Rename/move directory won't change import

[ph55]

Manual search and replace currently required after renaming library directory.
Please add support for automatic refactor of imports.

Version info

[✓] Flutter (Channel beta, v1.12.13+hotfix.6, on Mac OS X 10.15.2 19C57, locale en-IL)
    • Flutter version 1.12.13+hotfix.6 at /usr/local/lib/flutter
    • Framework revision 18cd7a3601 (5 weeks ago), 2019-12-11 06:35:39 -0800
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    • Flutter plugin version 42.1.1
    • Dart plugin version 191.8593
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[✓] IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition (version 2019.3.1)
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    • Flutter plugin version 42.1.4
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• No issues found!

[stevemessick]

Thanks for the report!

@scheglov do you know about this?

[scheglov]

@jwren worked on move / rename refactoring support in DAS.

[jwren]

@ph55 which action/ entry point are you using to rename the directory in IntelliJ? Are all sources within a lib/?

[ph55]

@jwren yes, all directories in lib. Only directories. Renaming files will change imports.

Here for example I change helper to helpers:

Screenshots

Same will happen for core or common folders (any nesting level)

[wilburx9]

I am experiencing this issue too. My current plugin version is v43.0.1.

[WouterButhker]

I also still have this problem

[jacobokoenig]

Is there a plugin for this perhaps?

[reinaldomoreira]

Still having this problem on v48

[CoderJava]

Yes. I have the same issue.

[yasinarik]

The file name changes, directory name changes, and the folder of the files are not auto imported/renamed.

I have a large architecture in-development so this consumes lots of time. Thanks.

[harrisonturton]

Also having this issue.

When refactoring our prototype codebase into something more scalable (code-wise), this becomes a big pain point. I have to manually go through about a hundred files, delete the broken imports, and then iteratively go through the now-unimported widgets and import them again.

Generally the Intellij plugin has been wonderful! This is the only major pain point I've come across.

[venkatd]

This is by far my largest pain point. Also performing a large refactor and I'm losing hours manually moving files.

Given that there are ~40 thumbs up, any chance a few of us could combine resources and sponsor someone to contribute a fix to this? Anyone interested?

[atreeon]

I'm also having this issue and it has been really frustrating. Some kind of update would be very much appreciated. I think this used to work once upon a time; I'd have expected regressions to be prioritised. It is a real sink of my time actually. As @venkatd above mentioned it is the 3rd most voted issue in this repository with 40thumbs and it has been live for very long and is also the most reasonable issue to be worked on. Rename functionality should surely be quick and easy fix?

Please can we have an update as to when we should expect this to be fixed? ...or even better get it fixed as soon as possible please?

Thank you

[enginebai]

The version 57.0.2 still had this issue, this issue happened over 1 years, and it seems to be basic function. Could you treat this issue as one of the top priority??

[harrisonturton]

@enginebai If it's a blocker, I'm sure the Flutter team would appreciate you submitting a PR to fix this.

In the meantime, a grep xyz | sed s/old/new/ may help you out.

[mjablecnik]

@stevemessick @helin24 @devoncarew I hope that you know about this problem. When do you plan to fix it please?

[jacob314]

Fyi @DanTup has been working on adding Analysis Server functionality to support this in IntelliJ and VSCode.

[lhengl]

December 2021, and still having this issue. I'm on Android Studio Arctic Fox and flutter plugin version 62.0.1.

Is this also a problem in VSCode? Maybe I should move IDE if that's the case, it's really annoying.

[DanTup]

This also isn't currently supported in VS Code. It is something I have a basic working example for in the server, but it still needs some work (around performance, and how to ensure the request can be cancelled or timeout if it would take too long - for ex. if you tried to rename an enormous folder).

[tieorange]

Any updates maybe?

I just got a legacy code that needs a refactor. And it's a nightmare to fix every import manually :D

[TadashiCZ]

Any updates on this? It's been two years already. It is super annoying when doing any refactoring. Thanks.

[paktalin]

we really need this feature. it's super annoying to refactor the project

[DanTup]

The server has support for renaming folders since dart-lang/sdk@729b2e5, but it will require changes in IntelliJ/Android Studio to call the API for folders.

For VS Code, I'm waiting on a new version of the VS Code LSP Client (coming in the next few weeks, I believe) so that cancellations can be handled properly, before I enable it there.

[OwlCodR]

+1

[AD1N1993]

+1

[jacob314]

Fyi @jwren. This is a good example of a case we should probably implement in the Dart IntelliJ plugin not the Flutter IntelliJ plugin.

[CrossBread]

@jacob314 agreed that would make more sense. If you close this, would you link to the issue in the Dart Plugin so we can know where to subscribe for updates?

Thank you for your work on the tools/framework!

[jacob314]

Fyi, there is also an issue tracking supporting this in VSCode.
Dart-Code/Dart-Code#2483

[fedosovmu]

I solved this problem for myself by using the "Replace in Files" command

[J-Siu]

I solved this problem for myself by using the "Replace in Files" command

Unless flutter command line / vscode ext implement something like "project move/rename/etc." This should be the way for our own src files.

