Async API Calls in Bloc

Defines the contract between a Bloc and the data layer: every Repository method returns Future<Result<T>>, never throws. The Result<T> union carries either the successful T or a Failure — Failure is fixed (not a second generic parameter on Result), so the union is parameterised by the success type alone. The Bloc handler emits Loading, awaits the repository, and emits Loaded or Failure by pattern-matching on the Result. Failure shapes mirror Laravel's HTTP response taxonomy (especially the 422 validation envelope), so backend errors round-trip cleanly into the UI. Builds on flutter-bloc-feature-pattern; the HTTP transport itself is covered by flutter-use-http-package.

Contents

• Repository contract
• Failure taxonomy
• Event handler shape
• Refresh and request cancellation
• Workflow: Wire a feature to the API
• Applied to Talabat-clone
• Examples

Repository contract

Every Repository method returns Future<Result<T>>. Repositories never throw. Errors that escape from the HTTP layer (network, JSON, status code) are caught at the Repository boundary and converted into a Failure variant. A Bloc handler that calls a Repository never needs try/catch — the type system already accounts for failure.

Result is a sealed freezed union with two variants:

// lib/core/result/result.dart
import 'package:freezed_annotation/freezed_annotation.dart';
import 'failure.dart';

part 'result.freezed.dart';

@freezed
sealed class Result<T> with _$Result<T> {
  const factory Result.success(T data) = ResultSuccess<T>;
  const factory Result.failure(Failure failure) = ResultFailure<T>;
}

Why a typed Result instead of throwing: in Dart, throw is invisible at the call site. The Bloc author has no compile-time signal that repo.fetch() might fail. With Result, the consumer must pattern-match — an unhandled failure becomes a non-exhaustive switch and a compile error.

Failure taxonomy

Failure is a sealed union covering every error category that can come back from a Laravel API. Map each HTTP outcome to exactly one variant.

// lib/core/result/failure.dart
import 'package:freezed_annotation/freezed_annotation.dart';

part 'failure.freezed.dart';

@freezed
sealed class Failure with _$Failure {
  const factory Failure.network() = NetworkFailure;                  // connection refused, DNS, no internet
  const factory Failure.timeout() = TimeoutFailure;                  // server unreachable past deadline
  const factory Failure.unauthorized() = UnauthorizedFailure;        // 401 — trigger logout flow
  const factory Failure.forbidden() = ForbiddenFailure;              // 403
  const factory Failure.notFound() = NotFoundFailure;                // 404
  const factory Failure.validation(Map<String, List<String>> errors) // 422 — Laravel field errors
      = ValidationFailure;
  const factory Failure.server(int statusCode) = ServerFailure;      // 500..599
  const factory Failure.unknown(String message) = UnknownFailure;    // fallback; log + report
}

Laravel's 422 response envelope:

{
  "message": "The given data was invalid.",
  "errors": {
    "email": ["The email has already been taken."],
    "phone": ["The phone field is required.", "The phone must be at least 10 digits."]
  }
}

A direct cast json['errors'] as Map<String, List<String>> throws at runtime — jsonDecode returns Map<String, dynamic> with List<dynamic> values. Map carefully:

final raw = json['errors'] as Map<String, dynamic>;
final errors = raw.map(
  (k, v) => MapEntry(k, (v as List).cast<String>()),
);
return Failure.validation(errors);

Forms surface per-field errors via flutter-bloc-forms. For non-form features, render the first message of the first key as a snackbar.

Event handler shape

The canonical async handler is five lines: emit loading, await the repository, pattern-match the result, emit the next state.

Future<void> _onLoadRequested(
  RestaurantListLoadRequested event,
  Emitter<RestaurantListState> emit,
) async {
  emit(const RestaurantListState.loading());
  final result = await _repo.fetchNearbyStores(event.location);
  emit(switch (result) {
    ResultSuccess(:final data)    => RestaurantListState.loaded(data),
    ResultFailure(:final failure) => RestaurantListState.failure(_messageFor(failure)),
  });
}

_messageFor(Failure) is a private presentation-layer mapper — it converts a typed Failure into a human-readable string. Keep this mapper in the Bloc, not the View. The View should never know that Failure.network() even exists; it just renders state.message. The full mapper for every Failure variant appears in the Examples section below.

For 401 responses specifically, prefer a BlocListener<AuthBloc, AuthState> higher in the tree that triggers a global logout when Failure.unauthorized() is observed, rather than rendering an inline error.

