Migrating to 2.0 (Null-safety)

A Migration Guide For Switching To v2.0 Of The Flutter SDK

Overview

v2.0 of the Stream Chat Flutter SDK brings along several changes - primarily making the SDK null-safe. Null safety allows your apps to run faster, with fewer errors, and with less code.

Check this link for more about Null Safety in Flutter.

This guide is intended to enumerate and better explain the changes in the SDK.

The changes will be listed by package and a concise changelog will follow with more info.

Changelog of stream_chat_flutter

🛑️ Breaking Changes from 1.5.4

• Migrate this package to null safety

• Renamed ChannelImage to ChannelAvatar

• Updated StreamChatThemeData.reactionIcons to accept custom builder

• Renamed ColorTheme properties to reflect the purpose of the colors

  • ColorTheme.black -> ColorTheme.textHighEmphasis
  • ColorTheme.grey -> ColorTheme.textLowEmphasis
  • ColorTheme.greyGainsboro -> ColorTheme.disabled
  • ColorTheme.greyWhisper -> ColorTheme.borders
  • ColorTheme.whiteSmoke -> ColorTheme.inputBg
  • ColorTheme.whiteSnow -> ColorTheme.appBg
  • ColorTheme.white -> ColorTheme.barsBg
  • ColorTheme.blueAlice -> ColorTheme.linkBg
  • ColorTheme.accentBlue -> ColorTheme.accentPrimary
  • ColorTheme.accentRed -> ColorTheme.accentError
  • ColorTheme.accentGreen -> ColorTheme.accentInfo

• ChannelListCore options property is removed in favor of individual properties

  • options.state -> bool state
  • options.watch -> bool watch
  • options.presence -> bool presence

• UserListView options property is removed in favor of individual properties

  • options.presence -> bool presence

• Renamed ImageHeader to GalleryHeader

• Renamed ImageFooter to GalleryFooter

• MessageBuilder and ParentMessageBuilder signature is now

typedef MessageBuilder = Widget Function(
    BuildContext,
    MessageDetails,
    List<Message>,
    MessageWidget defaultMessageWidget,
    );

The last parameter is the default MessageWidget You can call .copyWith to customize just a subset of properties

✅ Added

Added video compress options (frame and quality) to MessageInput TypingIndicator now has a property called parentId to show typing indicator specific to threads

493: add support for MessageListView header/footer

MessageWidget accepts a userAvatarBuilder Added pinMessage UI support Added MessageListView.threadSeparatorBuilder property Added MessageInput.onError property to allow error handling Added GalleryHeader/GalleryFooter theme classes

🐞 Fixed

483: Keyboard covers input text box when editing message

Modals are shown using the nearest Navigator to make using the SDK easier in a nested navigator use case

484: messages don’t update without a reload

MessageListView not rendering if the user is not a member of the channel Fix MessageInput overflow when there are no actions Minor fixes and improvements

Migrating to 2.0 for stream_chat_flutter

To migrate to v2.0 for stream_chat_flutter, first change the version of the package to the latest null-safe version.

dependencies:
  stream_chat_flutter: ^2.0.0

Upon doing this, all breaking changes from the package will take immediate effect. Here are steps to remedy the issues:

1. Replace the offending class names with the revised class names

   • ChannelImage -> ChannelAvatar
   • ImageHeader -> GalleryHeader
   • ImageFooter -> GalleryFooter

2. The new version comes with revised color names since the previous names do not suit light/dark mode nomenclature. Make sure any old colors used from theme are changed over to the new theme color names:

    * `ColorTheme.black` -> `ColorTheme.textHighEmphasis`
    * `ColorTheme.grey` -> `ColorTheme.textLowEmphasis`
    * `ColorTheme.greyGainsboro` -> `ColorTheme.disabled`
    * `ColorTheme.greyWhisper` -> `ColorTheme.borders`
    * `ColorTheme.whiteSmoke` -> `ColorTheme.inputBg`
    * `ColorTheme.whiteSnow` -> `ColorTheme.appBg`
    * `ColorTheme.white` -> `ColorTheme.barsBg`
    * `ColorTheme.blueAlice` -> `ColorTheme.linkBg`
    * `ColorTheme.accentBlue` -> `ColorTheme.accentPrimary`
    * `ColorTheme.accentRed` -> `ColorTheme.accentError`
    * `ColorTheme.accentGreen` -> `ColorTheme.accentInfo`

3. We decided to make messages easier to customize and now supply the default implementation of the messages in the builder - so you can now customize a single parameter without having to redo the entire implementation. Please reform your builders to take into account the new format:

typedef MessageBuilder = Widget Function(
    BuildContext,
    MessageDetails,
    List<Message>,
    MessageWidget defaultMessageWidget,
    );

To tweak any of the default properties individually, you can use defaultMessageWidget.copyWith().

