CODEWITHSUNDEEP
flutterdartmobxprovider
coolswood
coolswood

Reputation: 121

Why should I use Provider in Mobx Flutter?

The official Mobx documentation for Flutter says that in order to transfer data correctly, you must use a Provider and refer to the context to retrieve the data.

But why can't I just call the Mobx class at the root of the application and access the global variable to get the data?

CbtStore cbt = CbtStore();

void main() async {
runApp(const MyApp());
}

Why should I be doing this?

void main() async {
runApp(MultiProvider(
         providers: [
           Provider<CbtStore>(create: (_) => CbtStore()),
           ],
      child: MyApp()));
}

And how do I refer to Mobx inside the widget methods in that case, for example, if I want to call the action in the Mobx class in initState method? Now I do it in the following way. But when using Provider in initState there is no context.

@override
  void initState() {
    cbt.init();
    super.initState();
  }

Upvotes: 1

Views: 3039

Answers (3)

Priyanshi Pandya
Priyanshi Pandya

Reputation: 47

We use MobX only for "State Management", but for "State Lifting" we use a Provider.

Definitely, by creating a global variable we can access it anywhere, but we need it only in some "SCOPE" (instead of the whole project), the provider is used for lifting the state to that level (better programming approach).

Upvotes: 0

Pokaboom
Pokaboom

Reputation: 1388

Provider is used only for dependency injection with mobx. It is not used for state changes.

Now when you are using mobx you don't need a stateful widget in most cases because you are handling your state changes inside your mobx store and if there is any changes in the state we use Observer to change ui.

if want something to initialise with the screen than prefer using constructor of mobx class rather then initState.

for example,

class MyStore = _MyStore with _$MyStore;

abstract class _MyStore with Store {

_MyStore(){
  getData();
}
}

Now don't use global providers for your all of store. Only Initialise a provider whenever you need it. So when you push a route wrap it with a provider so that Provider.of(context); can find it. Only use global store if it required globally.

You mentioned creating an instance of store to use it. When you initialise a store in stateless widget it, the data will get destroyed when you close the screen and when you reopen it everything will start all over again. It is useful when you don't need to maintain state after screen pops. It will based on your use case.

Upvotes: 2

Marten
Marten

Reputation: 63

You should do what works best for your use case.

The reason why providers are useful is that they can be provided where needed. This could be in the application root, but also somewhere deeper in the widget tree.

Another advantage of the providers is that you can have a provider that notifies listeners. Widgets will rebuild automatically in this case, which can be useful if you have stored and need data to update everywhere in the application.

The initState does indeed not allow the use of providers directly. There are 3 solutions for this:

  1. Don't have the provider listing (Provider.of(context, listen: false); This allows you to use the methods, but not listen to changes.
  2. Use the provider in the build method, using the consumer.

I am by no means an expert on flutter, but this is just what I have experienced so far.

Upvotes: 1

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