User vs Generated code cleanup

[cbazza]

This is more of a question than anything else.

In your example.dart file you have:

import 'package:json_annotation/json_annotation.dart';

part 'example.g.dart';

@JsonSerializable(nullable: false)
class Person {
  final String firstName;
  final String lastName;
  final DateTime dateOfBirth;
  Person({this.firstName, this.lastName, this.dateOfBirth});
  factory Person.fromJson(Map<String, dynamic> json) => _$PersonFromJson(json);
  Map<String, dynamic> toJson() => _$PersonToJson(this);
}

Why don't you put those last 2 methods in the generated part so the user code is cleaner?

import 'package:json_annotation/json_annotation.dart';

part 'example.g.dart';

@JsonSerializable(nullable: false)
class Person {
  final String firstName;
  final String lastName;
  final DateTime dateOfBirth;
  Person({this.firstName, this.lastName, this.dateOfBirth});
}

[kevmoo]

We really want partial classes here - https://github.com/dart-lang/sdk/issues/8547

I'm generating the private, top-level methods but there is no way to "glue" them into the class from a part file.

The mixin got us the toJson method, but the user still had to wire up the factor constructor. It also meant we had to create abstract members for all of the fields in the toJson mixin.

We felt it was better to have everything be a static function and one mixin.

Make sense?

[cbazza]

Yes, got it, thanks.

It would be very nice if Dart supported Partial Classes or Extension Functions (Kotlin & Swift) but given the dates on that ticket, it's safe to say "it ain't gonna happen" :)

[Meai1]

it would also be solved if code could be generated into an existing file though

[kevmoo]

Partial Classes or Extension Functions

Both are still being discussed, @cbazza – partial classes in particular would help a lot

it would also be solved if code could be generated into an existing file though

We explicitly avoid that @Meai1 – sooo many ways for that to fail. It also makes automating dependency checking, etc very difficult.

[vinicioslc]

I liked so much the idea of use partial classes for code cleanup and arrangement. *- *