What is the difference between Ref and WidgetRef?

[0xpussycat]

The functionality wise looks the same.

Why can't we have just Ref for everything? Basically, what WidgetRef gives in addition to Ref that it can't do?

[rrousselGit]

WidgetRef doesn't add features, it removes some.

There's no life-cycle hooks such as onDispose/keepAlive/onCancel/...

[pranavo72bex]

In Riverpod 2.0 migration due to WidgetRef & Ref issue it sucks. 😢

[FaFre]

For my scenario I found following solution by using fpdart:

void propagateItemChanges(Either<WidgetRef, Ref> ref) {
  final read = ref.fold((l) => l.read, (r) => r.read);

  ...
}

This comes in handy since WidgetRef and Ref are not sharing any common super class.

[rrousselGit]

You're still not meant to do something like this.

Using WidgetRef means you're effectively putting your logic in the UI.

[rrousselGit]

Planned to add this to the upcoming FAQ page https://github.com/rrousselGit/riverpod/issues/2623