January 18, 2023

Flutter developers come across multiple errors while building any app or adding any particular feature. One of the key features of Flutter is its ability to handle state management, which allows developers to easily update and render UI components based on changes in the app’s data. However, sometimes developers may encounter an error message stating that “setState is not defined” when trying to use this feature. So how to fix the setState isn’t defined error in Flutter? 😕 In this blog post, we will be fixing this common error that developers may encounter while working with the Flutter framework, the “setState is not defined” error. We will discuss what causes this error, and provide you with the best possible solutions to fix it. First, let’s talk about what setState Flutter is and why it’s important for state management in Flutter. What is setState in Flutter? The flutter setState method is a built-in function in Flutter that allows developers to update the state of a specific widget and cause a re-render of the UI. This is important for state management in Flutter because it allows the developer to easily update and render UI components based on changes in the app’s data. Now let’s get to know why the error Flutter setState is not defined occurs. Why does the error ‘Flutter setState isn’t defined’ occur? This error can occur when the developer is trying to use setState within a stateless widget, which is not possible as setState can only be used within stateful widgets. Didn’t get it? Let us explain this further. The “setState is not defined” error occurs when the developer is trying to use the setState method, but it is not being imported or properly utilized within the app’s code. The setState method is a built-in function in Flutter that allows developers to update the state of a specific widget and cause a re-render of the UI. In order to use setState, it must be imported from the ‘flutter’ package and the stateful widget must be extended. How do you fix the error ‘Flutter setState isn’t defined? The setState method can only be used in stateful widgets, which are widgets that can change over time. So, if you have a widget that changes its state, you can call setState as it recalls the build method. While if you don’t have the widget that changes its state, you will face the error ‘Flutter setState isn’t defined. So make sure that the widget you are trying to update using setState is extending the StatefulWidget class. Let us give you an example of it. As you can see, the setState has been called and it’s showing the error. Let’s use the stateful widget and see if it still says hi or not. 😛 You can see in the screenshot below that the error is gone 😉 This is how you fix Flutter setState isn’t defined error.