[dart] How do you build a Singleton in Dart?

The singleton pattern ensures only one instance of a class is ever created. How do I build this in Dart?

I don't find it very intuitive reading new Singleton(). You have to read the docs to know that new isn't actually creating a new instance, as it normally would.

Here's another way to do singletons (Basically what Andrew said above).

lib/thing.dart

library thing;

final Thing thing = new Thing._private();

class Thing {
   Thing._private() { print('#2'); }
   foo() {
     print('#3');
   }
}

main.dart

import 'package:thing/thing.dart';

main() {
  print('#1');
  thing.foo();
}

Note that the singleton doesn't get created until the first time the getter is called due to Dart's lazy initialization.

If you prefer you can also implement singletons as static getter on the singleton class. i.e. Thing.singleton, instead of a top level getter.

Also read Bob Nystrom's take on singletons from his Game programming patterns book.

Here's a concise example that combines the other solutions. Accessing the singleton can be done by:

• Using a singleton global variable that points to the instance.
• The common Singleton.instance pattern.
• Using the default constructor, which is a factory that returns the instance.

Note: You should implement only one of the three options so that code using the singleton is consistent.

Singleton get singleton => Singleton.instance;
ComplexSingleton get complexSingleton => ComplexSingleton._instance;

class Singleton {
  static final Singleton instance = Singleton._private();
  Singleton._private();
  factory Singleton() => instance;
}

class ComplexSingleton {
  static ComplexSingleton _instance;
  static ComplexSingleton get instance => _instance;
  static void init(arg) => _instance ??= ComplexSingleton._init(arg);

  final property;
  ComplexSingleton._init(this.property);
  factory ComplexSingleton() => _instance;
}

If you need to do complex initialization, you'll just have to do so before using the instance later in the program.

Example

void main() {
  print(identical(singleton, Singleton.instance));        // true
  print(identical(singleton, Singleton()));               // true
  print(complexSingleton == null);                        // true
  ComplexSingleton.init(0); 
  print(complexSingleton == null);                        // false
  print(identical(complexSingleton, ComplexSingleton())); // true
}

What about just using a global variable within your library, like so?

single.dart:

library singleton;

var Singleton = new Impl();

class Impl {
  int i;
}

main.dart:

import 'single.dart';

void main() {
  var a = Singleton;
  var b = Singleton;
  a.i = 2;
  print(b.i);
}

Or is this frowned upon?

The singleton pattern is necessary in Java where the concept of globals doesn't exist, but it seems like you shouldn't need to go the long way around in Dart.

Modified @Seth Ladd answer for who's prefer Swift style of singleton like .shared:

class Auth {
  // singleton
  static final Auth _singleton = Auth._internal();
  factory Auth() => _singleton;
  Auth._internal();
  static Auth get shared => _singleton;

  // variables
  String username;
  String password;
}

Sample:

Auth.shared.username = 'abc';

This is also a way to create a Singleton class

class Singleton{
  Singleton._();
  static final Singleton db = Singleton._();
}

This is how I implement singleton in my projects

Inspired from flutter firebase => FirebaseFirestore.instance.collection('collectionName')

class FooAPI {
  foo() {
    // some async func to api
  }
}

class SingletonService {
  FooAPI _fooAPI;

  static final SingletonService _instance = SingletonService._internal();

  static SingletonService instance = SingletonService();

  factory SingletonService() {
    return _instance;
  }

  SingletonService._internal() {
    // TODO: add init logic if needed
    // FOR EXAMPLE API parameters
  }

  void foo() async {
    await _fooAPI.foo();
  }
}

void main(){
  SingletonService.instance.foo();
}

example from my project

class FirebaseLessonRepository implements LessonRepository {
  FirebaseLessonRepository._internal();

  static final _instance = FirebaseLessonRepository._internal();

  static final instance = FirebaseLessonRepository();

  factory FirebaseLessonRepository() => _instance;

  var lessonsCollection = fb.firestore().collection('lessons');
  
  // ... other code for crud etc ...
}

// then in my widgets
FirebaseLessonRepository.instance.someMethod(someParams);

Hello what about something like this? Very simple implementation, Injector itself is singleton and also added classes into it. Of course can be extended very easily. If you are looking for something more sophisticated check this package: https://pub.dartlang.org/packages/flutter_simple_dependency_injection

void main() {  
  Injector injector = Injector();
  injector.add(() => Person('Filip'));
  injector.add(() => City('New York'));

  Person person =  injector.get<Person>(); 
  City city =  injector.get<City>();

  print(person.name);
  print(city.name);
}

class Person {
  String name;

  Person(this.name);
}

class City {
  String name;

  City(this.name);
}


typedef T CreateInstanceFn<T>();

class Injector {
  static final Injector _singleton =  Injector._internal();
  final _factories = Map<String, dynamic>();

  factory Injector() {
    return _singleton;
  }

  Injector._internal();

  String _generateKey<T>(T type) {
    return '${type.toString()}_instance';
  }

  void add<T>(CreateInstanceFn<T> createInstance) {
    final typeKey = _generateKey(T);
    _factories[typeKey] = createInstance();
  }

