => Text('Selected option: ${radioValue()?.name}')),
Column(
children: [
CellRadioListTile(
groupValue: radioValue,
value: RadioValue.value1,
title: const Text('value1'),
),
CellRadioListTile(
groupValue: radioValue,
value: RadioValue.value2,
title: const Text('value2'),
),
CellRadioListTile(
groupValue: radioValue,
value: RadioValue.value3,
title: const Text('value3'),
),
],
),
],
);
}
}
RadioValueCoder
is a CellValueCoder
subclass which encodes the RadioValue
enum class to a
string. In the definition of the radioValue
cell, the constructor of RadioValueCoder
(RadioValueCoder.new
) is provided to cell()
in the coder
argument.
If a cell's value is not restored, its value is recomputed. As a result, it is not necessary that a cell's state be saved if it can be recomputed.
Example:
class CellRestorationExample extends RestorableCellWidget {
@override
String get restorationId => 'cell_restoration_example';
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
final numValue = cell(() => MutableCell<num>(1));
final numMaybe = cell(() => numValue.maybe(), restorable: false);
final numError = cell(() => numMaybe.error);
return Column(
children: [
const Text('Text field for numeric input:'),
CellTextField(
content: cell(() => numMaybe.mutableString()),
decoration: InputDecoration(
errorText: numError() != null
? 'Not a valid number'
: null
),
),
const SizedBox(height: 10),
CellWidget.builder((context) {
final a1 = context.cell(() => numValue + 1.cell);
return Text('${numValue()} + 1 = ${a1()}');
}),
ElevatedButton(
child: const Text('Reset'),
onPressed: () => numValue.value = 1
)
],
);
}
}
The above is an example of a text field for numeric input with error handling. The only cells in the
above example which have their state restored are numValue
, the cell holding the numeric value
that was entered in the field, and numMaybe.mutableString()
which is the content cell
for the text field. When the state of the app is restored the values of the remaining cells are
recomputed, which in-effect restores their state without it actually being saved.
When you leave the app and return to it, you'll see the exact same state, including erroneous input and the associated error message, as when you left.
Some points to note from this example:
- We've used
restorable: false
, in thecell()
call fornumMaybe
to prevent its state from being saved, sinceMaybe
values cannot be saved. - If
restorable
is omitted (null
) the cell's state is saved only if it is aRestorableCell
. Ifrestorable
istrue
the cell's state is saved and an assertion is violated if the given cell is not aRestorableCell
. - Computed cells don't require their state to be saved, e.g. the state of the
a1
cell is not saved, since it is defined within aCellWidget
rather than aRestorableCellWidget
, however it is restored (the same state is recomputed on launch) nevertheless.
As a general rule of thumb only mutable cells which are either set directly, such as numValue
which has its value set in the "Reset" button, or hold user input from widgets, such as the content
cells of text fields, are required to have their state saved.
Pitfalls:
When the state of the app is being restored, after being terminated, the cells defined
in the RestorableCellWidget
are:
- Created using their initial values given during construction.
- Assigned their restored values from the saved state.
Step 2 may trigger the observers of the cells to be notified of a value change from the initial values given during construction to the restored values. This will not affect observers added after the definition of the cells, however it may affect observers added before all the cells have been defined.
To avoid this:
- Define all the cells first in the
build
method before referencing them. - Do not watch cells, using
ValueCell.watch()
orRestorableCellWidget.watch
until after all the cells have been defined. - If you're placing the definition of cells directly in a widget constructor, make sure all
references to the cell values are contained in a
CellWidget.builder
.
Advanced #
Optimization #
ValueCell.computed
and MutableCell.computed
determine their dependencies, the argument
cells referenced by the value computation function, at runtime. This allows you to
conveniently create a computed cell without having to list out the referenced cells beforehand.
However it also introduces additional overhead at runtime.
There are two ways to avoid this:
- Use the overloaded operators or compose your computations out of the functions offered by the library, rather than implementing a value computation function.
- Specify the argument cells manually
We've already seen an example of option 1, in the definition of the sum cell from earlier.
For option 2 a computed cell can be defined with an explicit argument list using the computeCell
extension method on List
.
