Drift: A Comprehensive Guide to Reactive Persistence on Flutter and Dart

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Drift: A Comprehensive Guide to Reactive Persistence on Flutter and Dart

Drift is a revolutionary reactive persistence library for Flutter and Dart, seamlessly integrating with SQLite to provide a robust and flexible solution for managing your application's data.

Sponsors

We are proud to announce that Drift is sponsored by the leading chat platform, Stream. Try out their comprehensive Flutter Chat Tutorial to enhance your app's messaging capabilities.

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:drift/drift.dart';

@DataClassName('User')
class Users extends Table {
  IntColumn get id => integer().autoIncrement()();
  TextColumn get name => text()();
  DateTimeColumn get createdAt => dateTime()();
}

@DataClassName('Message')
class Messages extends Table {
  IntColumn get id => integer().autoIncrement()();
  IntColumn get senderId => integer().references(Users, #id)();
  TextColumn get content => text()();
  DateTimeColumn get sentAt => dateTime()();
}

// And this lets you run queries like this:
usersDao.findById(1).forEach((user) => messagesDao.findBySenderId(user.id));

Features That Set Drift Apart

  • Flexibility: Craft queries in both native SQL and Dart, empowering you with fluent APIs for both languages. Filter, order, and join data effortlessly.

  • Feature-Rich: Leverage built-in support for transactions, schema migrations, complex queries and expressions, batch updates, and joins. Plus, enjoy the convenience of a built-in IDE for SQL.

  • Modularity: Maintain code simplicity with DAOs and SQL file imports, ensuring a well-organized database structure.

  • Safety: Drift generates type-safe code based on tables and queries, flagging errors at compile time with helpful lints.

  • Speed: Despite its advanced query capabilities, Drift delivers exceptional performance, rivaling key-value stores. Its built-in threading support enables effortless execution of database code across isolates.

  • Reactivity: Transform any SQL query into a live, auto-updating stream, even for complex queries across multiple tables.

  • Cross-Platform Compatibility: Experience seamless database handling on Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Linux, and the web with just a few lines of code.

Getting Started

Embark on your Drift journey with our comprehensive documentation: https://drift.simonbinder.eu/docs/getting-started/

Community and Support

Connect with us in our dedicated Discord server for support, discussions, and feedback. Join the Drift community today!

Conclusion

Drift empowers you to unlock the true potential of persistence in your Flutter and Dart applications. Its feature-rich ecosystem and unwavering stability make it the ideal choice for handling your data with confidence and ease.

Additional Resources

To learn more about Drift and stay updated on its latest developments, visit the official website and GitHub repository:

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