Make API Requests

Oftentimes you app will not be limited to the functionality within the app, you will need to make API requests to external services.

To make these requests we use the http package. It is maintained by the Dart team so we can be sure it is well supported and maintained.

For supported platforms such as iOS and Android, they will use the underlying native libraries to make requests for optimal performance and support for features such VPN.

How to Make a Request

The boilerplate provides an abstraction over the http package, so that you can make requests in a similar way across all platforms.

To use the HTTP abstraction in your view models, inject it through the constructor:

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class HomeViewModel {
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  HomeViewModel({required HttpAbstraction httpAbstraction})
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    : _httpAbstraction = httpAbstraction;
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  final HttpAbstraction _httpAbstraction;
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  final _logger = Logger('$HomeViewModel');
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  Future<List<Post>> fetchPosts() async {
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    try {
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      _logger.info('Fetching posts from API');
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      final response = await _httpAbstraction.get(
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        url: "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts",
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      );
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      if (response.statusCode == 200) {
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        final List<dynamic> jsonData = jsonDecode(response.body);
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        _logger.info('Successfully fetched ${jsonData.length} posts');
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        return jsonData.map((json) => Post.fromJson(json)).toList();
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      } else {
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        throw Exception('Failed to load posts: ${response.statusCode}');
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      }
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    } catch (e) {
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      _logger.severe('Error fetching posts: $e');
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      rethrow;
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    }
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  }
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}

Supported HTTP Methods

The httpAbstraction object supports the following HTTP methods:

• get - Retrieves data from a specified resource.
• post - Sends data to a specified resource to create a new resource.
• put - Updates a specified resource.
• delete - Deletes a specified resource.
• patch - Partially updates a specified resource.