Flutter Return Length of Documents from Firebase - firebase

Question

Im trying to return the length of a list of documents with this function:
Future totalLikes(postID) async {
var respectsQuery = Firestore.instance
.collection('respects')
.where('postID', isEqualTo: postID);
respectsQuery.getDocuments().then((data) {
var totalEquals = data.documents.length;
return totalEquals;
});
}
I'm initialize this in the void init state (with another function call:
void initState() {
totalLikes(postID).then((result) {
setState(() {
_totalRespects = result;
});
});
}
However, when this runs, it initially returns a null value since it doesn't have time to to fully complete. I have tried to out an "await" before the Firestore call within the Future function but get the compile error of "Await only futures."
Can anyone help me understand how I can wait for this function to fully return a non-null value before setting the state of "_totalRespsects"?
Thanks!

Answer 1

I think you're looking for this:
Future totalLikes(postID) async {
var respectsQuery = Firestore.instance
.collection('respects')
.where('postID', isEqualTo: postID);
var querySnapshot = await respectsQuery.getDocuments();
var totalEquals = querySnapshot.documents.length;
return totalEquals;
}
Note that this loads all documents, just to determine the number of documents, which is incredibly wasteful (especially as you get more documents). Consider keeping a document where you maintain the count as a field, so that you only have to read a single document to get the count. See aggregation queries and distributed counters in the Firestore documentation.

Answer 2

Perfect code for your problem:
int? total;
getLength() async {
var getDocuments = await DatabaseHelper.registerUserCollection
.where("register", isEqualTo: "yes")
.get();
setState(() {
total = getDocuments.docs.length;
});
}
#override
void initState() {
super.initState();
getLength();
if (kDebugMode) {
print(total);
}
}