type 'List<dynamic>' is not a subtype of type 'Uint8List

Question

I was using a flutter plugin named device_apps to get the application information installed in my android device.

It returns a List<Application> which porvides icon if I cast the Object from Application to ApplicationWithIcon.

But the icon it retuns is a Uint8 List type and i want to save it locally and use it later in Image.memory().

If i directly use it without saving locally then it works fine as Image.memory(app.icon).But When i saved the icon in a json file and then used it then it shows the error :

type 'List' is not a subtype of type 'Uint8List'

How can i save it locally and then use it ?

import 'dart:async';
import 'dart:convert';
import 'dart:ffi';
import 'dart:io';
import 'dart:typed_data';
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:path_provider/path_provider.dart';
import 'package:device_apps/device_apps.dart';
import 'package:app_settings/app_settings.dart';
import 'package:flutter/services.dart' show rootBundle;

void main() {
  runApp(
    MaterialApp(
      title: 'Reading and Writing Files',
      home: MyApp(),
    ),
  );
}

const String dataFile = 'data1.json';

class MyApp extends StatefulWidget {
  @override
  _AppState createState() => _AppState();
}

class _AppState extends State<MyApp> {
  String data;

  File _filePath;
  bool _fileExists = false;
  String jsonString;

  List<dynamic> _json = [];
  List<dynamic> _jsonshow = [];

  List<Application> appsDetail;

  void checkFile() async {
    // chek if file exists
    String dir = (await getApplicationDocumentsDirectory()).path;
    String savePath = '$dir/$dataFile';

//for a directory: await Directory(savePath).exists();
    if (await File(savePath).exists()) {
      print("File exists");
    } else {
      print("File don't exists");
    }
  }

  Future<String> get _localPath async {
    final directory = await getApplicationDocumentsDirectory();
    print(directory.path);
    return directory.path;
  }

  Future<File> get _localFile async {
    final path = await _localPath;
    return File('$path/$dataFile');
  }

  void appDetail() async {
    print("Getting app informations using 'device_apps' : ");
    List<Application> apps = await DeviceApps.getInstalledApplications(
      includeSystemApps: true,
      includeAppIcons: true,
      onlyAppsWithLaunchIntent: true,
    );
    print("Printing apps detail from appDetail() Funtion  apps : ");
    // for (int i = 0; i < apps.length; i++) print(apps[i]);

    print(apps);

    appsDetail = apps;

    for (int i = 0; i < apps.length; i++) {
      ApplicationWithIcon icon = apps[i] as ApplicationWithIcon;

      print(icon.icon.runtimeType);

      // print(apps[i]);
      _json.add({
        "totalApps": apps.length,
        "appName": apps[i].appName,
        "apkFilePath": apps[i].apkFilePath,
        "packageName": apps[i].packageName,
        "versionName": apps[i].versionName,
        "versionCode": apps[i].versionCode,
        "dataDir": apps[i].dataDir,
        "systemApp": apps[i].systemApp,
        "installTimeMillis": apps[i].installTimeMillis,
        "updateTimeMillis": apps[i].updateTimeMillis,
        "icon": icon.icon,

        // "category": apps[i].category
      });
    }

    print(_json);
  }

  void writeJsonfile() async {
    print("Writing json file : ");

    _filePath = await _localFile;

    print("json before encoding : ");
    print("$_json");

    jsonString = jsonEncode(_json);

    print("jsonString after encoding : ");

    print(jsonString);
    _filePath.writeAsString(
      jsonEncode(jsonString),
    );
  }

  Future<List<Object>> Apps() async {
    print("Reading Json file");

    _filePath = await _localFile;
    _fileExists = await _filePath.exists();
    print('0. File exists? $_fileExists');

    if (_fileExists) {
      try {
        String jsonString = await _filePath.readAsString();
        _json = jsonDecode(jsonString);
        print('printing json file after reading : ');
        print(_json);
        return _json;
      } catch (e) {
        // Print exception errors
        print('Tried reading _file error: $e');
        // If encountering an error, return null
      }
    } else {}
  }

  @override
  void initState() {
    super.initState();
    appDetail();
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
        appBar: AppBar(title: Text('Reading and Writing data')),
        body: Column(
          children: <Widget>[
            IconButton(icon: Icon(Icons.ac_unit), onPressed: Apps),
            _json.length >= 1
                ? GridView.builder(
                    shrinkWrap: true,
                    physics: ScrollPhysics(),
                    scrollDirection: Axis.vertical,
                    itemCount: _json.length,
                    gridDelegate: SliverGridDelegateWithFixedCrossAxisCount(
                        crossAxisCount: 5, childAspectRatio: 2.0),
                    itemBuilder: (BuildContext context, int index) {
                      return Column(
                        children: <Widget>[
                          Expanded(child: Text(_json[index]["appName"])),
                          Expanded(child: Image.memory(_json[index]["icon"])),
                        ],
                      );
                    })
                : Text("No Data Found"),
          ],
        ));
  }
}

Answer 1

I had the same issue while passing image from native module (Android) to Flutter. (I was making a plugin)

Flutter by default will handle data types coming from underlying platform and map it to proper datatype in Dart, check this table here to see datatypes. but it my case sounds like Flutter intercepeted value of type byte[] as List<dynamic> so simply just cast it from List<dynamic> to List<Int> where Flutter can deal with it.

• Just copy this method and give it your List and it will cast &return Unit8List that can be used anywhere in Flutter such as image.memory() .

  Uint8List _getImageBinary(dynamicList) {
    List<int> intList = dynamicList.cast<int>().toList(); //This is the magical line.
    Uint8List data = Uint8List.fromList(intList);
    return data;
  }