prf 2.4.5

Easily save and load values locally. Effortless local persistence with type safety and zero boilerplate. Just get, set, and go. Drop-in replacement for raw SharedPreferences.

2.4.5

• Updated Dart constraint to >=3.5.0 <4.0.0
• Updated Flutter constraint to >=3.24.0

2.4.4

• Fixed dependency issues

2.4.3

• Moved internal files to lib/src/ to improve encapsulation and API clarity
• Updated README

2.4.2

Hotfix: Web Compatibility for 64-bit Encoded Types

Fixed runtime crash on Flutter Web due to unsupported ByteData.getInt64/setInt64 operations in dart2js. This affected all prf types storing 64-bit values:

• DateTime
• List<DateTime>
• List<Duration>

These types now use manual 64-bit encoding via two 32-bit integers (high/low) to ensure full Web compatibility, with no changes to binary format or migration required.

2.4.1

✨ New: Custom Casting Adapter with .cast()

You can now easily create custom adapters on-the-fly for types that can be encoded into a native type all supported prf types using the new .cast() factory on Prf.

This allows you to persist your custom objects without writing a full adapter class, by just providing encode/decode functions.

Example

Let's say you want to store a Locale as an String:

final langPref = Prf.cast<Locale, String>(
  'saved_language',
  encode: (locale) => locale.languageCode,
  decode: (string) => string == null ? null : Locale(string),
);

✨ New: getOrDefault() extension method

Added a new method to all prf values:

Future<T> getOrDefault()

Returns the value from SharedPreferences, or throws an exception if it's null and no default was defined.

Example:

final coins = 'coins'.prf<int>(defaultValue: 0);
print(await coins.getOrDefault()); // → 0

final level = 'level'.prf<int>(); // no default
print(await level.getOrDefault()); // ❌ throws if not set

This improves error visibility in logic that assumes a non-null value must exist.

Technical Details

• Introduced EncodedDelegateAdapter<T, TCast>: a flexible adapter that delegates encoding/decoding to provided functions.
• .cast<T, TCast>() factory wraps this adapter for ergonomic, type-safe usage.
• Compatible with all existing prf features (caching, isolated, custom defaults).

2.4.0

We are officially deprecating all persistent utility services (trackers and limiters) from the prf package. To keep prf focused purely on persistence (without embedded logic), all advanced time-based utilities are being migrated to two new dedicated packages:

Why this change?

• Improves modularity and keeps prf lightweight.
• Reduces dependencies for apps that only need persistence.
• Allows track and limit to evolve independently with focused updates.
• Removes ~300 extra tests and ~1,200 lines from the README, which had made the package heavy and harder to navigate.
• Frees up space to expand limit and track with more features and utilities while keeping prf clean, focused, and ~90% smaller in size.

✅ The APIs remain backward-compatible until v3.0 (2026) — just change your imports.

• limit package → https://pub.dev/packages/limit

  • PrfCooldown → Cooldown
  • PrfRateLimiter → RateLimiter

• track package → https://pub.dev/packages/track

  • PrfStreakTracker → StreakTracker
  • PrfPeriodicCounter → PeriodicCounter
  • PrfRolloverCounter → RolloverCounter
  • PrfActivityCounter → ActivityCounter
  • PrfHistory → HistoryTracker
  • Enums:
    • TrackerPeriod → TimePeriod
    • ActivitySpan → TimeSpan

flutter pub add track
flutter pub add limit

Deprecated in 2.4.0 (to be removed in v3.0.0 estimated 2026):

• Limit Services: PrfCooldown PrfRateLimiter
• Tracking Services: PrfStreakTracker PrfPeriodicCounter PrfRolloverCounter PrfActivityCounter PrfHistory
• Enums: TrackerPeriod ActivitySpan
• Service Interfaces: BaseCounterTracker BaseTracker

Everything related to the services. Nothing changed in prf itself.

2.3.1

• Added PrfHistory<T>: a reusable persisted history tracker for any type. Supports max length trimming, deduplication, isolation safety, and flexible factory constructors for enums and JSON models. Also added .historyTracker(name) extension on PrfAdapter<List<T>> for simplified PrfHistory<T> creation.

