Usage

Dependencies

To use go_router_builder, you need to have the following dependencies in pubspec.yaml.

dependencies:
  # ...along with your other dependencies
  go_router: ^3.1.0

dev_dependencies:
  # ...along with your other dev-dependencies
  build_runner: ^2.0.0
  go_router_builder: ^1.0.0

Source code

Instructions below explain how to create and annotate types to use this builder. Along with importing the go_router.dart library, it's essential to also include a part directive that references the generated Dart file. The generated file will always have the name [source_file].g.dart.

import 'package:go_router/go_router.dart';

part 'this_file.g.dart';

Running build_runner

To do a one-time build:

flutter pub run build_runner build

Read more about using build_runner on pub.dev.

Overview

go_router fundamentally relies on the ability to match a string-based location in a URI format into one or more page builders, each that require zero or more arguments that are passed as path and query parameters as part of the location. go_router does a good job of making the path and query parameters available via the params and queryParams properties of the GoRouterState object, but often the page builder must first parse the parameters into types that aren't Strings, e.g.

GoRoute(
  path: ':authorId',
  builder: (context, state) {
    // require the authorId to be present and be an integer
    final authorId = int.parse(state.params['authorId']!);
    return AuthorDetailsScreen(authorId: authorId);
  },
),

In this example, the authorId parameter is a) required and b) must be an int. However, neither of these requirements are checked until run-time, making it easy to write code that is not type-safe, e.g.

void _tap() => context.go('/author/a42'); // error: `a42` is not an `int`

Dart's type system allows mistakes to be caught at compile-time instead of run-time. The goal of the routing is to provide a way to define the required and optional parameters that a specific route consumes and to use code generation to take out the drudgery of writing a bunch of go, push and location boilerplate code implementations ourselves.

Defining a route

Define each route as a class extending GoRouteData and overriding the build method.

class HomeRoute extends GoRouteData {
  const HomeRoute();

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) => const HomeScreen();
}

Required parameters are pulled from the route's path defined in the route tree.

Route tree

The tree of routes is defined as an attribute on each of the top-level routes:

@TypedGoRoute<HomeRoute>(
  path: '/',
  routes: <TypedGoRoute<GoRouteData>>[
    TypedGoRoute<FamilyRoute>(
      path: 'family/:familyId',
    )
  ],
)
class HomeRoute extends GoRouteData {
  const HomeRoute();

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) => HomeScreen(families: familyData);
}

@TypedGoRoute<LoginRoute>(path: '/login')
class LoginRoute extends GoRouteData {...}

GoRouter initialization

The code generator aggregates all top-level routes into a single list called $appRoutes for use in initializing the GoRouter instance:

final _router = GoRouter(routes: $appRoutes);

Error builder

One can use typed routes to provide an error builder as well:

class ErrorRoute extends GoRouteData {
  ErrorRoute({required this.error});
  final Exception error;

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) => ErrorScreen(error: error);
}

With this in place, you can provide the errorBuilder parameter like so:

final _router = GoRouter(
  routes: $appRoutes,
  errorBuilder: (c, s) => ErrorRoute(s.error!).build(c),
);

Navigation

Navigate using the go or push methods provided by the code generator:

void _tap() => PersonRoute(fid: 'f2', pid: 'p1').go(context);

If you get this wrong, the compiler will complain:

// error: missing required parameter 'fid'
void _tap() => PersonRoute(pid: 'p1').go(context);

This is the point of typed routing: the error is found statically.

Query parameters

Optional parameters (named or positional) indicate query parameters:

class LoginRoute extends GoRouteData {
  LoginRoute({this.from});
  final String? from;

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) => LoginScreen(from: from);
}

Extra parameter

A route can consume an extra parameter by taking it as a typed constructor parameter with the special name $extra:

class PersonRouteWithExtra extends GoRouteData {
  PersonRouteWithExtra({this.$extra});
  final int? $extra;

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) => PersonScreen(personId: $extra);
}

Pass the extra param as a typed object:

void _tap() => PersonRouteWithExtra(Person(name: 'Marvin', age: 42)).go(context);

The $extra parameter is still passed outside the location, still defeats dynamic and deep linking (including the browser back button) and is still not recommended when targeting Flutter web.

Mixed parameters

You can, of course, combine the use of path, query and $extra parameters:

class HotdogRouteWithEverything extends GoRouteData {
  HotdogRouteWithEverything(this.ketchup, this.mustard, this.$extra);
  final bool ketchup; // required path parameter
  final String? mustard; // optional query parameter
  final Sauce $extra; // special $extra parameter

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) => HotdogScreen(ketchup, mustard, $extra);
}

This seems kinda silly, but it works.

Redirection

Redirect using the location property on a route provided by the code generator:

redirect: (state) {
  final loggedIn = loginInfo.loggedIn;
  final loggingIn = state.subloc == LoginRoute().location;
  if( !loggedIn && !loggingIn ) return LoginRoute(from: state.subloc).location;
  if( loggedIn && loggingIn ) return HomeRoute().location;
  return null;
}

Route-level redirection

Handle route-level redirects by implementing the redirect method on the route:

class HomeRoute extends GoRouteData {
  // no need to implement [build] when this [redirect] is unconditional
  @override
  String? redirect() => BooksRoute().location;
}

Type conversions

The code generator can convert simple types like int and enum to/from the String type of the underlying params:

enum BookKind { all, popular, recent }

class BooksRoute extends GoRouteData {
  BooksRoute({this.kind = BookKind.popular});
  final BookKind kind;

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) => BooksScreen(kind: kind);
}

Transitions

By default, the GoRouter will use the app it finds in the widget tree, e.g. MaterialApp, CupertinoApp, WidgetApp, etc. and use the corresponding page type to create the page that wraps the Widget returned by the route's build method, e.g. MaterialPage, CupertinoPage, NoTransitionPage, etc. Furthermore, it will use the state.pageKey property to set the key property of the page and the restorationId of the page.

Transition override

If you'd like to change how the page is created, e.g. to use a different page type, pass non-default parameters when creating the page (like a custom key) or access the GoRouteState object, you can override the buildPage method of the base class instead of the build method:

class MyMaterialRouteWithKey extends GoRouteData {
  static final _key = LocalKey('my-route-with-key');

  @override
  MaterialPage<void> buildPage(BuildContext context) =>
    MaterialPage<void>(
      key: _key,
      child: MyPage(),
    );
}

Custom transitions

Overriding the buildPage method is also useful for custom transitions:

class FancyRoute extends GoRouteData {
  @override
  MaterialPage<void> buildPage(BuildContext context, GoRouterState state) =>
    CustomTransitionPage<void>(
      key: state.pageKey,
      child: FancyPage(),
      transitionsBuilder: (context, animation, animation2, child) =>
          RotationTransition(turns: animation, child: child),
    ),
}