Failure.unknown(message) is the catch-all branch and message is e.toString() from the inner exception — useful in logs and crash reports, but not user-facing copy. The presentation mapper should map it to a generic fallback like "Something went wrong. Try again." rather than rendering the raw text.

Refresh and request cancellation

A pull-to-refresh that arrives while an initial load is still in flight should cancel the in-flight request, not be silently ignored. Use bloc_concurrency's restartable() for refresh handlers.

on<RestaurantListLoadRequested>(_onLoadRequested, transformer: restartable());
on<RestaurantListRefreshRequested>(_onRefreshRequested, transformer: restartable());

restartable() makes the second event abort the handler running for the first. The HTTP request itself is not cancelled (unless the underlying client supports CancellationTokens) — but the Bloc stops listening, so any state the obsolete handler tries to emit is dropped. This prevents the "stale data flicker" where the cancelled request resolves after the new one and overwrites it.

Do not use droppable() for refresh — that would silently ignore the user's pull, leaving them stuck staring at stale data while a slow request finishes.

Workflow: Wire a feature to the API

Task Progress

• Step 1 — Define the DTO. freezed + json_serializable data class matching the API response shape exactly. Lives in lib/data/models/.
• Step 2 — Define the domain model. Cleaner shape consumed by UI. Lives in lib/domain/models/. The Repository transforms DTO → domain.
• Step 3 — Add Result and Failure. Drop lib/core/result/result.dart and lib/core/result/failure.dart if they don't already exist (one-time per project).
• Step 4 — Implement the Service. HTTP client wrapper using package:http. Returns the raw DTO or throws. Lives in lib/data/services/. Setup follows flutter-use-http-package.
• Step 5 — Implement the Repository. Wraps the Service in try/catch. Maps DTO → domain on success. Maps each thrown error to a Failure variant. Returns Result<T>. Lives in lib/data/repositories/.
• Step 6 — Implement the Bloc handler. Emit Loading, await repo.fetch(...), pattern-match the Result, emit Loaded or Failure. Use restartable() for queries and refreshes.
• Step 7 — Register the Repository. Add it to the root MultiRepositoryProvider in main.dart (introduced by flutter-bloc-setup).
• Step 8 — Wire the View. BlocBuilder with a sealed-state switch rendering Loading / Loaded / Failure (and Empty if relevant). Run flutter analyze → review compile errors → fix non-exhaustive switches → re-run.

Applied to Talabat-clone

A representative feature: the list of nearby stores on the home screen.

Endpoint: GET /api/stores/nearby?lat=<lat>&lng=<lng> on the Laravel backend.

Inputs: LocationDto(lat, lng) derived from device GPS or a saved address. Saved-address selection is prd.md §2.1; the "this address is far from your current location" guard is prd.md §2.2. The guard check happens in the View before dispatching the load event, not in the Bloc.

Output: List<StoreDto> on success. The Repository maps DTOs to Store domain models and filters out stores that fail operational gating (PRD_states.md §4):

• paused_by_merchant == true → drop.
• suspension_reason != null → drop.
• Outside working hours → drop (computed at read time using working_hours config; not a stored state).

// inside StoreRepository.fetchNearbyStores
final dtos = await _api.fetchNearbyStores(loc);
final now = DateTime.now();
final available = dtos
    .where((d) => !d.pausedByMerchant)
    .where((d) => d.suspensionReason == null)
    .where((d) => d.workingHours.contains(now))
    .map((d) => d.toDomain())
    .toList();
return Result.success(available);

The home screen calls RestaurantListBloc.add(RestaurantListLoadRequested(location)) when a saved address is selected. Pull-to-refresh dispatches RestaurantListRefreshRequested(location) with the same location. Both handlers use restartable().

When a Laravel form-related call (e.g., placing an order, submitting an address) returns 422, the Failure.validation payload is forwarded to the relevant form Bloc per flutter-bloc-forms (deferred to wave 3). For non-form 422 cases, render the first message via _messageFor.

