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Custom Actions

Custom Actions in FlutterFlow differ from custom functions in that they always return a Future. This makes them particularly useful for complex operations that may take time to complete, such as querying a database or calling a function that returns results after a delay. Additionally, Custom Actions are beneficial when you want to add a third-party dependency from pub.dev, allowing you to extend the capabilities of your application with external packages.

What is a Future?

Futures in Flutter represent an asynchronous operation that will return a value or an error at some point in the future. Future<T> indicates that the future will eventually provide a value of type T. So if your return value is a String, then the Custom Action will return a Future<String>, and the String return value will be output at some point in the future.

Key Use Cases​

  • Database Queries: Perform complex queries to retrieve or update data in a database.
  • API Calls: Make asynchronous HTTP requests to external APIs and handle the responses.
  • File Operations: Manage file reading or writing operations that require time to complete.
  • Third-Party Integrations: Incorporate external packages and dependencies to enhance functionality, such as an external analytics package.

Using a Custom Action​

Once your Action code is finalized, saved, and compiled, you can start using this action as a part of your Action flow.

In the following example, we have a Custom Action called executeSearch that takes an argument searchItem that is the search string from the search TextField of an ecommerce app's HomePage.

Using the Custom Action Result​

In our previous example, we enabled the Return Value of the Custom Action to return a List<Product> when the search keyword is valid. With this change the code will change from

Future executeSearch(String searchItem) async {
  // Add your function code here!
}

to

Future<List<ProductStruct>> executeSearch(String searchItem) async {
// Add your function code here!
}

Let's modify our Action Flow now so we can use the custom action result values within our Action Flow.

LOOKING for other CUSTOM action properties?

To learn more about Custom Action settings, such as the Exclude From Compilation toggle, Include Build Context toggle, and other properties like Callback Actions, Pubspec Dependencies, please check out this comprehensive guide.