Initialization

Initializing Flutter Data consists of two parts: local storage initialization and repository initialization.

The former happens when wiring up providers and the latter during widget build.

Local storage initialization

Here are the configuration options with their default arguments explicit:

ProviderScope(
  child: MyApp(),
  overrides: [
    configureRepositoryLocalStorage(
      // callback that returns a base directory where to place local storage
      // (if the path_provider package is present, otherwise you MUST override it)
      baseDirFn: () => getApplicationDocumentsDirectory().then((dir) => dir.path),
      // 256-bit key for AES encryption
      encryptionKey: null,
      // whether to clear all local storage during initialization
      clear: false,
    ),
    graphNotifierThrottleDurationProvider.overrideWithValue(Duration.zero),
  ],
),

Customizing the duration of the throttle on GraphNotifier will determine how often Flutter widgets are marked for rebuild when using watchers.

Repository initialization

Use repositoryInitializerProvider without arguments:

Container(
  child: ref.watch(repositoryInitializerProvider).when(
        error: (error, _) => Text(error.toString()),
        loading: () => const CircularProgressIndicator(),
        data: (_) => Text('Flutter Data is ready: ${ref.tasks}'),
      ),
),

Flutter with Riverpod

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:hooks_riverpod/hooks_riverpod.dart';
import 'package:flutter_data/flutter_data.dart';

import 'main.data.dart';
import 'models/task.dart';

void main() {
  runApp(
    ProviderScope(
      child: MyApp(),
      overrides: [configureRepositoryLocalStorage()],
    ),
  );
}

class MyApp extends HookConsumerWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context, WidgetRef ref) {
    return MaterialApp(
      home: Scaffold(
        body: Center(
          child: ref.watch(repositoryInitializerProvider).when(
                error: (error, _) => Text(error.toString()),
                loading: () => const CircularProgressIndicator(),
                data: (_) => Text('Flutter Data is ready: ${ref.tasks}'),
              ),
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

Flutter with Provider

See Configure Flutter Data to Work with Provider

Flutter with GetIt

See Configure Flutter Data to Work with GetIt

Dart

// lib/main.dart

late final Directory _dir;

final container = ProviderContainer(
  overrides: [
    // baseDirFn MUST be provided
    configureRepositoryLocalStorage(baseDirFn: () => _dir.path),
  ],
);

try {
  _dir = await Directory('tmp').create();
  _dir.deleteSync(recursive: true);

  await container.read(repositoryInitializerProvider.future);

  final usersRepo = container.read(usersRepositoryProvider);
  await usersRepo.findOne(1);
  // ...
}

Re-initializing

It is possible to re-initialize Flutter Data, for example to perform a restart with Phoenix or simply a Riverpod ref.refresh:

class MyApp extends HookConsumerWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context, WidgetRef ref) {
    return MaterialApp(
      home: RefreshIndicator(
        onRefresh: () async => ref.container.refresh(repositoryInitializerProvider.future),
        child: Scaffold(
          body: Center(
            child: ref.watch(repositoryInitializerProvider).when(
                  error: (error, _) => Text(error.toString()),
                  loading: () => const CircularProgressIndicator(),
                  data: (_) => Text('Flutter Data is ready: ${ref.tasks}'),
                ),
          ),
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

Flutter Data