public/subjects/mobile-dev/bloc-counter/README.md

Bloc Counter

As projects get bigger and more complex, managing all the widgets, their states, and updating their children's states can become troublesome. To avoid potential complexity, it is recommended to use Patterns. Patterns are built to help developers control the hierarchy of widgets more easily, and one popular pattern in Flutter is BLoC.

In this project, you will implement a simple counter app,like the example bellow, using the BLoC pattern. When you start writing your own application, structuring it correctly is important.

Instructions

• Observe state changes with BlocObserver.
• Use BlocProvider, a Flutter widget which provides a bloc to its children.
• Use BlocBuilder, a Flutter widget that handles building the widget in response to new states.

BLoC pattern uses reactive programming to handle the flow of data within an app.

A Bloc consists of 2 concepts, Streams and Sinks, which are provided by StreamController.

💡 See this article  Architect your Flutter project using BLoC pattern, by Sagar Suri.

💡 Documentation https://bloclibrary.dev/#/gettingstarted.

Project Setup

• Create a new Flutter app, so it generates a sample Counter App.
• Add flutter_bloc as a dependency to your app.

Your app structure should be similar to:

  —lib
      —bloc
          —counter_bloc.dart
          —counter_event.dart
      -widgets
          —yourwidgets.dart
      —..
  —main.dart

Bloc Implementation

• Add an enum to bloc/couter_event.dart.

enum CounterEvent {
  increment
}

• Go to bloc/counter_bloc.dart and create a CounterBloc class that extends CounterBloc.

Note: you can generate bloc files using vscode extension.

• Implement an override of the mapEventToState function in the CounterBloc class, so it switches between different events and returns the value as an int. In our case, we only have a case with an increment state.

UI and getting data

• Inside the MyApp class, wrap your home page with a BlocProvider class.

return MaterialApp(
  home: BlocProvider<CounterBloc>(
    create: (context) => CounterBloc(),
    child: Home(),
  ),
);

• Inside the Home class, create an instance of the CounterBloc class.
• Use BlocBuilder to state from CounterBloc.
• Add a "+" button to call CounterEvent.increment.

Bonus

• Add button and event to handle decrementing the counter.