flutter-update-exports README

Flutter Update Exports is a VSCode extension that simplifies keeping export statements up-to-date.

Motivation

In Flutter development, it is a common practice to develop a library or collection of *.dart files in a subdirectory and then export them all in a single .dart file with the same name as the subdir.

For example, this is a common layout:

api/*.dart
blocs/*.dart
collections/*.dart
models/*.dart
services/*.dart
widgets/*.dart
api.dart
blocs.dart
collections.dart
models.dart
services.dart
widgets.dart

It is also common to see this same hierarchy, but separated by a src directory in between:

src/api/*.dart
src/blocs/*.dart
src/collections/*.dart
src/models/*.dart
src/services/*.dart
src/widgets/*.dart
api.dart
blocs.dart
collections.dart
models.dart
services.dart
widgets.dart

These top-level .dart files simply contain exports of all the subdir files to make it much easier to import a single file and get all the contents of the subdirectories.

But keeping these top-level files in sync while "in the zone" like in the middle of a large refactor is a pain and a major distraction.

The motivation for this VSCode extension is to make it easy to quickly update these export files to reduce the pain and distraction.

Features

Flutter Update Exports has two modes depending on which *.dart file it is run on.

The first mode is called "In-target mode." In this mode, the extension attempts to modify the file it is run on.

The second mode is called "In-child-dir mode." In this mode, the extension attempts to modify a single file in the current file's parent directory.

How it determines which mode it is in depends on the name of the current file, its contents, and the names of the directories in the file's current directory.

In-target mode

If the current *.dart file already contains export statements, the extension attempts to find the primary directory being exported. It then removes all the export statements pointing to that directory and replaces them with a list of all the *.dart files in that directory, in sorted filename order.

Alternatively, if the current *.dart file contains no export statements but the base name of the current *.dart file matches the full name of a directory in the current directory, the extension will append export statements for every *.dart file in the subdirectory.

For example, if "Flutter Update Exports" is invoked on a file called api.dart (either with no export statements or with export statements primarily pointing to api/*.dart files) and there exists a subdirectory called api, then the extension will attempt to update api.dart by removing all export 'api/*.dart'; lines and replacing them with a new export line for every api/*.dart file found (sorted by filename)

In-child-dir mode

If the extension is not in "In-target mode", it defaults to "In-child-dir mode." In this mode, a new file in the parent directory will be edited or created with .dart added as a suffix to the current directory base name.

As a special case, if the name of the parent directory itself is within a src/ directory, the new file will be created one directory higher, in the same directory as the src dir.

For example, if "Flutter Update Exports" is invoked on a file called lib/api/api_client.dart (and no directory lib/api/api_client exists), then the extension will attempt to edit or create the file api.dart in the parent directory and will remove all export lines and replace them with a new export line for every lib/api/*.dart file found.

For the special case example, if "Flutter Update Exports" is invoked on a file called lib/src/api/api_client.dart (and no directory lib/src/api/api_client exists), then the extension will attempt to edit or create the file api.dart in lib/src and will remove all export lines and replace them with a new export line for every lib/src/api/*.dart file found.

Reporting Problems

It is my goal to be able to use this plugin on large group projects, so every attempt has been made to make this robust. If, however, problems are found, please raise issues on the GitHub issue tracker for this repo along with a (short) example demonstrating the "before" and "after" results of running this plugin on the example code.

Even better, please submit a PR with your new "before"/"after" example coded-up as a unit test along with the code to fix the problem, and I'll try to incorporate the fix into the plugin.

Please remember to state which version of the plugin you are using!

Known Issues

None.

Release Notes

0.0.1

Initial release, "Flutter Update Exports" is the provided command.

Enjoy!

License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

flutter-update-exports

gmlewis-vscode