To create a computed cell with a static dependencies, call computeCell
on a List
containing the
arguments cells referenced within the computation function:
final sum = [a, b].computeCell(() => a.value + b.value);
The example above shows a definition for the sum cell using the computeCell
method. The arguments
referenced within the computation function, passed to computeCell
, are specified in the list
on which the method is called. Note the value property is accessed directly rather than using the function
call syntax since the cell dependencies are not determined at runtime.
This definition has two major differences from the definition using
ValueCell.computed
:
- The argument cells are known at compile-time, eliminating the overhead of determining the argument cells at runtime.
- A lightweight computed cell is created.
Cells created using computeCell
are lightweight which means they neither store their own value nor
track their own observers. Instead their value is computed on demand whenever the value property is
accessed and all observers added to the cell are added directly to the argument cells.
The store
method creates a cell which stores the value of a lightweight cell, created using computeCell
,
in memory so that it is not recomputed when the value
property is is accessed again. This is useful for
time-intensive computations.
final sum = [a, b].computeCell(() => a.value + b.value).store()
The above definition of the sum
cell uses the store
method to create a cell which stores its value instead
of computing it on demand whenever the value
property is accessed.
Mutable computed cells with static dependencies can be created using the mutableComputeCell
method on List
,
which takes the computation and reverse computation functions. Like computeCell
the arguments referenced within
the computation function are specified in the list on which the method is called. Unlike computeCell
the returned
cell does store its own value and track its own listeners, so store
is unnecessary.
final sum = [a, b].mutableComputeCell(() => a.value + b.value, (sum) {
final half = sum / 2;
a.value = half;
b.value = half;
});
The above example shows the definition for the mutable sum
cell, from the example in Fun with mutable computed cells,
using mutableComputeCell
and a static dependency list.
When should you use computeCell
and mutableComputeCell
? The ValueCell.computed
and MutableCell.computed
constructors are preferred since they are easier to use and reduce the risk of bugs caused by omitting an argument
cell from the depency list. Use computeCell
and mutableComputeCell
if you'd like to optimize your code after
it is working correctly and even then it is preferred you limit their usage to within reusable components, such as
functions or methods which create cells.
Writing your own cells #
Rarely will you need to write your own ValueCell
subclasses but should the need arise,
Live Cells can be extended.
To subclass ValueCell
, the following methods have to be implemented:
- The
get value
property accessor to return the cell's value. - The
addObserver
andremoveObserver
methods to add and remove observers, respectively. - The equality comparison methods
eq
andneq
.
The CellEquality
mixin provides implementations of the equality comparison methods using the
==
and !=
operators for a given type.
To implement a lightweight cell which performs a computation on the values of one or more argument cells,
you should extend DependentCell
. This class already implements addObserver
and removeObserver
, and
provides a constructor which takes a list of the argument cells on which the value of the cell depends.
You're only required to implement the value
property accessor in which
the value of the cell is computed.
Example:
class ClampCell<T extends num> extends DependentCell<T> with CellEquality<T> {
final ValueCell<T> argValue;
final ValueCell<T> argMin;
final ValueCell<T> argMax;
ClampCell(this.argValue, this.argMin, this.argMax) :
super([argValue, argMin, argMax]);
@override
T get value => min(argMax.value, max(argMin.value, argValue.value));
}
The above ValueCell
subclass implements a cell of which the value is the value of an argument cell
clamped between a minimum and maximum which are also supplied in argument cells.
NOTE: The argument cell containing the value to be clamped as well as the cells containing the
minimum and maximum are all passed to the constructor of DependentCell
so that the observers
of the ClampCell
are called whenever the values of the argument cells change.
If you need to implement a cell which initiates changes to its value you will need to subclass NotifierCell
.
This class provides implementations of addObserver
, removeObserver
and the get value
property accessor.
This class also provides a protected set value
property accessor for setting the cell's value. When the value
of the cell is set via set value
the observers of the cell are notified, if the new value is
not equal to the previous value.
Resource Management
In Flutter resources are typically acquired in a constructor or init method and are released by
calling a dispose method. You'll notice that there are no calls to dispose anywhere
in any of these examples. This package takes a slightly different approach. The cells which require
manual resource management implement the ManagedCell
interface, which NotifierCell
extends.
