There stands no doubt that Flutter is the new buzz of the mobile application development world. This framework has enabled developers from all across the globe to create stunning and interactive user interfaces with much ease.
But with better interfaces, some inbuilt complexities lead to uncertain issues requiring relevant solutions.
Flutter state management is critical to creating visually stunning and dynamic mobile applications. Flutter offers several state management solutions to cater to the issues more effectively.
If you are a developer looking for flutter state management solutions and practices in one read, this is the article for you then. Read this article and get a better insights into how state management for Flutter works and what its significance is.
Stateless Vs. Stateful Widget Flutter
In Flutter, components that do not modify their internal state once constructed are stateless widgets. Widgets like these don’t remember the user’s activities and are mainly used to show images and text. Due to not having to deal with state changes, stateless widgets are small and quick to load.
Conversely, a stateful widget is used when you need a component whose internal state may evolve. Use these widgets to create dynamic user interface components like forms and buttons. Because of their ability to track and react to data and user input, stateful widgets are a flexible building block for more advanced and interactive app features. While stateful widgets have many advantages over stateless widgets, they can also impose additional complexity and cost owing to their dynamic nature.
State management, as you might have guessed, concerns stateful widgets.
Understanding Flutter State Management
Flutter state management is the combination of practices and techniques to help developers organize and control the application updates in a better way. Whenever a change or action is made on one application component, the other components connected to that component recognize the change and respond accordingly, thus retaining continuity.
Consider this example where you have a Guest Mode in your app, wherein users can try out limited features without signing up. Most screens of the app would have slight changes in the interface when the user is in the guest mode, as compared to when the user is signed in. Thus, whether the user is signed in or not becomes part of the state of the app that impacts almost all the screens.
There are two types of state management
- Local State Management
- Global State managment
A local state of an application is the internal state specific to each widget and controls the behavior and appearance of an application. In contrast, the global state is much broader and manages the data that must be consistent across different parts.
The guest mode vs. signed in user example that we considered is an example of global state management. In contrast, if you have a checkbox on the app then the state of the checkbox (checked or unchecked) is an example of local state as it only affects the checkbox widget.
Mastering flutter state management means mastering the exact formula of scalable and high-performance mobile application development.
The Importance of State Management
Several reasons imply the significance of state management in Flutter:
Data Synchronization
A critical significance of flutter state management is that it keeps the components of an application well synchronized. It keeps the user interface updated with the background changes to retain the application’s responsiveness and interactivity.
Performance optimization
The continuous state management in Flutter prevents the unnecessary UI updates, thus optimizing the application’s performance—the inbuilt state management tools in Flutter help to manage the state at a granular level. Instead of implementing the change on the entire app, you can pinpoint the exact change to be implemented, which will be implemented in the concerned components only.
Effective Widget Rebuilding
Thanks to the state management in Flutter, only the affected widget undergoes rebuilding after a change, instead of the entire UI.
Code Maintainability
With proper state management practices, code maintenance becomes more manageable and hassle-free. You can easily add features, fix bugs, and make improvements. It also reduces the incidence of errors.
Multiple Platforms
Practical state management tools assist in retaining consistent application behavior while running on multiple platforms. It further facilitates data handling on Android and iOS.
Popular State Management For Flutter Practices
Different approaches to managing the local and global states of flutter applications exist. While every tool or practice offers its own strengths and weaknesses, choosing one as per your requirement is beneficial.
Following are some popular state management tools for Flutter:
Provider
Provider is best suited for beginners because it is an easy-to-learn yet powerful state management solution for building a high-performing application. This tool uses Inherited Widgets to effectively pass the data down the widget tress. It is widely used among developers and therefore has good community support.
This state management solution is best suited for medium-sized application with a manageable codebase
Riverpod
Flutter Riverpod offers more advanced syntax than Provider. It is the evolution of the Provider library and offers more elaborative methods of handling states in a flutter. It emphasizes scalability, type safety, and testability. It’s suitable for simple and complex apps, providing fine-grained control over state management.
This state management tool is best suited when you want a more modular and flexible approach to state management for your Flutter app.
BLoC
Bloc utilizes streams and events for managing UI and business logic. It might be a hard nut to crack for beginners since it requires managing multiple boilerplate codes. With BloC, you can easily manage the code of larger applications.
Moreover, the BLoC can also handle complex state transitions and asynchronous operations effectively.
The apparent separation of concerns it provides makes it ideal for more complicated projects. It facilitates testability and aids in the management of asynchronous activities.
Larger projects with complex business logic, various user interface interactions, and the requirement to handle asynchronous data flows are good candidates for BLoC.
GetX
In addition to reactive state management and other valuable features like routing and dependency injection, GetX is small, straightforward, and easy to use. It works wonderfully for tiny projects that require a speedy launch.
The best thing about this state management package is its built-in dependency injection system (i.e. the technique of injecting instances of one class into another).
GetX is best suited when you prefer high-performance and you want to keep your codebase minimal. It also facilitates state management on multiple widgets and sometimes across multiple platforms.
Redux
Redux is a library for handling states that relies on a one-way stream of data. It’s an excellent choice for huge, complicated programs with a lot of information passing back and forth between parts. The data in your app can be accessed from a centralized location using Redux and performs well. Redux has many advantages, but it may be challenging to implement and needs a lot of repetitive coding.
If you have a background in React development, you may feel at home with Redux.
It is well suited for large applications where you need to maintain predictability and control state changes much more efficiently.
Wrapping Up
We hope you understand and appreciate the significance of managing state within your Flutter application. Not only does it make your application more scalable, but it also assists the developers in managing the code changes in a better way.
Regardless of the stage you need to implement the changes, check the app’s state by utilizing the state management tools per your requirements. By utilizing the state management tools, you can easily track the changes to their corresponding or respective widgets.
If you are still trying to decide what to choose for state management, you can reach out to the Flutter app development company since they have a better insight into what practice suits best for what state issue.
Author Bio
Innama Zainab is a passionate blogger specializing in Flutter trends and updates. With a focus on keeping developers informed, her blogs offer valuable insights into the dynamic world of Flutter app development.