Do not use WidgetRef across async gaps?

[stephane-archer]

We all know about Do not use BuildContexts across async gaps but Riverpod uses WidgetRef instead of BuildContexts like Provider.

Do we need to care about async gaps with Riverpod too?

class MyWidget extends ConsumerWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context, WidgetRef ref) {
    return ElevatedButton(
      onPressed: () async {
        final result = await fetchData();
        ref.read(myProvider.notifier).update(result); // is it save?
      },
      child: Text('Fetch Data'),
    );
  }
}

what about:

onPressed: () async {
        var notifier = ref.read(myProvider.notifier);
        final result = await fetchData();
        notifier.update(result); // is it save?
      },

[rrousselGit]

WidgetRef == BuildContext.
Yes you need to be careful about using WidgetRef after async gaps

[stephane-archer]

So is it good practice to do ref.read as soon as possible then pass the notifiers as function parameters? What's the best practices ?
I didn't saw any linter complaints, is my linter not correctly configure or is it inexistant ?
If WidgetRef == BuildContext then what's the point of WidgetRef? Is it only to support command line arguments ?

[rrousselGit]

WidgetRef is a way for Riverpod to add extra methods to BuildContext, and to keep the API between consumers and providers similar.

I didn't saw any linter complaints, is my linter not correctly configure or is it inexistant ?

The Flutter tooling has no clue what a WidgetRef is, so there's no warning. Maybe we'll have one in the future.

So is it good practice to do ref.read as soon as possible then pass the notifiers as function parameters? What's the best practices ?

There's no final answer here. It depends on what your button can or can't do. But if you can start your operation before await, then that's probably better yes.

[stephane-archer]

It sounds like the provider package is safer to use because it integrates with Flutter tooling.

It's not realistic to be able to do all the operations necessary on providers first, usually, there is an async function to get some data to be able to do the update. In that case, should I access the notifier at the last minute or as soon as the function starts?