How to Add extraData to User Properties in Your Flutter Chat App with Stream.io

Описание: Learn how to resolve the 'argument type error' when adding `extraData` to user properties in your Flutter chat application using the Stream.io SDK.
---
This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/73017909/ asked by the user 'deandrehaijiel' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/10159019/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/73018811/ provided by the user 'Gordon Hayes' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/13245192/ ) 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: flutter chat app with stream.io Adding extraData into user properties

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.
---
Fixing User Properties in Your Flutter Chat App with Stream.io

If you're building a chat application using Flutter and the Stream.io SDK, you might encounter some common issues when working with user properties. A specific problem can arise when you try to update a user's properties with extra data and end up with an error such as: "The argument type 'List Map String, String ' can't be assigned to the parameter type 'User'". This is often due to misunderstanding how the updateUser method works in Stream.io. In this guide, we'll explain this issue and provide a clear solution to ensure you can successfully add extraData to user properties without errors.

Understanding the Problem

The problem you are experiencing is that you are trying to use a List to update a user's properties when the updateUser method is expecting a single User object. This can lead to confusion, especially for developers who are new to the Stream.io SDK or have limited experience with Flutter.

The Error Message Explained

When you receive the error message, it indicates a type mismatch. Your code currently attempts to pass a list of maps, which cannot be interpreted as a User by the method you're using. The correct approach is to create or work with a User object, rather than passing in a list of data.

Solution: Updating User with extraData

To resolve this issue, follow these organized steps to correctly update user properties in your Flutter chat application.

Step 1: Access the Current User

Using the StreamChatCore context, you'll first want to retrieve the current user object:

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

Step 2: Modify extraData

Next, you need to access the extraData property of the current user and modify it as needed. For example, if you want to add a new piece of information, you can do the following:

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

Step 3: Create an Updated User Object

Using the modified extraData, you'll then create a new User object using the copyWith method, which allows you to generate a new user instance without modifying the existing one:

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

Step 4: Update the User

Finally, you will call the updateUser method with the newly created User object:

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

Putting It All Together

Combining all these steps, your complete function to join a channel with updated user properties might look like this:

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

Conclusion

By understanding the requirements of the updateUser method and structuring your data correctly, you can enhance your chat application's functionality without hitting type assignment errors. This process allows for greater flexibility in managing user details and enhanced communication features in your Flutter chat app using Stream.io.

If you found this guide helpful or have further questions, feel free to leave a comment below! Happy coding!