Topic: 5 Understanding State Management
This is our fifth topic from Learn Flutter: Basic to Advance
Hello Devs, Today we discussed state, State Management, and different types of State Management. In Flutter Everything is distributed in Widgets.
What is a State?
The state is like the memory of your app. It's the information that tells your app what to show on the screen and how things should behave.
For example, if you have a counter app, the state would be the number on the counter. When you tap a button to increase the count, the state changes to reflect the new number.
Ok, devs so the question is why do we want to manage this state? Let's Explore
Why Manage State?
Imagine you're playing a game, and you want to keep track of your score. That score is your state. You need to manage it so that the game knows when to update the score and show it on the screen.
Similarly, in an app, you have different parts that need to be updated based on user actions or data changes. Managing the state helps keep everything in sync and working smoothly.
Alright devs, Now We talk about how the States are managed.
How is the State Managed?
So In Flutter, there are different ways to manage the state. One simple way is to keep the state within a widget itself. For example, if you have a button that changes color when tapped, the color state can be managed directly within that button widget.
For more complex apps with multiple screens or shared data between widgets, you might use state management techniques like Provider, Bloc, or GetX. These techniques help organize and update the state across different parts of your app.
So, state management is all about keeping track of what's happening in your app, updating things when needed, and making sure everything runs smoothly and stays consistent for the user.
Alright Devs now it's time to explore different types of state Management that are used in Flutter
Types of State Management in Flutter
Local State Management:
What: Each widget manages its own state.
How: If a widget needs to track something small and doesn't need to share it with other widgets, it keeps the state within itself. For example, a button changes its color when tapped.
When to Use: For simple widgets or when the state is confined to a single widget or a small part of your app.
InheritedWidget:
What: InheritedWidget is a special type of widget in Flutter that allows you to propagate data down the widget tree.
How: You create an InheritedWidget with the data you want to share. Widgets lower in the tree can then access this data using
BuildContextandinheritFromWidgetOfExactTypeordependOnInheritedWidgetOfExactTypemethods.When to Use: InheritedWidget is useful when you have data that needs to be accessible by many widgets across different parts of your app, such as themes, localization settings, or authentication state.
InheritedModel:
What: InheritedModel is an extension of InheritedWidget that allows more granular control over which parts of the widget tree should rebuild when the data changes.
How: InheritedModel introduces the concept of "dependencies," where widgets specify which parts of the inherited data they depend on. This helps optimize performance by rebuilding only the necessary widgets when the data changes.
When to Use: InheritedModel is beneficial when you have a large widget tree and want to avoid unnecessary rebuilds. It's especially useful for scenarios where only specific widgets need to react to changes in the inherited data.
Both InheritedWidget and InheritedModel are powerful tools for managing and sharing data across your Flutter app's widget tree. InheritedModel offers additional control and optimization options, making it suitable for scenarios where fine-grained control over widget rebuilding is necessary.
Provider Package:
What: A way to share state across multiple widgets efficiently.
How: You create a "provider" for the data you want to share. Other widgets can then "listen" to this provider to get updates when the data changes.
When to Use: When you have data that needs to be accessed by multiple widgets or when you want to manage the state in a clean and organized way.
Bloc Pattern:
What: Separates business logic from UI, using streams and sinks for state management.
How: You create "blocs" (Business Logic Components) that handle the logic and state of your app. Widgets communicate with these blocs to update the UI based on changes in data or user interactions.
When to Use: For more complex apps with a lot of business logic or when you want a clear separation between UI and data handling.
GetX Package:
What: Lightweight package for state management, navigation, and dependency injection.
How: GetX provides controllers and observables to manage state. Controllers handle logic and state updates, while observables update the UI automatically when the state changes.
When to Use: When you want a simple yet powerful solution for state management, navigation, and managing dependencies in your Flutter app.
Riverpod:
What: A provider package built on top of the Provider that offers a more modern and intuitive way to manage state.
How: Riverpod introduces concepts like "providers" and "watchers" to manage the state in a more declarative and scalable manner. Providers handle the data and notify watchers (widgets) when the data changes.
When to Use: When you want a flexible and modern state management solution that integrates well with Flutter and allows for easy testing and organization of your app's state.
Redux:
What: A predictable state container pattern commonly used in web development and adapted for Flutter.
How: Redux uses a single "store" to hold the entire app state. Actions are dispatched to the store, which triggers reducers to update the state immutably. Widgets then subscribe to the store to access and display the updated state.
When to Use: When you're familiar with Redux from web development or when you prefer a centralized and predictable state management approach for your Flutter app.
Alright devs, This is the end of our blog i hope this blog helps you to easily understand State and StateManagement. Okay, then We catch up on our next topic Dependency Injection.
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