Understanding the Error
- The error message "type 'int' is not a subtype of type 'String' of 'value'" generally indicates a type mismatch in your Flutter application. Flutter and Dart are statically typed languages, which means that variables are explicitly typed. This error occurs when there is an attempt to assign or pass data of type 'int' to a location in the code where a 'String' is expected.
- Such type mismatches can arise during various operations, including data parsing, assignment, method calls, and widget properties configuration, leading the Dart analyzer to throw this error.
Common Causes
- Error in JSON Deserialization: When parsing JSON data, Dart's jsonDecode function may generate dynamic types. If the JSON contains a numeric value but your model expects a string, this will raise the "int is not a subtype of String" error. For example, parsing `{"age": 30}` expecting `"age"` to be a String can trigger this issue.
- Incorrect Widget Property Value: Flutter widgets often expect specific types for their properties. For instance, if a widget property expects a String type and receives an integer, the error will occur. For example, setting a Text widget's `data` parameter with an integer instead of converting it to a String can cause this issue.
int age = 30;
Text('$age'); // Correct usage
- Data Conversion Oversight: Sometimes you might forget to convert numbers to strings before string interpolation or concatenation, leading to this type mismatch error.
- Form Field Handling: When dealing with forms, the values retrieved from a form field are typically strings. When attempting to assign these values to integer variables without conversion, the error can be triggered.
// String from TextField
String input = '123';
// Wrong: Assigning directly to int
// int value = input;
// Correct: Converting string to int
int value = int.parse(input);
- Incorrect Map Key/Value Access: In Dart, when accessing map values with a key, expecting a different type from the stored value can lead to this error. If the map holds integer values but the code expects strings, this will cause a type conflict.
- Type Assumption Mismatch: Assumptions about data types in APIs or libraries can lead to this error when the expected data type differs from the actual data type returned or used by the code.