• Added .prf<T>() and .prfCustomAdapter<T>() extensions on String for quick and concise variable creation.

    final coinsPrf = 'player_coins'.prf<int>(); // works with all types now

• Added .prf(key) extension on PrfAdapter<T> for direct use of custom adapters without boilerplate.

  final colorPrf = ColorAdapter().prf('saved_color'); // no need to specify types

• Added Prf.jsonList<T>() for easy creation of cached and isolate-safe preferences for lists of JSON-serializable objects.
• Added Prf.enumeratedList<T>() for type-safe enum list preferences backed by native List<int> storage.
• Added JsonListAdapter<T>: stores a List<T> where each item is a JSON string using native List<String> support.
• Added EnumListAdapter<T>: stores a list of enums as their integer indices using native List<int> support.
• Fixed broken or incorrect navigation links in the README.

2.3.0

General Additions

• Added Back to Table of Contents links to all README sections for improved navigation.
• All utilities & services now support an optional useCache: true parameter to enable faster memory-cached access for single-isolate apps. They remain isolate-safe by default, but enabling caching disables isolate safety. See the README for guidance on when to enable it.
• Added adapters for List<num>, List<Uint8List>, List<BigInt>, List<Duration>, and List<Uri>. Now the package supports all possible types out of the box!

🧭 Tracker Services

Introduced a suite of new tracker utilities — see the 📖 README for full documentation, examples, and usage tips:

• PrfStreakTracker — Persistent streak tracker that increases when an action is performed every aligned period (e.g. daily), and resets if a period is missed. Ideal for login streaks, daily habits, and weekly goals. Includes methods for checking streak length, detecting breaks, and calculating time left before expiration.

• PrfPeriodicCounter — A persistent counter that resets itself automatically at the start of each aligned period (e.g. daily, hourly, weekly). Perfect for counting recurring actions like logins or submissions. Supports incrementing, getting, resetting, and clearing the count.

• PrfRolloverCounter — A sliding-window counter that resets itself after a fixed duration (e.g. 10 minutes after last use). Useful for rolling metrics like "actions per hour" or "retry cooldowns". Includes time-aware utilities like time remaining, end time, and percentage elapsed.

• PrfActivityCounter — A time-based analytics tracker that aggregates values over hour, day, month, and year spans. Useful for building heatmaps, tracking activity frequency, or logging usage patterns. Supports advanced queries like .summary(), .total(), .all(), and .maxValue(), with uncapped yearly data retention.

• All tracker tools are now covered by extensive tests — including 220 dedicated tests for the new trackers — to ensure proper state reset, timestamp alignment, and session persistence.

• These tools are designed for advanced use cases like counters, streaks, timers, and rolling metrics — allowing custom persistent services to be built cleanly and safely. All built on top of `PrfIso

Fixed

All persistent utilities and services are now fully synchronized.

This version introduces comprehensive internal locking to all Prf-based services and trackers to prevent concurrent access issues in asynchronous or multi-call scenarios.
Previously, state mutations (e.g. .set, .reset, .increment) were not guarded, which could cause race conditions, corrupted values, or inconsistent behavior — especially in rapid or concurrent calls.

This update ensures:

• Atomic updates to counters, cooldowns, and streaks.
• No race conditions between .get(), .set(), and .reset().
• Consistency across isolates or concurrent flows.
• Industry-grade safety guarantees for production apps.

🧱 Foundation for Custom Trackers

Introduced new foundational base classes for building your own tracking tools:

• BaseTracker<T> — base for timestamp-aware persistent values with expiration handling.
• BaseCounterTracker — extension of BaseTracker<int> with .increment() and consistent default logic.
• TrackerPeriod — an enum of aligned periods like minutes10, hourly, daily, weekly, with .duration and .alignedStart().

2.2.4

• Added factory methods:
  • Prf.json<T>(...) and Prf.enumerated<T>(...)
  • PrfIso.json(...) and PrfIso.enumerated(...)
• Added .isolated getter on Prf<T> for isolate-safe access.
• Expanded native type support:
  • Built-in adapters for num, Uri, List<int>, List<bool>, List<double>, List<DateTime> now supported out of the box with all prf values! (with efficient binary encoding under the hood)
• All adapters are now const for reduced memory usage and better performance.
• Updated README documentation.
• Now isolated prfs can easily be created like this:

final isoValue = Prf<String>('username').isolated;

Changes and Deprecations:

• Renamed Prfy<T> → PrfIso<T>.
• Added deprecation annotations with migration instructions.
• Deprecated classes (to be removed in v3.0.0):
  • PrfJson<T> → Prf.json<T>(...)
  • PrfEnum<T> → Prf.enumerated<T>(...)
  • Prfy<T> → PrfIso<T>
  • PrfyJson<T> → PrfIso.json<T>(...)
  • PrfyEnum<T> → PrfIso.enumerated<T>(...)
  • Or alternatively: Prf.json<T>(...).isolated, Prf.enumerated<T>(...).isolated
• Added extensive tests for every single adapter, with more than 300 tests - all adapters are heavily tested to ensure data integrity.

