flutter: CircleAvatar with fallback text - dart

Question

I'm learning Flutter and would like to make a Widget just like the built-in CircleAvatar. However, I would like the behaviour to be
specify both an Image (NetworkImage) and initials (ie, BB)
while the image isn't loaded, show the initials
if the image does load, show the image and remove the initials
The following code sort of works, but when used in the Chat demo it falls apart as multiple MyAvatars are added.
Breakpointing on initState shows that it is always called with the first message text that is entered - not what I expected.
It also flickers as images "reload". It appears that the widgets are being reused in a way I don't understand.
class MyAvatar extends StatefulWidget {
NetworkImage image;
MyAvatar({this.text}) {
debugPrint("MyAvatar " + this.text);
if (text.contains('fun')) {
this.image = new NetworkImage("https://cdn3.iconfinder.com/data/icons/minicons-for-web-sites/24/minicons2-14-512.png");
}
}
final String text;
#override
MyAvatarState createState() {
return new MyAvatarState();
}
}
class MyAvatarState extends State<MyAvatar> {
bool showImage = false;
#override
initState() {
super.initState();
if (widget.image != null) {
var completer = widget.image.load(widget.image);
completer.addListener((info, sync) {
setState(() {
showImage = true;
});
});
}
}
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return !showImage ? new CircleAvatar(radius: 40.0, child: new Text(widget.text[0]))
: new CircleAvatar(radius: 40.0, backgroundImage: widget.image);
}
}
I'm still having trouble - full code
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
// Modify the ChatScreen class definition to extend StatefulWidget.
class ChatScreen extends StatefulWidget { //modified
ChatScreen() {
debugPrint("ChatScreen - called on hot reload");
}
#override //new
State createState() {
debugPrint("NOT on hot reload");
return new ChatScreenState();
} //new
}
// Add the ChatScreenState class definition in main.dart.
class ChatScreenState extends State<ChatScreen> {
final List<ChatMessage> _messages = <ChatMessage>[];
final TextEditingController _textController = new TextEditingController(); //new
ChatScreenState() {
debugPrint("ChatScreenState - not called on hot reload");
}
#override //new
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return new Scaffold(
appBar: new AppBar(title: new Text("Friendlychat")),
body: new Column( //modified
children: <Widget>[ //new
new Flexible( //new
child: new ListView.builder( //new
padding: new EdgeInsets.all(8.0), //new
reverse: true, //new
itemBuilder: (_, int index) => _messages[index], //new
itemCount: _messages.length, //new
) //new
), //new
new Divider(height: 1.0), //new
new Container( //new
decoration: new BoxDecoration(
color: Theme.of(context).cardColor), //new
child: _buildTextComposer(), //modified
), //new
] //new
), //new
);
}
Widget _buildTextComposer() {
return new IconTheme(
data: new IconThemeData(color: Theme
.of(context)
.accentColor),
child:
new Container(
margin: const EdgeInsets.symmetric(horizontal: 8.0),
child: new Row(
children: <Widget>[
new Container( //new
margin: new EdgeInsets.symmetric(horizontal: 4.0), //new
child: new IconButton( //new
icon: new Icon(Icons.send),
onPressed: () =>
_handleSubmitted(_textController.text)), //new
),
new Flexible(
child: new TextField(
controller: _textController,
onSubmitted: _handleSubmitted,
decoration: new InputDecoration.collapsed(
hintText: "Send a message"),
)
),
])
)
);
}
void _handleSubmitted(String text) {
_textController.clear();
ChatMessage message = new ChatMessage(text: text);
setState(() {
_messages.insert(0, message);
});
}
}
const String _name = "Hardcoded Name";
class ChatMessage extends StatelessWidget {
ChatMessage({this.text, this.image, this.useImage});
final String text;
final NetworkImage image;
final Map useImage;
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
var use = true; //useImage != null && useImage['use'];
var image = new NetworkImage("https://cdn3.iconfinder.com/data/icons/minicons-for-web-sites/24/minicons2-14-512.png");
if (text.contains('bad')) {
image = new NetworkImage("https://cdn3.iconfinder.com/data/icons/minicons-for-web-sites/24/minicons2-14-512.pngz");
}
return new Container(
margin: const EdgeInsets.symmetric(vertical: 10.0),
child: new Row(
crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start,
children: <Widget>[
new Container(
margin: const EdgeInsets.only(right: 16.0),
child : new CustomCircleAvatar(initials: text[0], myImage: image)
),
new Column(
crossAxisAlignment: CrossAxisAlignment.start,
children: <Widget>[
new Text(_name, style: Theme.of(context).textTheme.subhead),
new Container(
margin: const EdgeInsets.only(top: 5.0),
child: new Text(text),
),
],
),
],
),
);
}
}
class CustomCircleAvatar extends StatefulWidget {
NetworkImage myImage;
String initials;
CustomCircleAvatar({this.myImage, this.initials}) {
debugPrint(initials);
}
#override
_CustomCircleAvatarState createState() => new _CustomCircleAvatarState();
}
class _CustomCircleAvatarState extends State<CustomCircleAvatar>{
bool _checkLoading = true;
#override
void initState() {
if (widget.myImage != null) {
widget.myImage.resolve(new ImageConfiguration()).addListener((image, sync) {
if (mounted && image != null) {
setState(() {
_checkLoading = false;
});
}
});
}
}
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return _checkLoading == true ? new CircleAvatar(child: new Text(widget.initials))
: new CircleAvatar(backgroundImage: widget.myImage);
}
}
Enter 'fun' as a message, then 'bad' as the second -
image
The idea is that depending on what you enter, different images might load (or not). In the 'failed to load' case, the initials should remain.

