Return generic Widget instead of specific widget during extract method

[alizera]

Currently when you use the Refactor -> Extract Method option, it creates a method with root Widget item return-type. e.g:

Widget build(BuildContext context){
  return Scaffold
    body: Container(
          child: Text('Hi'),
         ),
  );
}

Now if you extract the Container it creates such a method for you:

Widget build(BuildContext context){
  return Scaffold
    body: _buildContainer(),
  );
}


Container _buildContainer(){
return Container(
          child: Text('Hi'),
        );
}

The problem is that in many cases we wrap the root widget into another (for example in this scenario, in a ClipRRect, so it's better to have a generic Widget type as return-type:

Widget build(BuildContext context){
  return Scaffold
    body: _buildContainer(),
  );
}

Widget _buildContainer(){
return Container(
          child: Text('Hi'),
        );
}

[helin24]

@alizera can you provide some example code where this is a problem?

[alizera]

@helin24, Imagine after extracting the Container into a method, you'll decide to wrap the Container inside a Column, it will be like this (Please don't mind the method's name):

Container _buildContainer(){
  return Column(
    children: [
      Container(
        child: Text('Hi'),
      ),
    ],
  );
}

And clearly it's wrong (because method's return-type (Container) and what it actually returns (Column) are different).

[alizera]

Also I updated the issue.

[jacob314]

This case will require some special casing as the current behavior is right for the general case.
For widget build methods I generally agree it is more idiomatic to return the type Widget rather than over specifying the return type unless the widget is used in a context where a specific type is required.
I don't think this is very high priority though as even in the example given, it seems a bit more reasonable for a method named buildContainer to return a Container than a Widget. That method should also be renamed if its content is changed to return a Column at which point the return type could just as easily also be relaxed.

[alizera]

This case will require some special casing as the current behavior is right for the general case.
For widget build methods I generally agree it is more idiomatic to return the type Widget rather than over specifying the return type unless the widget is used in a context where a specific type is required.
I don't think this is very high priority though as even in the example given, it seems a bit more reasonable for a method named buildContainer to return a Container than a Widget. That method should also be renamed if its content is changed to return a Column at which point the return type could just as easily also be relaxed.

Naming is not the case of this issue, of curse I can change the name rather than using the default name (I asked not to care about the name :)) )
Imagine its name is _buildProfileNameSection.

Anyway thanks for your reply.