Examples

End-to-end implementation of RestaurantListBloc consuming GET /api/stores/nearby. The Service uses a project-defined ApiException that carries the raw status code and parsed body — no regex round-tripping through http.ClientException.message.

lib/core/api/api_exception.dart

/// Thrown by Service implementations on any non-2xx HTTP response.
/// Repositories catch this and map to a `Failure`.
class ApiException implements Exception {
  const ApiException({required this.statusCode, this.body});

  final int statusCode;
  final Map<String, dynamic>? body; // null when body wasn't JSON

  /// Laravel-style validation errors when statusCode == 422, else null.
  Map<String, List<String>>? get validationErrors {
    if (statusCode != 422) return null;
    final raw = body?['errors'];
    if (raw is! Map<String, dynamic>) return null;
    return raw.map(
      (k, v) => MapEntry(k, (v as List).cast<String>()),
    );
  }

  @override
  String toString() => 'ApiException($statusCode)';
}

lib/data/models/store_dto.dart

import 'package:freezed_annotation/freezed_annotation.dart';

part 'store_dto.freezed.dart';
part 'store_dto.g.dart';

@freezed
class StoreDto with _$StoreDto {
  const factory StoreDto({
    required String id,
    required String name,
    required String logoUrl,
    required double rating,
    required int ratingsCount,
    required int deliveryMinutes,
    @JsonKey(name: 'paused_by_merchant') required bool pausedByMerchant,
    @JsonKey(name: 'suspension_reason') String? suspensionReason,
  }) = _StoreDto;

  factory StoreDto.fromJson(Map<String, dynamic> json) => _$StoreDtoFromJson(json);
}

lib/data/services/store_api_client.dart

import 'dart:convert';
import 'package:http/http.dart' as http;
import '../../core/api/api_exception.dart';
import '../models/store_dto.dart';

class StoreApiClient {
  StoreApiClient({required http.Client client, required Uri baseUrl})
      : _client = client,
        _baseUrl = baseUrl;

  final http.Client _client;
  final Uri _baseUrl;

  Future<List<StoreDto>> fetchNearbyStores(double lat, double lng) async {
    final uri = _baseUrl.resolve('/api/stores/nearby?lat=$lat&lng=$lng');
    final res = await _client.get(uri, headers: const {'Accept': 'application/json'});

    if (res.statusCode == 200) {
      final body = jsonDecode(res.body) as Map<String, dynamic>;
      // This assumes Laravel's `AnonymousResourceCollection` envelope —
      // `JsonResource::collection($stores)` returns `{"data": [...]}`.
      // A controller that does `return response()->json($stores)` returns
      // a bare array; in that case decode `as List` directly.
      final list = (body['data'] as List).cast<Map<String, dynamic>>();
      return list.map(StoreDto.fromJson).toList();
    }

    // Parse the body if it's JSON (Laravel error responses usually are);
    // fall back to null when the server returned plain text or HTML.
    Map<String, dynamic>? parsedBody;
    try {
      parsedBody = jsonDecode(res.body) as Map<String, dynamic>;
    } catch (_) {/* keep parsedBody == null */}

    throw ApiException(statusCode: res.statusCode, body: parsedBody);
  }
}

lib/data/repositories/store_repository.dart

import 'dart:async';
import 'dart:io';

import '../../core/api/api_exception.dart';
import '../../core/result/failure.dart';
import '../../core/result/result.dart';
import '../../domain/models/location.dart';
import '../../domain/models/store.dart';
import '../services/store_api_client.dart';

class StoreRepository {
  StoreRepository({required StoreApiClient api}) : _api = api;
  final StoreApiClient _api;

  Future<Result<List<Store>>> fetchNearbyStores(Location loc) async {
    try {
      final dtos = await _api.fetchNearbyStores(loc.lat, loc.lng);
      final available = dtos
          .where((d) => !d.pausedByMerchant && d.suspensionReason == null)
          // .where((d) => d.workingHours.contains(now))   // omitted for brevity
          .map(Store.fromDto)
          .toList();
      return Result.success(available);
    } on SocketException {
      return const Result.failure(Failure.network());
    } on TimeoutException {
      return const Result.failure(Failure.timeout());
    } on ApiException catch (e) {
      return Result.failure(_mapApiException(e));
    } catch (e) {
      return Result.failure(Failure.unknown(e.toString()));
    }
  }

