How to wait until image(s) loaded in Dart

Question

I have some basic code to load some sprite images, I am using Future.wait to wait until both images are loaded. However this still does not what I exactly want to do, Because I want to assign image width and height to members before It exits.

SpaceShip(this.x, this.y) {
  rocket = new ImageElement(src: "nofire.png");
  firingRockets = new ImageElement(src: "fire.png");
  var futures = [rocket.onLoad.first, firingRockets.onLoad.first];
  Future.wait(futures).then((_) {
    width = rocket.width;
    height = rocket.height;
    print("Images loaded. $width $height");     
  });
  print("Returning");
}
....
ship = new SpaceShip(400.0, 200.0);
print("Ship Constructor exited");

The output:

Returning
Ship Constructor exited
Images loaded. 40 75

I want a way to wait until everything image loading done before exiting the constructor.Is there a good way to do this in Dart?

Answer 1

I just added some comments why it doesn't work

SpaceShip(this.x, this.y) {
  rocket = new ImageElement(src: "nofire.png");
  firingRockets = new ImageElement(src: "fire.png");
  var futures = [rocket.onLoad.first, firingRockets.onLoad.first];
  // this call just gets enqueued in the Dart event queue and then the 
  // execution is continued at the next statement
  // the async code is executed only after this thread of execution 
  // has ended
  Future.wait(futures).then((_) {
    width = rocket.width;
    height = rocket.height;
    print("Images loaded. $width $height");     
  });
  // this code doesn't wait for Future.wait to finish
  print("Returning");
}
....
// this code doesn't wait for Future.wait to finish
ship = new SpaceShip(400.0, 200.0);
print("Ship Constructor exited");

This way it should work (not tested)

SpaceShip(this.x, this.y);

// I moved this to a method because the constructor can't return a Future
Future load() {
  rocket = new ImageElement(src: "nofire.png");
  firingRockets = new ImageElement(src: "fire.png");
  var futures = [rocket.onLoad.first, firingRockets.onLoad.first]; 
  return Future.wait(futures).then((_) {  // return a Future
    width = rocket.width;
    height = rocket.height;
    print("Images loaded. $width $height");     
  })
  .then(() {
    print("Returning");
  }});
}
....

var ship = new SpaceShip(400.0, 200.0);
// the returned future allows to wait until the async code has finished (using then)
ship.load().then(() {
    print("Ship Constructor exited");
});