flutter

Flutter: Get passed arguments from Navigator in Widget's state's initState


I have a StatefulWidget which I want to use in named route. I have to pass some arguments which I am doing as suggested in https://flutter.dev/docs/cookbook/navigation/navigate-with-arguments i.e.

Navigator.pushNamed(
      context,
      routeName,
      arguments: <args>,
    );

Now, I need to access these argument's in the state's initState method as the arguments are needed to subscribe to some external events. If I put the args = ModalRoute.of(context).settings.arguments; call in initState, I get a runtime exception.

20:49:44.129 4 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): ══╡ EXCEPTION CAUGHT BY WIDGETS LIBRARY ╞═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
20:49:44.129 5 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): The following assertion was thrown building Builder:
20:49:44.129 6 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): inheritFromWidgetOfExactType(_ModalScopeStatus) or inheritFromElement() was called before
20:49:44.130 7 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): _CourseCohortScreenState.initState() completed.
20:49:44.130 8 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): When an inherited widget changes, for example if the value of Theme.of() changes, its dependent
20:49:44.131 9 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): widgets are rebuilt. If the dependent widget's reference to the inherited widget is in a constructor
20:49:44.131 10 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): or an initState() method, then the rebuilt dependent widget will not reflect the changes in the
20:49:44.131 11 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): inherited widget.
20:49:44.138 12 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): Typically references to inherited widgets should occur in widget build() methods. Alternatively,
20:49:44.138 13 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): initialization based on inherited widgets can be placed in the didChangeDependencies method, which
20:49:44.138 14 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): is called after initState and whenever the dependencies change thereafter.
20:49:44.138 15 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): 
20:49:44.138 16 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): When the exception was thrown, this was the stack:
20:49:44.147 17 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): #0      StatefulElement.inheritFromElement.<anonymous closure> (package:flutter/src/widgets/framework.dart:3936:9)
20:49:44.147 18 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): #1      StatefulElement.inheritFromElement (package:flutter/src/widgets/framework.dart:3969:6)
20:49:44.147 19 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): #2      Element.inheritFromWidgetOfExactType (package:flutter/src/widgets/framework.dart:3285:14)
20:49:44.147 20 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): #3      ModalRoute.of (package:flutter/src/widgets/routes.dart:698:46)
20:49:44.147 21 info flutter.tools I/flutter ( 2680): #4      _CourseCohortScreenState.initState.<anonymous closure> (package:esk2/cohort_screen.dart:57:23)

I do not want to put that logic in build method as build could be called multiple times and the initialization needs to happen only once. I could put the entire logic in a block with a boolean isInitialized flag, but that does not seem like the right way of doing this. Is this requirement/case not supported in flutter as of now?


Solution

  • use MaterialApp.onGenerateRoute property like this:

    onGenerateRoute: (RouteSettings settings) {
      print('build route for ${settings.name}');
      var routes = <String, WidgetBuilder>{
        "hello": (ctx) => Hello(settings.arguments),
        "other": (ctx) => SomeWidget(),
      };
      WidgetBuilder builder = routes[settings.name];
      return MaterialPageRoute(builder: (ctx) => builder(ctx));
    },
    

    now you can simply use NavigatorState.pushNamed:

    Navigator.of(context).pushNamed("hello", arguments: "world");
    

    here you have some test Hello widget:

    class Hello extends StatelessWidget {
      final String greet;
    
      Hello(this.greet);
    
      @override
      Widget build(BuildContext context) {
        return Scaffold(
          appBar: AppBar(),
          body: Center(
            child: Text(
              'hello $greet',
              textScaleFactor: 5.0,
            ),
          ),
        );
      }
    }