ManagedCell
provides an init
method where resources should be acquired and a dispose
method
where resources should be released. The init
method is called before the first observer is added
to the cell and dispose
is called after the last observer is removed. The init
method may be
called again after dispose
if a new observer is added after the last one is removed. Therefore
implementations of ManagedCell
should be written in such a way that the cell can be reused after
dispose
is called.
Below is an example of a NotifierCell
subclass which overrides the ManagedCell
methods:
import 'dart:async';
import 'package:live_cells/live_cells.dart';
class CountCell extends NotifierCell<int> {
final int end;
final Duration interval;
Timer? _timer;
CountCell(this.end, {
this.interval = const Duration(seconds: 1)
}) : super(0);
@override
void init() {
super.init();
_timer = Timer.periodic(interval, _timerTick);
}
@override
void dispose() {
_timer?.cancel();
_timer = null;
super.dispose();
}
void _timerTick(Timer timer) {
if (value >= end) {
timer.cancel();
}
value++;
}
}
The CountCell
class above implements a cell which increments its value by 1 every second. The initial value
of 0
is given in the call to the NotifierCell
constructor super(0)
. A timer is initialized in init
which increments the value
property directly every time the timer callback is called, hence the cell
starts "counting" after the first observer is added. The timer is cancelled in the dispose
method to
stop the cell from incrementing its value after the last observer is removed.
Observing Cells #
Observers of cells implement the CellObserver
interface which has the following methods:
willUpdate
-- Called before the value of a cell changes.update
-- Called after the value of a cell has changed.shouldNotifyAlways
-- Should the observer be notified if the new value of the observed cell is equal to the previous value.
When a cell's value is changed first its observers are notified that its value will changed,
by calling the willUpdate
method and then after its value is set, its observers are notified
that the value has changed, by calling the update
method.
If you're implementing a ValueCell
subclass which observes and reacts to changes in the values of
other cells you'll have to properly implement both willUpdate
and update
.
The correct behaviour of willUpdate
is to mark the cell's value as stale and call the willUpdate
method of the cell's observers. When the cell's value is referenced while it is marked as stale,
the value should be recomputed even if it is referenced before the update
method is called.
The correct behaviour of update
is to recompute the cell's value, if it hasn't been recomputed
already, and call the update
method of the cell's observers.
The ObserverCell
mixin already provides definitions of willUpdate
and update
for a cell which
reacts to changes in the value of other cells. You should mixin ObserverCell
into your
NotifierCell
subclass and add the cell as an observer of the cells it should observer changes in.
The mixin also provides a stale
property which is true when the value of the cell should be
recomputed. Override the get value
property accessor and recompute the cell'a value if stale
is
true.
NOTE:
The cell must add itself as an observer to its dependent cells in the init
method and remove itself
in the dispose
method to ensure that no resources are leaked:
class MyCell<T> extends NotifierCell<T> with ObserverCell<T> {
final ValueCell<T> arg1;
final ValueCell<T> arg2;
MyCell(super.value, {
required this.arg1,
required this.arg2
});
@override
T get value {
if (stale) {
// recompute value
...
stale = false;
}
return super.value;
}
@override
void init() {
super.init();
arg1.addObserver(this);
arg2.addObserver(this);
}
@override
void dispose() {
arg1.removeObserver(this);
arg2.removeObserver(this);
super.dispose();
}
...
}
The shouldNotifyAlways
property should be true if the observer should be notified when an observed
cell is assigned a new value that is equal to the previous value. Note: This only applies when
observing a MutableCell
and then only when its value
property is set directly. By default this
is false.
ValueListenable Interface
If you're not implementing a ValueCell
subclass and you're only interested in the update
method of
the CellObserver
interface, you can use the listenable
property of ValueCell
to retrieve a
ValueListenable
object which calls its listeners, whenever the value of the cell changes. Listeners
are added using addListener
and removed using removeListener
.
NOTE:
Every call to addListener
has to be matched by a call to removeListener
for the same listener
function when the listener is no longer required.
Additional information #
If you discover any issues or have any feature requests, please open an issue on the package's Github repository.
Take a look at the example
directory for more complete examples of how to use this library.