  Failure _mapApiException(ApiException e) => switch (e.statusCode) {
    401 => const Failure.unauthorized(),
    403 => const Failure.forbidden(),
    404 => const Failure.notFound(),
    422 => Failure.validation(e.validationErrors ?? const <String, List<String>>{}),
    int s when s >= 500 && s < 600 => Failure.server(s),
    _ => Failure.unknown('HTTP ${e.statusCode}'),
  };
}

lib/ui/features/restaurant_list/bloc/restaurant_list_state.dart

The view below switches on this sealed state. See flutter-bloc-feature-pattern for the full event/state/bloc scaffolding pattern.

import 'package:freezed_annotation/freezed_annotation.dart';
import '../../../../domain/models/store.dart';

part 'restaurant_list_state.freezed.dart';

@freezed
sealed class RestaurantListState with _$RestaurantListState {
  const factory RestaurantListState.initial() = RestaurantListInitial;
  const factory RestaurantListState.loading() = RestaurantListLoading;
  const factory RestaurantListState.empty()   = RestaurantListEmpty;
  const factory RestaurantListState.loaded(List<Store> stores) = RestaurantListLoaded;
  const factory RestaurantListState.failure(String message)    = RestaurantListFailure;
}

lib/ui/features/restaurant_list/bloc/restaurant_list_bloc.dart

import 'package:bloc_concurrency/bloc_concurrency.dart';
import 'package:flutter_bloc/flutter_bloc.dart';

import '../../../../core/result/failure.dart';
import '../../../../core/result/result.dart';
import '../../../../data/repositories/store_repository.dart';
import '../../../../domain/models/location.dart';
import 'restaurant_list_event.dart';
import 'restaurant_list_state.dart';

class RestaurantListBloc
    extends Bloc<RestaurantListEvent, RestaurantListState> {
  RestaurantListBloc({required StoreRepository repo})
      : _repo = repo,
        super(const RestaurantListState.initial()) {
    on<RestaurantListLoadRequested>(_onLoad, transformer: restartable());
    on<RestaurantListRefreshRequested>(_onLoad, transformer: restartable());
  }

  final StoreRepository _repo;

  Future<void> _onLoad(
    RestaurantListEvent event,
    Emitter<RestaurantListState> emit,
  ) async {
    final loc = switch (event) {
      RestaurantListLoadRequested(:final location)    => location,
      RestaurantListRefreshRequested(:final location) => location,
      _ => null,
    };
    if (loc == null) return;

    emit(const RestaurantListState.loading());
    final result = await _repo.fetchNearbyStores(loc);
    emit(switch (result) {
      ResultSuccess(:final data) when data.isEmpty =>
          const RestaurantListState.empty(),
      ResultSuccess(:final data) => RestaurantListState.loaded(data),
      ResultFailure(:final failure) =>
          RestaurantListState.failure(_messageFor(failure)),
    });
  }

  String _messageFor(Failure f) => switch (f) {
    NetworkFailure()      => 'No internet connection',
    TimeoutFailure()      => 'Server is taking too long. Try again.',
    UnauthorizedFailure() => 'Please sign in again',
    NotFoundFailure()     => 'No restaurants near this location',
    ValidationFailure(:final errors) => errors.values.first.first,
    ServerFailure(:final statusCode) => 'Server error ($statusCode). Try again.',
    ForbiddenFailure()    => 'Access denied',
    // UnknownFailure.message is from `e.toString()` — useful for logs/crashlytics,
    // not user-facing. Render a generic fallback and report the raw message elsewhere.
    UnknownFailure()      => 'Something went wrong. Try again.',
  };
}

lib/ui/features/restaurant_list/view/restaurant_list_view.dart

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

import '../bloc/restaurant_list_bloc.dart';
import '../bloc/restaurant_list_state.dart';

class RestaurantListView extends StatelessWidget {
  const RestaurantListView({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return BlocBuilder<RestaurantListBloc, RestaurantListState>(
      builder: (context, state) => switch (state) {
        RestaurantListInitial() => const SizedBox.shrink(),
        RestaurantListLoading() => const Center(child: CircularProgressIndicator()),
        RestaurantListEmpty()   => const Center(child: Text('No restaurants near you')),
        RestaurantListLoaded(:final stores) => ListView.builder(
            itemCount: stores.length,
            itemBuilder: (_, i) => ListTile(
              title: Text(stores[i].name),
              subtitle: Text('${stores[i].deliveryMinutes} min'),
            ),
          ),
        RestaurantListFailure(:final message) => Center(child: Text(message)),
      },
    );
  }
}

Source: abdallhMoukdad/flutter-bloc-skills — distributed by TomeVault.