  T get<T>() {
    final typeKey = _generateKey(T);
    T instance = _factories[typeKey];
    if (instance == null) {
      print('Cannot find instance for type $typeKey');
    }

    return instance;
  }
}

Here is a simple answer:

class Singleton {
  static Singleton _instance;

  Singleton._();

  static Singleton get getInstance => _instance ??= Singleton._();
}

Here is another possible way:

void main() {
  var s1 = Singleton.instance;
  s1.somedata = 123;
  var s2 = Singleton.instance;
  print(s2.somedata); // 123
  print(identical(s1, s2));  // true
  print(s1 == s2); // true
  //var s3 = new Singleton(); //produces a warning re missing default constructor and breaks on execution
}

class Singleton {
  static final Singleton _singleton = new Singleton._internal();
  Singleton._internal();
  static Singleton get instance => _singleton;
  var somedata;
}

Dart singleton by const constructor & factory

class Singleton {
  factory Singleton() =>
    Singleton._internal_();
  Singleton._internal_();
}
 
 
void main() {
  print(new Singleton() == new Singleton());
  print(identical(new Singleton() , new Singleton()));
}

In this example I do other things that are also necessary when wanting to use a Singleton. For instance:

• pass a value to the singleton's constructor
• initialize a value inside the constructor itself
• set a value to a Singleton's variable
• be able to access and access those values.

Like this:

class MySingleton {

  static final MySingleton _singleton = MySingleton._internal();

  String _valueToBeSet;
  String _valueAlreadyInSingleton;
  String _passedValueInContructor;

  get getValueToBeSet => _valueToBeSet;

  get getValueAlreadyInSingleton => _valueAlreadyInSingleton;

  get getPassedValueInConstructor => _passedValueInContructor;

  void setValue(newValue) {
    _valueToBeSet = newValue;
  }

  factory MySingleton(String passedString) {
    _singleton._valueAlreadyInSingleton = "foo";
    _singleton._passedValueInContructor = passedString;

    return _singleton;
  }

  MySingleton._internal();
}

Usage of MySingleton:

void main() {

MySingleton mySingleton =  MySingleton("passedString");
mySingleton.setValue("setValue");
print(mySingleton.getPassedValueInConstructor);
print(mySingleton.getValueToBeSet);
print(mySingleton.getValueAlreadyInSingleton);

}

Singleton that can't change the object after the instantiation

class User {
  final int age;
  final String name;
  
  User({
    this.name,
    this.age
    });
  
  static User _instance;
  
  static User getInstance({name, age}) {
     if(_instance == null) {
       _instance = User(name: name, age: age);
       return _instance;
     }
    return _instance;
  }
}

  print(User.getInstance(name: "baidu", age: 24).age); //24
  
  print(User.getInstance(name: "baidu 2").name); // is not changed //baidu

  print(User.getInstance()); // {name: "baidu": age 24}

After reading all the alternatives I came up with this, which reminds me a "classic singleton":

class AccountService {
  static final _instance = AccountService._internal();

  AccountService._internal();

  static AccountService getInstance() {
    return _instance;
  }
}

This should work.

class GlobalStore {
    static GlobalStore _instance;
    static GlobalStore get instance {
       if(_instance == null)
           _instance = new GlobalStore()._();
       return _instance;
    }

    _(){

    }
    factory GlobalStore()=> instance;


}

I use this simple pattern on dart and previously on Swift. I like that it's terse and only one way of using it.

class Singleton {
  static Singleton shared = Singleton._init();
  Singleton._init() {
    // init work here
  }

  void doSomething() {
  }
}

Singleton.shared.doSomething();

Here is a comparison of several different ways to create a singleton in Dart.

1. Factory constructor

class SingletonOne {

  SingletonOne._privateConstructor();

  static final SingletonOne _instance = SingletonOne._privateConstructor();

  factory SingletonOne() {
    return _instance;
  }

}

2. Static field with getter

class SingletonTwo {

  SingletonTwo._privateConstructor();

  static final SingletonTwo _instance = SingletonTwo._privateConstructor();

  static SingletonTwo get instance => _instance;
  
}

3. Static field

class SingletonThree {

  SingletonThree._privateConstructor();

  static final SingletonThree instance = SingletonThree._privateConstructor();
  
}

How to instantiate

The above singletons are instantiated like this:

SingletonOne one = SingletonOne();
SingletonTwo two = SingletonTwo.instance;
SingletonThree three = SingletonThree.instance;

Note:

I originally asked this as a question, but discovered that all of the methods above are valid and the choice largely depends on personal preference.

As I'm not very fond of using the new keyword or other constructor like calls on singletons, I would prefer to use a static getter called inst for example:

// the singleton class
class Dao {
    // singleton boilerplate
        Dao._internal() {}
        static final Dao _singleton = new Dao._internal();
        static get inst => _singleton;

    // business logic
        void greet() => print("Hello from singleton");
}

example usage:

Dao.inst.greet();       // call a method

// Dao x = new Dao();   // compiler error: Method not found: 'Dao'

// verify that there only exists one and only one instance
assert(identical(Dao.inst, Dao.inst));