建议：移除对 provider 和 cross_cache 的强依赖 / Suggestion: Remove strong dependency on provider and cross_cache

[leeyisoft]

建议：移除对 provider 和 cross_cache 的强依赖 / Suggestion: Remove strong dependency on provider and cross_cache

背景 / Background

flutter_chat_ui 作为一个专注于 UI 组件和聊天特效封装的库，其主要目标应当是为开发者提供灵活的 UI 能力。
As a library focused on UI components and chat-related effects, the main goal of flutter_chat_ui should be to provide flexible UI capabilities for developers.

现状问题 / Current Issue

目前库中对 provider 框架和 cross_cache 的强依赖，限制了开发者的选择自由。如果项目本身不使用 provider，或者需要自定义缓存实现，会带来额外负担。
Currently, the strong dependency on the provider framework and cross_cache limits the freedom of choice for developers. If a project does not use provider, or needs a custom cache implementation, this introduces unnecessary burden.

建议 / Suggestion

建议将 provider 和 cross_cache 从核心依赖中移除，让调用者自行选择合适的状态管理和缓存方案。库本身只专注于 UI 和相关特效的接口封装。
It is recommended to remove provider and cross_cache from the core dependencies, allowing users to choose their own state management and cache solutions. The library itself should focus solely on UI and chat effects interface encapsulation.

预期收益 / Expected Benefits

这样可以让 flutter_chat_ui 更加通用和灵活，适配更多项目场景，减少不必要的耦合。
This would make flutter_chat_ui more general and flexible, suitable for more project scenarios, and reduce unnecessary coupling.

[demchenkoalex]

Yeah, I saw Provider mentioned a couple of times - I’ll definitely have to look into it.

But I’m curious - how does CrossCache bother you? It’s written by me and lives in the same repo, so it’s essentially part of flutter_chat_ui. It’s really o few lines of code without any setup - so what kind of burden does it really introduce?

And if you’re not a fan of cached images on web, you’re totally free to use your own image implementation instead, basically omitting CrossCache.

[leeyisoft]

Thank you for your reply!

The main reason I think CrossCache may not be suitable as a part of flutter_chat_ui is that I’ve been using flutter_cache_manager for local file and image caching, and it works well for me with more features and good community support. Compared to that, CrossCache feels a bit too simple for my current needs.

I’d prefer flutter_chat_ui to focus purely on chat UI and animation effects, and leave caching implementation for developers to choose. This way, the library stays “pure” and is more flexible for different projects.

If CrossCache could be separated out as an optional extension, it would be even better—then everyone can use the caching solution that fits their own needs.

感谢你的回复！
我之所以觉得 CrossCache 不太适合直接放在 flutter_chat_ui 里，主要是因为我之前一直用 flutter_cache_manager 做文件和图片的本地缓存，感觉它功能更丰富，社区支持也很好。而 CrossCache 的实现相对简单，暂时还没满足我的需求。

我更希望 flutter_chat_ui 只专注于聊天 UI 和相关特效，把缓存这部分交给开发者自己选择实现方式。这样库会更“纯粹”，对不同项目也更友好。
如果 CrossCache 能独立出来，作为一个可选扩展会更好，这样大家可以根据自己的需求来选用不同的缓存方案。

[demchenkoalex]

I understand - but just to clarify, CrossCache is written by me and is part of flutter_chat_ui for a reason. I built it to predictably cache images from various sources and, more importantly, to avoid image flashing during widget rebuilds. From a UI/UX perspective, this provides a much higher-quality experience than any other caching library I’ve used so far.

Yes, I know it lacks a lot of features - but things like cache clearing or adding caching strategies aren’t difficult to implement if there’s demand for them.

Also, keep in mind: I only use CrossCache in the opinionated widgets I provide out of the box. You’re fully free to pass in your own widgets and use a different image provider via customImageProvider if we talk about FlyerChatImageMessage. If you can get something like flutter_cache_manager to work without visual glitches, that’s totally fine - and I’ll honestly be surprised if it doesn’t flash 😅

I’m aiming to deliver the best possible chat UI/UX, and right now, CrossCache is the only option that gives me that level of control.

That said, if you have a specific use case where CrossCache is blocking you and there’s no viable workaround, let me know - I’ll fix it. Otherwise, I plan to stick with the solution I know provides the best results visually.

[leeyisoft]

I understand - but just to clarify, CrossCache is written by me and is part of flutter_chat_ui for a reason. I built it to predictably cache images from various sources and, more importantly, to avoid image flashing during widget rebuilds. From a UI/UX perspective, this provides a much higher-quality experience than any other caching library I’ve used so far.

Yes, I know it lacks a lot of features - but things like cache clearing or adding caching strategies aren’t difficult to implement if there’s demand for them.

Also, keep in mind: I only use CrossCache in the opinionated widgets I provide out of the box. You’re fully free to pass in your own widgets and use a different image provider via customImageProvider if we talk about FlyerChatImageMessage. If you can get something like flutter_cache_manager to work without visual glitches, that’s totally fine - and I’ll honestly be surprised if it doesn’t flash 😅

I’m aiming to deliver the best possible chat UI/UX, and right now, CrossCache is the only option that gives me that level of control.

That said, if you have a specific use case where CrossCache is blocking you and there’s no viable workaround, let me know - I’ll fix it. Otherwise, I plan to stick with the solution I know provides the best results visually.

Thank you for your patient and detailed explanation of the design concept and technical details of CrossCache. We are also very grateful for your selfless contributions!

Actually, I just purely think that CrossCache, as a universal functional module, might be more suitable to be separated and not necessarily belong only to flutter_chat_ui. Maybe it can be directly reused by more projects.

What I want to emphasize is that CrossCache should not be coupled with the UI layer. Of course, it is not actually coupled throughout the entire library. I didn't understand this point accurately enough before. Thank you for your clarification.

Besides, I myself am engaged in back-end development. In my spare time, I teach myself flutter to work on IM projects. The problem of the picture flickering you mentioned was actually something I didn't notice much before (I'll pay more attention to it later). Thank you again for your selfless sharing and support!