Creating a Dart List from a Javascript array

Question

I am trying to learn client-side Dart, coming from a server-side Java EE world, and I am having trouble converting an array from an existing JavaScript library into a Dart List.

I am trying to learn by building on the Javascript Interop example that uses Google Maps. In Google's Maps API's documentation, the DirectionsLeg object's step property returns.

array of DirectionsSteps, each of which contains information about the individual steps in this leg

How can I convert this var into a Dart List? I have tried the following:

final List<maps.DirectionsStep> steps = List.from(directionsLeg.steps);

But Dart Editor tells me cannot resolve method 'from' in class 'List'. My imports are:

import 'dart:html';
import 'dart:core';
import 'package:js/js.dart' as js;

What am I doing wrong? Is it even possible or must I just accept using a var?

Answer 1

There's no built-in way in js-interop for now to use Dart List when a js Array is returned.

directionsLeg.steps returns a js.Proxy which handles like js Array. You can iterate on it like this :

final steps = directionsLeg.steps;
for (var i = 0; i < steps.length ; i++) {
  final step = steps[i];
  // do the job with step
}

If you really want to use a Dart List you can convert the js.Proxy of js Array to a Dart List with something like :

List<js.Proxy> convertToList(js.Proxy arrayProxy){
  final result = new List<js.Proxy>();
  for (var i = 0; i < arrayProxy.length ; i++) {
    result.add(arrayProxy[i]);
  }
  return result;
}

About your code :

• You can't define List<maps.DirectionsStep> : maps.DirectionsStep is not a type, it's a js.Proxy on js google.maps.DirectionsStep (moreover it don't really exist - only a container js object {}).
• List.from(...) : here, you try to call a static method named from on Dart List object. That why you get your error. List.from is actually a factory named constructor and has to be used with the new keyword ( new List.from(otherIterable) ).