A Step-By-Step Guide to Building android App with Flutter

Flutter has been rising as an extremely good choice for growing cross-platform cellular apps when you consider that Google introduced the first secure model at Flutter Live. But the place to start? In this post, we will cowl the step-by-step information to get began with Flutter.

What is Flutter?

Simply put, Flutter is a framework which permits developers to create cross-platform apps the use of a single programming language. Flutter can be viewed a choice to the React Native framework. The Flutter framework is being developed at Google however it’s open to all exterior contributors. Flutter has been round for a lengthy time, however it commenced getting greater interest when Google introduced the launch preview of Flutter app development services.

Installing Software

In order to get commenced with Flutter, we have to installation some software program on your neighborhood machine. You can both use macOS, Windows or Linux to get commenced with Flutter app development services. However, macOS has the gain of getting each the iOS and Android environment on the identical machine. We will count on that you are the use of macOS for Flutter development, however you can usually install with the comparable directions for Windows and Linux as well.

Install Flutter

Flutter set up wishes some command line equipment mounted on macOS. Most of the equipment come with Xcode. You can download Flutter SDK both from Github or the authentic download page. Once we have the Flutter SDK, we have to add it into the PATH so that we can get entry to flutter binary globally. The first step is to download Flutter SDK and unzip it to an appropriate region on our disk. We can do this with the aid of the use of the following command:

cd ~/development
unzip ~/Downloads/flutter_macos_v1.5.4-hotfix.2-stable.zip
unzip flutter_macos_v0.7.3-beta.zip

Now that we have downloaded the Flutter SDK, we want to add Flutter to our $PATH so that we can get entry to Flutter globally. This varies from shell to shell, bash, we can truly run this command:

export PATH=[PATH_TO_FLUTTER__DIRECTORY]/flutter/bin:$PATH

You can locate the guidelines to replace the Flutter PATH. Once you set up the PATH, you need to then be capable of verifying set up with the aid of running:

flutter –help

This command will print all available commands of Flutter.

Install Dart (Optional)

Once Flutter is installed, you may additionally choose to set up Dart. Usually, some Dart libraries come with Flutter itself, however if you want extra Dart developer equipment then you possibly want to installation Dart as well. This is optionally available however proper to have. You want to deploy Homebrew in order to get Dart on your machine. You can installation Homebrew by means of the usage of the following command:

/usr/bin/ruby-e"$(curl-fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

This will take some time, however as soon as the setup is complete, you ought to be capable to deploy any bundle the use of. Let’s by using the usage of following commands:

brew tap dart-lang/dart
brew install dart

You will now have Dart installed on your local machine

Install Xcode

You can boost each iOS and Android apps with Flutter. If you are growing an iOS app with Flutter, you want to installation Xcode on your macOS. You can now not set up on different structures like Windows or Linux. On macOS, it’s very handy to set up Xcode, you genuinely want to use your Apple developer account and download it from the app store. Xcode is a giant piece of software program so it will take some time to download. Once you have Xcode installed, you will get most of the command line equipment alongside with Xcode. We may want to configure the Xcode command line equipment to use the newly-installed model of Xcode by way of the usage of the command:

sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

Use Flutter Doctor

Flutter comes up with a magnificent command line utility to test if your laptop is set up for nearby development. Flutter has Flutter Doctor command which publications developers thru putting up the nearby development surroundings for each iOS and Android. Flutter Doctor inspects which equipment are mounted on the neighborhood desktop and which equipment want to be configured. Once the Flutter Doctor command is happy, we can lift on growing a new Flutter app.

Write Your First Flutter App

At this point, you will be capable to begin growing your first Flutter app. There are more than one approaches to create a template app, such as the usage of the command line, the use of Android Studio or the usage of IntelliJ. However, flutter Development Company will use the command line way in order to apprehend the complete Flutter project. Flutter can generate a boilerplate for the pattern app by using walking the following commands:

flutter create name_of_your_app

You can give any name to your app e.g flutter_testing or hello_world. Let’s say “flutter_test” for now.

flutter create flutter_test

This command will create the boilerplate of the Flutter app internal the flutter_test directory. You can run your first ever Flutter app the use of the commands. However, you want to have a device/simulator jogging to see the app.

cd flutter_test
flutter run

You can see the app strolling in the emulator/simulator or devices. This would be the default Flutter app which counts how many instances you pressed the + button. The app appears like this in the simulator:

Congratulations! You have effectively run your first Flutter app in the simulator.

Write Your First Test

As you boost the Flutter app, it’s exceptional exercise to check the app with a strong set of computerized tests. Flutter has a richer set of points than any different cross-platform cellular app development framework. Flutter presents a stable trying out framework which lets in flutter Development Company and their developers to write checks at the unit, useful and UI level. Widget trying out is one cool characteristic that Flutter gives to run UI exams as quick as unit tests.

Flutter additionally has UI tests, recognized as integration tests that run on the simulator or on actual devices. Flutter has terrific on how to check Flutter apps at exclusive levels. You can study on Full Stack checking out of the Flutter apps to achieve a realistic perception on Flutter testing.

Now let’s add Widget checks for the demo app, which test the preliminary kingdom of the app, faucet the + button and assert that the nation has been and counter incremented.

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:flutter_test/flutter_test.dart';
import 'package:flutter_testing/main.dart';
void main() {
testWidgets('Counter increments smoke test', (WidgetTester tester) async {
// Build our app and trigger a frame.
await tester.pumpWidget(MyApp());
// Verify that our counter starts at 0.
expect(find.text('0'), findsOneWidget);
expect(find.text('1'), findsNothing);
// Tap the '+' icon and trigger a frame.
await tester.tap(find.byIcon(Icons.add));
await tester.pump();
// Verify that our counter has incremented.
expect(find.text('0'), findsNothing);
expect(find.text('1'), findsOneWidget);
});
}

Let’s identify this check widget_test.dart and hold it inner the take a look at directory. We can run the check from the command line the use of the flutter take a look at command which will execute all exams from the take a look at directory. However, we can execute a single check the use of the command:

flutter test test/widget_test.dart

This command will execute the widget test only.

Now that we have introduced a check to our Flutter app, the subsequent step is to run it consistently on the CI server so that we will acquire remarks if our performance continues to work with the modern day code changes.

Conclusion

Flutter is booming as a cross-platform mobile app development framework, and developers are keen to get started out with Flutter. We hope this information acts a brilliant kick-off factor for your first Flutter project.

Also Read: Flutter App Development Services In USA