How to decrypt object `Instance of 'DocumentList'` in flutter

Question

In my Flutter project, I am using Appwrite as a database (Alternate of Firebase).

When I try to fetch the collection, it return the Instance of 'DocumentList' but I am not able to decrypt the object into json format.

Here is the code:

import 'package:appwrite/appwrite.dart';

void main() { // Init SDK
  Client client = Client();
  Databases databases = Databases(client);

  client
    .setEndpoint('https://cloud.appwrite.io/v1') // Your API Endpoint
    .setProject('5df5acd0d48c2') // Your project ID
  ;
  Future result = databases.listDocuments(
    databaseId: '[DATABASE_ID]',
    collectionId: '[COLLECTION_ID]',
  );

  result
    .then((response) {
      print(response);     // Instance of 'DocumentList'
    }).catchError((error) {
      print(error.response);
  });
}

Here is the format of DocumentList:

{
    "total": 5,
    "documents": [
        {
            "$id": "5e5ea5c16897e",
            "$collectionId": "5e5ea5c15117e",
            "$databaseId": "5e5ea5c15117e",
            "$createdAt": "2020-10-15T06:38:00.000+00:00",
            "$updatedAt": "2020-10-15T06:38:00.000+00:00",
            "$permissions": [
                "read(\"any\")"
            ]
        }
    ]
}

How to handle the object & decrypt the response with model? please help.

Answer 1

The source code for DocumentList is:

class DocumentList implements Model {
    /// Total number of documents documents that matched your query.
    final int total;
    /// List of documents.
    final List<Document> documents;

    DocumentList({
        required this.total,
        required this.documents,
    });

    // omitted for brevity
}

As you can see, it has a documents property so you can access it like response.documents.

The source code for Document is:

class Document implements Model {
    /// Document ID.
    final String $id;
    /// Collection ID.
    final String $collectionId;
    /// Database ID.
    final String $databaseId;
    /// Document creation date in ISO 8601 format.
    final String $createdAt;
    /// Document update date in ISO 8601 format.
    final String $updatedAt;
    /// Document permissions. [Learn more about permissions](/docs/permissions).
    final List $permissions;
    final Map<String, dynamic> data;

    Document({
        required this.$id,
        required this.$collectionId,
        required this.$databaseId,
        required this.$createdAt,
        required this.$updatedAt,
        required this.$permissions,
        required this.data,
    });

    // omitted for brevity
}

In Document, there's a data property that contains the custom attributes you've added to your Collection. So, (assuming response.documents has at least 1 Document and the Collection has an Attribute with key myCustomAttribute), you can do response.documents.first.data['myCustomAttribute'].

As with any package or language you use, make sure to:

1. Use your IDE's autocomplete/intellisense to get more info about whatever it is you're working with. Your IDE should also be able to drill into the source code of classes very easy
2. You can use the debugger to set a breakpoint and inspect objects to see what's inside and how to use them
3. Read the docs and/or API reference

By the way, you only "decrypt" something that is encrypted. Typically, APIs return a JSON string and you "decode" it to convert it from a string to a map.