On the other hand, most of the auto-get file(eg. .filecache, debug_*, etc) are using absolute path instead of relative to project root. Maybe that can be changed.

[ajay-zartek]

I have the same issue.

[martijnvanderlaan]

Also same issue. I have to start refactoring a huge code base from a previous team. I really hope there will be a fix soon or a work around.

[Juliocsreis]

+1

[ahmedtanjim]

same issue

[DanTup]

Fyi @DanTup has been working on adding Analysis Server functionality to support this in IntelliJ and VSCode.

Renaming a single folder is now supported in VS Code when using Flutter 3.3 / Dart 2.18 (see https://dartcode.org/releases/#folder-renames). Renaming/moving multiple items at once is not yet supported (it requires additional server work).

Supporting this in Android Studio / IntelliJ will require some additional changes in its plugin (both to pass folder renames through, and also to provide some way of cancelling in the case of starting a large folder rename and wanting to abort if it's slow).

[ilexbor]

It's already June 2023. The problem is already 3.5 years old. Absolutely everyone faces this problem.
When will this problem be solved?

[tolotrasamuel]

First of all, thanks for the developers for building this plugin because honestly, we love all jetbrains IDE.
Secondly, this is the number one most voted issue on Flutter intellij and we would appreciate an update on this. Is there any major technical difficulty that prevents the fix ? As @ilexbor pointed out, it has been 3.5 years of waiting
An estimate timeline would be appreciated

[vkg001]

I solved this problem for myself by using the "Replace in Files" command

thankyou sooooo much

[Serena867]

This is still a significant issue. I love the plugin overall, but this makes refactoring anything of any appreciable size an absolute nightmare.

[mym0404]

At first, I thought this is a bug in my IDE only. It makes me surprise all the Flutter developers suffer same.

[littlebytesof]

Suffering from the same issue, I hope that it will be resolved asap. It makes refactoring so demanding.
The closet workaround I could come up with is to make a new package, move into it the files in the old one, and then delete the latter.

[tolotrasamuel]

In the normal Replace in Files method is now broken too LOL.
It messes up all the imports, Like seriously this is frustrating

Then after updating Android studio, it freezes when renaming directory

[tolotrasamuel]

Stuck there every time I move a directory. I have to force quit

Update I found the reason, uncheck this

[mjablecnik]

When I want to rename some directory so I create new directory and move all files from old directory into new one by one.
It is sometime faster then rename directory and then quick force whole IDE due to freeze.. :)

[ziadhassan7]

Why isn't this getting fixed already!!!!!!!!

[1mohamedelasri]

Why isn't this getting fixed already!!!!!!!!

I'm also surprised that this is not fixed yet.

[ahmedtanjim]

Still having the issue

[kvenn]

I'd also settle for a "Apply first quick fix on all import related issues"

The quick fix suggests the correct path when there's an import related error, so even as a patch, that could be a solution (remove invalid imports, add the first suggested one).

This works for other languages (through the ambiguous imports). I think the issue with flutter is you can do relative or absolute imports. But that should be easy to just respect your lint settings for.

[Serena867]

I'd also settle for a "Apply first quick fix on all import related issues"

The quick fix suggests the correct path when there's an import related error, so even as a patch, that could be a solution (remove invalid imports, add the first suggested one).

This works for other languages (through the ambiguous imports). I think the issue with flutter is you can do relative or absolute imports. But that should be easy to just respect your lint settings for.

The way I dealt with this when creating a code generator might apply here as my generator needed to move files around and detect correct imports. For ambiguous imports, file names, etc I wound up looking at the originally referenced import, getting a hash, and making sure the imports after moving or renaming directories or multiple files imported the correct import by using the file with the same hash when ambiguous imports were detected.

I wouldn't call it the absolute best solution, but it works well enough. This could be a solution that prevents bugs that are hard to track down when using the first available import as that can often be the wrong import.

My quick workaround for this problem was to use build_runner to accept a command for moving directories and files using the methods above. It's not my favourite thing to use, but it was relatively quick to write and saved a lot of time when refactoring.

[erlangparasu]

Any updates?

[elliotkhd]

It's been 4 years

[komaxx]

I'm starting to think that JetBrains does not want to support Flutter - after all it's competition for their own Kotlin multiplatform product..

[bawantha]

Stilll

[DanTup]

This repository is for the Flutter plugin for IntelliJ that's maintained by the Flutter team but my impression is that this feature should be implemented in the Dart plugin for IntelliJ that's maintained by JetBrains.

I think this is the relevant issue in the JetBrains IntelliJ issue tracker:

https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-328359/Renaming-a-folder-in-a-Dart-or-Flutter-project-doesnt-update-imports

Currently that issue only has 10 👍s/votes, so it may be worth adding your votes there.