How to Get an Image URL from Firebase Storage in Your Flutter App

Описание: Learn how to easily retrieve an `image URL` from Firebase Storage and save it in Firestore while avoiding common pitfalls.
---
This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/63300434/ asked by the user 'imnoname' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/14038720/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/63300843/ provided by the user 'JideGuru' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/10835183/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

Visit these links for original content and any more details, such as alternate solutions, latest updates/developments on topic, comments, revision history etc. For example, the original title of the Question was: How to get image Url from Firebase Storage?

Also, Content (except music) licensed under CC BY-SA https://meta.stackexchange.com/help/l...
The original Question post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... ) license, and the original Answer post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... ) license.

If anything seems off to you, please feel free to write me at vlogize [AT] gmail [DOT] com.
---
How to Get an Image URL from Firebase Storage in Your Flutter App

If you're developing a Flutter application and utilizing Firebase for cloud storage, you might find yourself needing to upload images and subsequently retrieve their URLs. This is critical for many applications where users need to see images displayed from a remote source. In this post, we will break down how to get an image URL from Firebase Storage, ensuring that you understand how to structure your code properly to avoid common pitfalls.

The Problem: Understanding the Future Issue

When you attempt to retrieve an image URL from Firebase Storage, it might seem straightforward, but you could run into the issue of handling Future objects in Dart. The original error you might encounter is:

Error: Instance of 'Future' not url.

Description: Without using the toString method, it gives the error: future dynamic can’t be assigned to string.

This occurs because the method getDownloadURL() returns a Future<String>, which means it needs to complete before you can use it as a normal string.

The Solution: Asynchronous Code with await

To successfully retrieve the URL, you need to use the await keyword, as this allows your code to "wait" for the asynchronous operation to complete before trying to use the result. Here’s a structured breakdown of the solution.

Step-by-Step Solution

Define the onPressed Method:

Use the async keyword in the function to allow for asynchronous operations.

Create a Reference to Your Image:

Use the FirebaseStorage instance to create a reference for where your image is stored.

Upload Your Image:

Utilize putFile to upload your image to Firebase Storage.

Wait for the Upload to Complete:

Await the completion of your upload task using await.

Retrieve the Download URL:

Call getDownloadURL() on the uploaded file reference and again, make sure to await this to retrieve the actual URL.

Store the URL in Firestore:

Finally, save the URL to Firestore for later use in your application.

Example Code

Here's how the complete code structure will look:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Conclusion

Retrieving an image URL from Firebase Storage doesn't have to be complicated as long as you handle the Future correctly. By understanding and utilizing the asynchronous nature of Dart, you can efficiently upload images and get their URLs with ease.

Make sure to follow the outlined steps and adapt the example code to fit your needs. Happy coding!