Best way to keep fetching new data from MySQL

Question

I need some suggestions or help please. I am trying to do a small real time chat application, most tutorials that I have been looking basically use firebase, but I have been using MySQL already for other parts of my small projects, I am not sure if I understood Stream correctly, but as far as I know I think that the data does keep fetching, I tried it but it didn't update the new data, and besides StreamBuilder being a little hard to use, I went for the easiest method using a regular http and displaying it by using a function which will be run at the initiation of page like this:

void initState() {
    super.initState();
    _getChat();
  }

_getChat() {
    Pulling.getChatsContents().then((value) {
      setState(() {
        _chatContent = value;
        _chatLength = "${value.length}";
      });
    });
  }

Storing them here:

List<Chats> _chatContent;
String _chatLength = '0';

where the List<Chats> is the following:

class Chats {
  final String senderid;
  final String msgcontent;

  Chats(
      {this.senderid,
      this.msgcontent});

  factory Chats.fromJson(Map<String, dynamic> json) {
    return Chats(
      senderid: json['sender_id'] as String,
      msgcontent: json['msg_content'] as String,
    );
  }
}

and the Pulling is:

class Pulling {
  static const ROOT = 'https://example.com/chatsContent.php';
  static StreamController streamChat = StreamController();

  static Future<List<Chats>> getChatsContents() async {
    try {
      var myUser = '2';
      var map = Map<String, dynamic>();
      map['user'] = myUser;
      final response = await http.post(ROOT, body: map);
      if (200 == response.statusCode) {
        final chatsParsed =
            json.decode(response.body).cast<Map<String, dynamic>>();
        List<Chats> listChat =
            chatsParsed.map<Chats>((json) => Chats.fromJson(json)).toList();
        return listChat;
      } else {
        return List<Chats>();
      }
    } catch (e) {
      return List<Chats>();
    }
  }
}

So basically with all these I am getting the data and displaying, but when new data is added, I do not get the update, there may be a way to do it with Stream, but I am actually quite confused combining it with http, so I was thinking if it is possible and if it is efficient for the app if I added this to the void initState:

_timer = Timer.periodic(Duration(seconds: 1), (timer) => _getChat());

also calling _timer at the beginning:

Timer _timer;

Thank you guys for reading all this and helping me!

UPDATE

The way that I display the fetched data is as follows:

return Column(
children: [
for (var i = 0; i < int.parse(_chatLength); i++)
Container(
child: Text(_chatContent[i].msgcontent),
),
]);

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 01 '20 at 21:48

0

Have you though about checking out about Redux ? It's a really good thing to use for realtime applications. It's quite long to understand, you can find really good tutorials online like this one which is a really good one.

Let me know if you need some help ;)

answered Oct 01 '20 at 21:48

Nathan Tual

1

Thank you for your suggestion, I am going to look more into it, though it does seem kinda confusing at start. – Alejandro Jimenez Oct 01 '20 at 21:57
Yes it is haha I remember when I was struggling to understand how it works ^_^' But look more into it and if it does what you need it could be really interesting to then implement the requests quite simply ;) – Nathan Tual Oct 01 '20 at 22:03

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 01 '20 at 21:55

0

In my opinion you should use WebSocket instead of HTTP in order to fetch new data instantly.

answered Oct 01 '20 at 21:55

jhalitaksoy

16
1

so do I basically use WebSocket and then combine with Stream? and also does the WebSocket work with php and MySQL? Thank you for your suggestion! – Alejandro Jimenez Oct 01 '20 at 21:59
Yes. You can use WebSocket with Stream. Also php works with WebSocket. You are welcome. – jhalitaksoy Oct 01 '20 at 22:18
Hey @jhalitaksoy, I have been looking over WebSockets these past days but can't manage to find a way to use WebSockets to connect to MySQL database, by any chance do you know how could it be done? – Alejandro Jimenez Oct 05 '20 at 00:58

Best way to keep fetching new data from MySQL

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