2.2.3

• Fixed Prf.value<T>() not being static as intended.

2.2.2

• Updated README

2.2.1

Added

• Instant Cached Access:
  Introduced .cachedValue getter for Prf<T> objects to access the last loaded value without async.

• Prf.value<T>() factory:
  Added Prf.value<T>() constructor that automatically loads the stored value into memory, making .cachedValue immediately usable after initialization.

  Example:

  final score = await Prf.value<int>('user_score');
  print(score.cachedValue); // No async needed
  

  • After calling Prf.value(), you can access .cachedValue instantly.
  • If no value exists, .cachedValue will be the defaultValue or null.

Notes

• This feature improves UI performance where fast access to settings or preferences is needed.
• Reminder: Prf<T> is optimized for speed but not isolate-safe — use Prfy<T> when isolate safety is required.

2.2.0

Major Update

• Unified API:
  Consolidated all legacy PrfX classes (PrfBool, PrfInt, PrfDouble, etc.) into a single generic structure:

  • Prf<T> — Cached, fast access (not isolate-safe by design).
  • Prfy<T> — Isolate-safe, no internal caching, always reads from storage.

• Adapter-Based Architecture:
  Added modular adapter system (PrfAdapter<T>) with built-in adapters for:

  • Primitive types (bool, int, double, String, List<String>)
  • Encoded types (DateTime, Duration, BigInt, Uint8List, Enums, JSON)

• Backward Compatibility:
  Legacy PrfX classes remain available, internally powered by the new adapter system.

• Extensibility:
  Developers can register custom type adapters via PrfAdapterMap.instance.register().

• Internal Reorganization:
  Major file structure improvements (core/, prf_types/, prfy_types/, services/) for better modularity and future expansion.

Fixed

• Isolate Safety Issue (Issue #3) (stuartmorgan-g):
  Previously, prf incorrectly advertised full isolate safety while using internal caching.
  This release properly separates behavior:

  • Prfy<T> values are truly isolate-safe, always reading from SharedPreferencesAsync without cache.
  • Prf<T> values use caching for performance, but are not isolate-safe across isolates (expected Dart behavior).
  • README and comparison tables have been updated to accurately reflect these distinctions and explain the cache behavior clearly.

• Corrected claims about shared_preferences caching behavior — acknowledged that SharedPreferencesWithCache does have Dart-side caching.

• Clarified that naive Dart caching, like in Prf<T>, shares the same limitations as SharedPreferencesWithCache regarding multi-isolate consistency.

Added

• PrfyJson<T> — Safe JSON object storage across isolates.
• PrfyEnum<T> — Safe enum storage across isolates.
• PrfJson<T> — Cached JSON object storage.
• PrfEnum<T> — Cached enum storage.
• DateTimeAdapter, DurationAdapter, BigIntAdapter, BytesAdapter for encoded types.
• PrfCooldown and PrfRateLimiter now internally use the new types.

Changed

• Updated README to accurately describe:

  • Isolate-safe usage patterns (Prfy).
  • Cache-optimized usage patterns (Prf).
  • Caching behavior and limitations compared to shared_preferences.

• Improved internal documentation on the adapter registration system and best practices.

2.1.3

• Fixed issues related to pub.dev formatting

2.1.2

• Fixed problems with README formatting

2.1.1

• Shortened package description in pubspec.yaml to comply with pub.dev length requirements

2.1.0

Added

• PrfCooldown utility for managing persistent cooldown periods with built-in tracking and duration handling
• PrfRateLimiter industry-grade token bucket limiter using prf types for rolling-rate restrictions (e.g. 1000 actions per 15 minutes)
• New typed variables:
  • PrfTheme – store theme mode (light, dark, system)
  • PrfDuration – store Duration as microseconds
  • PrfBigInt – store BigInt as a string
• removeAll() method in PrfCooldown and PrfRateLimiter to clear all related sub-keys
• overrideWith() and resetOverride() methods in Prf to inject custom SharedPreferencesAsync instance for testing
• Detailed migration documentation for:
  • Migrating from SharedPreferences
  • Migrating from SharedPreferencesAsync
  • Migrating from legacy prf
• README coverage for isolate support and compatibility

Changed

• Internal singleton of Prf now supports override injection for better testability
• Updated comparison table in README to highlight isolate safety, caching, and type support

Fixed

• Deprecated Prf.clear(...) to discourage unintentional global wipes — use Prf.instance.clear() instead for clarity and safety

2.0.0

Internals migrated to SharedPreferencesAsync

🚨 Behavioral Breaking Change (no API changes)

TL;DR — Do You Need to Do Anything?