Answer 1

You can achieve this functionality by adding a listener to ImageStream that you can obtain from ImageConfiguration,
Here, I am feeding the same data to my ListView you can of course customize this yourself by adding a List of images and initials as a field in any class and use ListView.builder instead to be able to loop on them by index.
class CustomCircleAvatar extends StatefulWidget {
NetworkImage myImage;
String initials;
CustomCircleAvatar({this.myImage, this.initials});
#override
_CustomCircleAvatarState createState() => new _CustomCircleAvatarState();
}
class _CustomCircleAvatarState extends State<CustomCircleAvatar>{
bool _checkLoading = true;
#override
void initState() {
widget.myImage.resolve(new ImageConfiguration()).addListener((_, __) {
if (mounted) {
setState(() {
_checkLoading = false;
});
}
});
}
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return _checkLoading == true ? new CircleAvatar(
child: new Text(widget.initials)) : new CircleAvatar(
backgroundImage: widget.myImage,);
}
}
Now you can use it like this:
void main() {
runApp(new MaterialApp (home: new MyApp()));
}
class MyApp extends StatefulWidget {
#override
_MyAppState createState() => new _MyAppState();
}
class _MyAppState extends State<MyApp> {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return new Scaffold(
appBar: new AppBar(title: new Text("Custom Circle Avatar"),),
body: new ListView(children: new List.generate(20, (int index) {
return new Container(
height: 100.0,
width: 100.0,
child: new CustomCircleAvatar(myImage: new NetworkImage(
"https://www.doginni.cz/front_path/images/dog_circle.png"),
initials: "Dog",
),
);
}),),
);
}
}

Answer 2

This works really well and easy. Use the CachetNetworkImage and build the appropriate CircleAvatar.
return CachedNetworkImage(
httpHeaders: headers,
imageUrl: general.HOST + 'api/media/v2/' + id,
imageBuilder: (context, imageProvider) => new CircleAvatar(
radius: radius,
backgroundImage: imageProvider,
backgroundColor: backgroundColor),
errorWidget: (context, url, error) => CircleAvatar(
backgroundColor: backgroundColor,
radius: radius,
child: new Text(initials, style: textStyle,)),
);