Changelog of stream_chat_flutter_core

🛑️ Breaking Changes from 1.5.3

• Migrate this package to null safety
• channelsBloc.queryChannels(), ChannelListCore options param/property is removed in favor of individual params/properties
  • options.state -> bool state
  • options.watch -> bool watch
  • options.presence -> bool presence
• usersBloc.queryUsers(), UserListCore options param/property is removed in favor of individual params/properties
  • options.presence -> bool presence

✅ Added

• Monitor connection using connectivity_plus package

🐞 Fixed

• Minor fixes
• Performance improvements

Migrating to 2.0 for stream_chat_flutter_core

To migrate to v2.0 for stream_chat_flutter_core, first change the version of the package to the latest null-safe version.

dependencies:
  stream_chat_flutter_core: ^2.0.0

Upon doing this, all breaking changes from the package will take immediate effect. Here are steps to remedy the issue:

1. Change over Core widget implementations by using the explicit parameters instead of the options map. Use these explicit parameters in the widget constructor instead of the option keys:

    * `options.state` -> `bool state`
    * `options.watch` -> `bool watch`
    * `options.presence` -> `bool presence`

2. Change over query calls in the BLoCs in the same way (change from options map to explicit parameters in the constructor)

Changelog of stream_chat

🛑️ Breaking Changes from 1.5.3

• Migrate this package to null safety
• ConnectUserWithProvider now requires tokenProvider as a required parameter. (Removed from the constructor)
• client.disconnect() is now divided into two different functions
  • client.closeConnection() -> for closing user web socket connection.
  • client.disconnectUser() -> for disconnecting user and resetting client state.
• client.devToken() now returns a Token model instead of String.
• ApiError is removed in favor of StreamChatError
  • StreamChatError -> parent type for all the stream errors.
  • StreamWebSocketError -> for user web socket related errors.
  • StreamChatNetworkError -> for network related errors.
• client.queryChannels(), channel.query() options parameter is removed in favor of individual parameters
  • option.state -> bool state
  • option.watch -> bool watch
  • option.presence -> bool presence
• client.queryUsers() options parameter is removed in favor of individual parameters
  • option.presence -> bool presence
• Added typed filters

🐞 Fixed

• #369: Client does not return without internet connection
• Several minor fixes
• Performance improvements

✅ Added

• New Location enum is introduced for easily changing the client location/baseUrl.
• New client.openConnection() and client.closeConnection() is introduced to connect/disconnect user WS connection.
• New client.partialUpdateMessage and channel.partialUpdateMessage methods
• connectWebSocket parameter in connect user calls to use the client in “connection-less” mode.

🔄 Changed

• baseURL is now deprecated in favor of using Location to change data location.

Migrating to 2.0 for stream_chat

If you are migrating your full Flutter project to null-safety, first make sure you follow the instructions from the official Null Safety migration guide. :::

To migrate to v2.0 for stream_chat, first change the version of the package to the latest null-safe version.

dependencies:
  stream_chat: ^2.0.0

Upon doing this, all breaking changes from the package will take immediate effect. Here are steps to remedy the issues:

1. Change over the constructor of connectUserWithProvider() to the new format which has tokenProvider as a required parameter.

2. We added more nuance to disconnectUser() by adding two new methods - one to close the connection and the other to disconnect the user. This allows more fine-grained control of disconnection.

    * `client.closeConnection()` -> for closing user web socket connection.
    * `client.disconnectUser()` -> for disconnecting user and resetting client state.

3. We refactored how we handle errors - new error types are now introduced that replace ApiError.

   • StreamChatError -> parent type for all the stream errors.
   • StreamWebSocketError -> for user web socket related errors.
   • StreamChatNetworkError -> for network related errors.

4. We changed over from a map full of options to a more type-safe and sound approach by changing over to explicit parameters.

Use these explicit parameters in the query parameters instead of the option keys:

• client.queryChannels(), channel.query() options parameter is removed in favor of individual parameters
  • option.state -> bool state
  • option.watch -> bool watch
  • option.presence -> bool presence
• client.queryUsers() options parameter is removed in favor of individual parameters
  • option.presence -> bool presence

5. We added type-safe filters to make filtering in the app easier. Change over the filters to the new implementation.

As an example, in the old app this filter:

    filter: {
      'members': {
        '\$in': [StreamChat.of(context).user.id],
      }
    },

Would turn into:

    filter: Filter.in_('members', [StreamChat.of(context).user.id])