• ✅ No action needed if:
  • Your app is new and doesn't rely on previously stored values, or
  • You were already using SharedPreferencesAsync — everything will continue to work seamlessly.
• 🔁 Run a migration if:
  • Your app was using prf prior to this version (pre-2.0.0)
  • You want to preserve previously stored values

await PrfService.migrateFromLegacyPrefsIfNeeded();

---

🧠 Why this change?

prf now uses SharedPreferencesAsync under the hood — the new, isolate-safe, officially recommended backend for shared preferences.

This change future-proofs prf and avoids issues caused by the old SharedPreferences API, which:

• Is being deprecated
• Is not isolate-safe
• Does not guarantee disk persistence on write (source)

---

🛠 Migration Instructions

If your app used prf previously and stored data you want to keep:

await Prf.migrateFromLegacyPrefsIfNeeded();

This safely copies data from the legacy storage backend to the new one.
It's safe to run every time — the migration will only happen once.

---

✅ What's new in 2.0.0:

• Internals now use SharedPreferencesAsync
• Full isolate-safety, suitable for background plugins like firebase_messaging
• Removed reliance on getInstance() and internal platform-side caching
• prf now fully controls its own cache
• Public API is unchanged — get(), set(), remove() all still work the same

---

🔁 Key Differences

Feature	Before (1.x)	After (2.0.0)
Backend	SharedPreferences (legacy)	SharedPreferencesAsync
Android storage method	SharedPreferences XML	DataStore Preferences
Isolate-safe	❌ No	✅ Yes

---

💬 Summary

This is a critical under-the-hood upgrade to ensure prf is compatible with modern Flutter apps, isolate-safe, and ready for the future of shared preferences.

If your app is new, or you don't care about previously stored data — you're done ✅
If you're upgrading and need old values — migrate once as shown above.

1.3.8

• Added example file for pub.dev to showcase package usage.

1.3.7

• Finished setting up for publishing, this package was private for too long in my repositoriee, hope you enjoy it!

1.3.6

• Added omprehensive documentation comments for the entire library.
• Improved API reference with examples and usage notes.
• Enhanced dartdoc coverage for all public classes and methods.
• Better explanation of advanced features and type support.

1.3.5

• Improved PrfDateTime encoding reliability by enforcing endian order consistency.
• Fixed internal handling of corrupted base64 data for PrfBytes.

1.3.4

• PrfJson<T> class for storing JSON-serializable objects using jsonEncode/jsonDecode.
• Graceful fallback when decoding invalid JSON or mismatched types.

1.3.3

• PrfDateTime using base64-encoded 64-bit integers to persist DateTime values with millisecond precision.
• Integrated with PrfEncoded to reduce redundant logic.

1.3.2

• PrfEncoded<TSource, TStore> for reusable value transformation between domain objects and SharedPreferences-compatible types.
• Supports encoding formats like JSON, binary, and base64.

1.3.1

• Added _exists check inside getValue() to allow fallback to defaultValue if key is missing.
• Improved caching logic to avoid unnecessary SharedPreferences reads.

1.3.0

Added

• PrfVariableExtensions<T> extension with:
  • .get(), .set(value), .remove(), .isNull()
  • Uses lazy SharedPreferences initialization automatically.

Changed

• Removed requirement to manually call Prf.init(). Now fully lazy-loaded via Prf.getInstance().

1.2.1

• Minor internal refactor to prevent reinitializing _initFuture in Prf.

1.2.0

Added

• PrfBytes with transparent base64 storage of Uint8List.
• Full support for all native SharedPreferences types:
  • PrfInt
  • PrfDouble
  • PrfBool
  • PrfString
  • PrfStringList

Improved

• Unified all variable types using delegate-based constructors.
• Internal logic now handles nullability consistently and efficiently.

1.1.0

• Added typedef support for SharedPrefsGetter<T> and SharedPrefsSetter<T>.
• Simplified PrfVariable<T> constructor by using delegates instead of abstract getter/setter classes.
• Removed old abstract classes PrfGetter and PrfSetter in favor of inline functions.

1.0.2

• Updated internal caching system for better performance on repeated .get() calls.

1.0.1

• Added maybePrefs and isInitialized to Prf for improved control over initialization state.

1.0.0

• PrfVariable<T> base class with typed getter/setter support.
• Manual SharedPreferences injection.
• Clean and extensible architecture for managing preference values.