Create DevTools extension for package:provider

[kenzieschmoll]

This sets up the skeleton for the DevTools extension though and moves the provider screen code from flutter/devtools to the provider repo.

New: Provider extension supplied by package:provider:

Old: Provider screen implemented as part of DevTools:

Draft for #833

[rrousselGit]

Thanks for this! Is there anything specific I should look into? Maybe I'm expected to debug the error?

[kenzieschmoll]

I just updated #833 (comment) with an update on this work. With the latest commit, you should be able to pull down this PR and build in the simulated DevTools environment.

AIs:

1. Yes, if you could help with debugging the error and verifying this extension is WAI, that would be great.
2. Recommended: restructure the provider repo as specified by https://pub.dev/packages/devtools_extensions#where-to-put-your-source-code. I partially did this in this PR but I didn't move all the existing top-level content into provider/packages/provider to keep the diff manageable.
3. Add testing: rewrite provider_integration_test.dart as a true integration test, and ensure the provider_screen_test that we originally had in DevTools works here (this test likely needs to be re-written so that it can run on the VM, or it will have to be run on the chrome test target).
4. I also noticed that clicking the "settings" button on the provider screen throws an exception.

The failure seems flaky - maybe due to hot restart? On a fresh build of an app that uses package:provider (gallery) and the first load of the extension in the simulated devtools environment, I see the intended behavior:

Eager to hear your feedback on the development workflow and any feature requests.

[rrousselGit]

Thanks for this!

Would it make sense & be reasonable to publish dev release of the extension with the current state of things? (after I've had the time to play around with it a bit :) )

[kenzieschmoll]

Would it make sense & be reasonable to publish dev release of the extension with the current state of things? (after I've had the time to play around with it a bit :)

Right now the extension support in DevTools is behind an experiments flag (hoping to turn that on by end of september), so even if you publish a dev version of provider with the extension, you wouldn't be able to load it in production DevTools (i.e. you'd still have to build DevTools locally with experiments enabled to see your extension in a real DevTools instance).

We are also changing the config.json spec to be a config.yaml file (flutter/devtools#6280), but I expect that change to land this week. All this to say, there is nothing that stops you from landing and publishing a dev version, but there may be some more breaking changes coming in the next few weeks. So my recommendation would be to hold off on publishing for a week or two.

[rrousselGit]

Great, sounds good to me. Thanks for sharing :)

[kenzieschmoll]

Hi @rrousselGit this is ready to go. With the latest commit, AIs 1) and 4) above should be resolved. I fixed 4) and I just haven't been able to reproduce 1). AIs 2) and 3) still stand.

The latest versions of devtools_extensions and devtools_app_shared have been published. Expect some polish to come over the next couple weeks but these are safe to start using. The latest commit I pushed up here bumps the pubspec to use the latest published versions. DevTools extensions support will be landed in the SDK shortly (I expect it to get to Flutter master within a couple days).

Until then, you can develop your extension locally with the Simulated DevTools environment, or build DevTools locally to test your extension against a real DevTools instance. Instructions for both are here: https://pub.dev/packages/devtools_extensions#dart--flutter-devtools-extensions.

Please let me know if you have any questions or how I can help. Thanks!

[kenzieschmoll]

@rrousselGit do you want to take this PR over? or do you want me to land it as, and then you can address 2) and 3) in a follow up?

[rrousselGit]

I was thinking about merging it as is, and dealing with tests/folders separately on my own.

Is it fine to make a dev release with this now? I assume we could make a dev release even if it isn't on Flutter's master channel. And it'd be accessible as soon as this lands on Flutter's side

[kenzieschmoll]

I was thinking about merging it as is, and dealing with tests/folders separately on my own.

Is it fine to make a dev release with this now? I assume we could make a dev release even if it isn't on Flutter's master channel. And it'd be accessible as soon as this lands on Flutter's side

Yes it is okay to make a dev release now. This plan SGTM. The extension support should be on Flutter master, and a more polished version of the extension support will be on master by the end of this week (I fixed a few bugs over the last few days I will release into the Dart SDK shortly).

[rrousselGit]

Alright, thanks for this!

I've made a dev release (6.1.0-dev.0) with those changes.

[rrousselGit]

Ah, I gitignored the build folder. But it looks like this ignores it from pub publish too.
I've added a pubignore to circumvent this. It's likely worth mentioning in the docs next to the bit about not commiting build

[rrousselGit]

Looks like all is well now. I've managed to use the extension on the example app using the published Provider version.

That's awesome!