8.7. State Management in Flutter: State Management with Redux

State management is a crucial part of Flutter app development. It allows developers to manage and maintain user data, user preferences, application configuration and much more. One of the most effective ways to manage state in Flutter is using Redux.

Redux is an open source JavaScript library for managing application state. It is most commonly used with libraries like React or Angular to build user interfaces. However, with Flutter, Redux offers a powerful and efficient way to manage application state.

What is Redux?

Redux is a library that implements Facebook's Flux architecture. The main idea behind Redux is that all application state is stored in a single object called "store". This makes it easy to track changes to your app's state over time, which is especially useful for debugging and understanding the flow of data in your app.

How does Redux work with Flutter?

To use Redux with Flutter, you'll need two things: a Redux "store" and a "reducer". The "store" is where all application state is stored, while the "reducer" is a function that takes the current state and an action, and returns the new state.

When you want to change the state of the application, you send (or "dispatch") an action to the "store". The action is then passed to the "reducer", which calculates the new state and returns it to the "store". After that, Flutter will re-render any widgets that depend on that piece of state.

Why use Redux with Flutter?

Managing application state can be tricky, especially in large and complex applications. Redux offers a solution to this problem by providing a predictable way to manage application state.

In addition, Redux can make your code easier to understand and debug. Since all application state is stored in one place, it's easy to see how state changes over time and why. This can be very useful when you are trying to track a bug or understand how a certain part of your application works.

Finally, Redux can help make your application more efficient. Since Flutter only re-renders widgets that depend on a specific piece of state, using Redux can help reduce the amount of work Flutter has to do.

How to get started with Redux in Flutter?

To get started with Redux in Flutter, you will need to install the redux_flutter library. This library provides a number of useful tools for integrating Redux with Flutter, including a StoreProvider widget that makes the Redux "store" available to the rest of your app.

After installing the redux_flutter library, the next step is to create your Redux store and reducer. The "store" is created by passing the "reducer" to the createStore function, while the "reducer" is a function that receives the current state and an action, and returns the new state.

Once you have your "store" and your "reducer", you can start using Redux in your Flutter app. To do this, you'll need to wrap your main widget in a StoreProvider widget and pass your "store" to it. This will make the "store" available to the rest of your application.

To access the Redux state in a widget, you can use the StoreConnector widget. This widget takes a constructor function that takes the current state and returns a widget. Flutter will then re-render this widget whenever the state changes.

To send an action to the "store", you can use the dispatch function of the StoreProvider. This function receives an action and sends it to the "store". The "store" then passes the action to the "reducer", which calculates the new state and returns it to the "store".

Conclusion

In short, Redux offers a powerful and efficient way to manage application state in Flutter. It provides a predictable way to manage state, makes code easier to understand and debug, and can help make your application more efficient. To get started with Redux in Flutter, you'll need to install the redux_flutter library, create your "store" and "reducer", and start using the StoreProvider and StoreConnector in your app.

Next page of the Free Ebook:

109State Management in Flutter: State Management with Riverpod

3 minutes