PlatformException (PlatformException(channel-error, Unable to establish connection on channel., null, null)) on Android devices

[EMUNES]

Steps to reproduce

After upgrading to flutter 3.19.6, after sometime when I try to run flutter run on Android emulator API 34, I suddenly run into problems.

Expected results

Run smoothly like before, the app should open instead of hanging with async suspensions.

Actual results

Packages like path_provider and shared_preferences always report exception:

[ERROR:flutter/runtime/dart_vm_initializer.cc(41)] Unhandled Exception: PlatformException(channel-error, Unable to establish connection on channel., null, null)

Rebuilding dependencies with flutter upgrade outdated_package, flutter clean, flutter pub cache clean do not work. App development has been suspended because of this wired one.

Code sample

Code sample

Future<void> main() async {
  WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized();

  await DeviceService().init();
  // Connect to local database.
  await ConfigService().initConfigurations();
  await DataStore().initDB();
  // Set applications paths.
  AppPaths().getPaths();
  // Media support.
  MediaKit.ensureInitialized();

  runApp(const ProviderScope(child: MyApp()));
}

  Future<void> initConfigurations() async {
    prefs = await SharedPreferences.getInstance();
  }

 Future<void> initDB() async {
    final dir = await getApplicationDocumentsDirectory();
}

Screenshots or Video

Screenshots / Video demonstration

[Upload media here]

Logs

Logs

Launching lib\main.dart on sdk gphone64 x86 64 in debug mode...
INFO: Precompiled binaries are disabled
INFO: Building irondash_engine_context_native for x86_64-linux-android
INFO: Building irondash_engine_context_native for i686-linux-android
INFO: Building irondash_engine_context_native for x86_64-linux-android
INFO: Precompiled binaries are disabled
INFO: Building super_native_extensions for x86_64-linux-android
INFO: Building super_native_extensions for i686-linux-android
INFO: Building super_native_extensions for x86_64-linux-android
√  Built build\app\outputs\flutter-apk\app-debug.apk.
Connecting to VM Service at ws://127.0.0.1:3979/aYLZeAx5_-I=/ws
I/flutter ( 4719): Running on sdk_gphone64_x86_64unknown

Flutter Doctor output

Doctor output

Doctor summary (to see all details, run flutter doctor -v):
[✓] Flutter (Channel stable, 3.19.6, on Microsoft Windows [版本 10.0.22631.3527], locale zh-CN)
[✓] Windows Version (Installed version of Windows is version 10 or higher)
[✓] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 34.0.0)
[✓] Chrome - develop for the web
[✓] Visual Studio - develop Windows apps (Visual Studio Community 2022 17.9.6)
[✓] Android Studio (version 2023.3)
[✓] IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition (version 2024.1)
[✓] VS Code (version 1.89.0)
[✓] Proxy Configuration
[✓] Connected device (3 available)
[✓] Network resources

• No issues found!

[huycozy]

Hi @EMUNES
Your sample code above is production code and it's unclear which plugin is causing the issue. You should narrow down the issue by removing the usage of 3rd party plugins/packages one by one, unrelated/unaffected pages, and isolating the affected page into a minimal sample code that can produce the issue. And please share it here when you have such an example. Thanks!

[EMUNES]

Thanks @huycoz. I never thought a plugin can cause this big trouble to the project. Taking your suggestion, I can reproduce the exception if I had flutter_quill in my project. The exception persists from flutter_quill 9.0.0 to newest 9.3.10 version. The minimal example is as follows:

the minimal dependency in pubspec.yaml

name: fix
description: "A new Flutter project."
publish_to: "none"
version: 1.0.0+1

environment:
  sdk: ">=3.3.4 <4.0.0"

dependencies:
  flutter:
    sdk: flutter
  shared_preferences: ^2.2.3 # Persistent settings.
  flutter_quill: "9.0.0"

dev_dependencies:
  flutter_test:
    sdk: flutter

flutter:
  uses-material-design: true

the minimal production code to run

import 'dart:async';

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:shared_preferences/shared_preferences.dart';

Future<void> main() async {
  WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized();

  final prefs = await SharedPreferences.getInstance();

  runApp(const MyApp());
}

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  const MyApp({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      title: 'Flutter Demo',
      theme: ThemeData(
        colorScheme: ColorScheme.fromSeed(seedColor: Colors.deepPurple),
        useMaterial3: true,
      ),
      home: const MyHomePage(title: 'Flutter Demo Home Page'),
    );
  }
}

class MyHomePage extends StatefulWidget {
  const MyHomePage({super.key, required this.title});

  final String title;

  @override
  State<MyHomePage> createState() => _MyHomePageState();
}

class _MyHomePageState extends State<MyHomePage> {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Container();
  }
}

It looks like I have found the problem. Everything was fine before, it could be flutter pub upgrade certain dependencies under flutter_quill. Maybe I should raise an issue there?

[huycozy]

Well, since you left shared_preferences in the sample code above, I re-checked this using its package example but couldn't reproduce the issue.

I think it may not issue of flutter_quill because I don't see it has platform implementation (it's a normal package as I can see) but it could be caused by a plugin that it's depending on, see its Platform Specific Configurations.

So, if the issue appears when you only import and use flutter_quill package, you should report the issue on its repository for better support there. In case you can narrow it down and find something new that you think this is a Flutter 1st party package bug, please write in comments.

[EMUNES]

Sure. I found that this issue only occur if shared_preferences is used with flutter_quill. Using shared_preferences with other dozens of packages in our project all works well. I will first check super_clipboard that flutter_quill depends on, which uses Platform Specific Configurations. If I find other problems, I will report.

[EMUNES]

It's a package issue related to rust language recent changes. Fixed by irondash/irondash#51.