Answer 3

The answer from #aziza was really the only one I could find on the topic for a while and it took me a while to read it and understand. I tried implementing it and there were some issues though I did get it to work eventually. I think I have a more readable (for me at least!)/up to date answer that might help someone stumbling upon this question:
class FallBackAvatar extends StatefulWidget {
final AssetImage image;
final String initials;
final TextStyle textStyle;
final Color circleBackground;
FallBackAvatar({#required this.image, #required this.initials, #required this.circleBackground, #required this.textStyle});
#override
_FallBackAvatarState createState() => _FallBackAvatarState();
}
class _FallBackAvatarState extends State<FallBackAvatar> {
bool _checkLoading = true;
#override
initState() {
super.initState();
// Add listeners to this class
ImageStreamListener listener = ImageStreamListener(_setImage, onError: _setError);
widget.image.resolve(ImageConfiguration()).addListener(listener);
}
void _setImage(ImageInfo image, bool sync) {
setState(() => _checkLoading = false);
//DO NOT DISPOSE IF IT WILL REBUILD (e.g. Sliver/Builder ListView)
dispose();
}
void _setError(dynamic dyn, StackTrace st) {
setState(() => _checkLoading = true);
dispose();
}
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return _checkLoading == true ? new CircleAvatar(
backgroundColor: widget.circleBackground,
child: new Text(widget.initials, style: widget.textStyle)) : new CircleAvatar(
backgroundImage: widget.image,
backgroundColor: widget.circleBackground,);
}
}
A couple of points, I'm manually disposing because I know after this there should be no more rebuilds (did you get the image? good! no more rebuilds unless you are part of a sliver or something OR did the image fail to load? well that's it then - no more rebuilds). This also handles the error case where the AssetImage (in my case, its Asset image but you could use any kind of image provider) is not there for whatever reason.
Second edit, because I have personal problems best left out of this answer. So I noticed that there was a slight delay in loading the profile images (like a second). But then the images came flooding in. Didn't like that transition so here is one with an AnimatedSwitcher:
class FallBackAvatar extends StatefulWidget {
final AssetImage image;
final String initials;
final TextStyle textStyle;
final Color circleBackground;
final double radius;
final int msAnimationDuration;
FallBackAvatar({#required this.image, #required this.initials, #required this.circleBackground, #required this.textStyle, #required this.radius, this.msAnimationDuration});
#override
_FallBackAvatarState createState() => _FallBackAvatarState();
}
class _FallBackAvatarState extends State<FallBackAvatar> {
bool _imgSuccess = false;
#override
initState() {
super.initState();
// Add listeners to this class
ImageStreamListener listener = ImageStreamListener(_setImage, onError: _setError);
widget.image.resolve(ImageConfiguration()).addListener(listener);
}
void _setImage(ImageInfo image, bool sync) {
setState(() => _imgSuccess = true);
}
void _setError(dynamic dyn, StackTrace st) {
setState(() => _imgSuccess = false);
dispose();
}
Widget _fallBackAvatar() {
return Container(
height: widget.radius*2,
width: widget.radius*2,
decoration: BoxDecoration(
color: widget.circleBackground,
borderRadius: BorderRadius.all(Radius.circular(widget.radius))
),
child: Center(child: Text(widget.initials, style: widget.textStyle))
);
}
Widget _avatarImage() {
return CircleAvatar(
backgroundImage: widget.image,
backgroundColor: widget.circleBackground
);
}
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return AnimatedSwitcher(
duration: Duration(milliseconds: widget.msAnimationDuration ?? 500),
child: _imgSuccess ? _avatarImage() : _fallBackAvatar(),
);
}
}

Answer 4

Actually the code can be even simpler:
if you want to put a text when the image is unavailable you should simply use foregroundImage instead of backgroundImage.
The text will displayed by default, when the image is loaded it will cover the text without having to deal with image loading status etc.
If you need to know if the image had an error you can intercept it with onForegroundImageError.
Example function:
Widget CircleAvatarTest(
{String? imageUrl,
String? text,
double radius = 35,
Color? backgroundColor}) {
return CircleAvatar(
radius: radius,
child: (text != null)
? Center(
child: Text(text,
style: TextStyle(
color: Colors.white,
fontSize: radius * 2 / text.length - 10,
)),
)
: null,
foregroundImage: imageUrl == null ? null : NetworkImage(imageUrl),
backgroundColor: backgroundColor,
//onForegroundImageError: (e,trace){/*....*/},
);
}

Answer 5

Here is the sample with stacked architecture where fallback is person icon.
ViewBuilder and ViewModel are just extended widgets from stacked architecture alternatives. #swidget is functional widget. You can achieve the same functionality via StatefulWidget.
#swidget
Widget avatarView({String userId, double radius = 24}) =>
ViewBuilder<AvatarViewModel>(
viewModelBuilder: () => AvatarViewModel(),
builder: (model) => CircleAvatar(
radius: radius,
backgroundColor: CColors.blackThird,
backgroundImage: NetworkImage(
Config.photoUrl + userId ?? userService.id,
),
child: model.isFailed ? Icon(EvaIcons.person, size: radius) : null,
onBackgroundImageError: (e, _) => model.isFailed = e != null,
),
);
class AvatarViewModel extends ViewModel {
bool _isFailed = false;
bool get isFailed => _isFailed;
set isFailed(bool isFailed) {
_isFailed = isFailed;
notifyListeners();
}
}