Android Flutter
by Bill Farmer.
Categories:
Hacking
.
Google have made a big thing of their flutter development
platform, so I thought I ought to give it a try. It’s easy to install,
just download the sdk, unzip it in a suitable place and add the
bin
folder to your path
. I had to tell it where I had installed
Android Studio.
$ flutter config --android-studio-dir 'D:\adt\Android Studio'
Setting "android-studio-dir" value to "D:\adt\Android Studio".
You may need to restart any open editors for them to read new settings.
$ flutter doctor -v
[√] Flutter (Channel stable, 2.2.3, on Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19043.1110], locale en-GB)
• Flutter version 2.2.3 at D:\adt\flutter
• Framework revision f4abaa0735 (2 weeks ago), 2021-07-01 12:46:11 -0700
• Engine revision 241c87ad80
• Dart version 2.13.4
[√] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 30.0.3)
• Android SDK at D:\adt\android-sdk-windows
• Platform android-30, build-tools 30.0.3
• Java binary at: D:\adt\Android Studio\jre\bin\java
• Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.8+10-b944.6842174)
• All Android licenses accepted.
[√] Chrome - develop for the web
• Chrome at C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
[√] Android Studio
• Android Studio at D:\adt\Android Studio
• Flutter plugin can be installed from:
https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/9212-flutter
• Dart plugin can be installed from:
https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/6351-dart
• android-studio-dir = D:\adt\Android Studio
• Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.8+10-b944.6842174)
[√] Connected device (2 available)
• Moto G (mobile) • TA93003J7P • android-arm • Android 7.1.2 (API 25)
• Chrome (web) • chrome • web-javascript • Google Chrome 91.0.4472.124
• No issues found!
Having installed flutter and got it working, create a sample app.
$ flutter create --org org.billthefarmer --project-name hello --platforms android -t app hello
Creating project hello...
hello\.gitignore (created)
hello\.idea\libraries\Dart_SDK.xml (created)
hello\.idea\libraries\KotlinJavaRuntime.xml (created)
hello\.idea\modules.xml (created)
hello\.idea\runConfigurations\main_dart.xml (created)
hello\.idea\workspace.xml (created)
hello\.metadata (created)
hello\android\app\build.gradle (created)
hello\android\app\src\main\kotlin\org\billthefarmer\hello\MainActivity.kt (created)
hello\android\build.gradle (created)
hello\android\hello_android.iml (created)
hello\android\.gitignore (created)
hello\android\app\src\debug\AndroidManifest.xml (created)
hello\android\app\src\main\AndroidManifest.xml (created)
hello\android\app\src\main\res\drawable\launch_background.xml (created)
hello\android\app\src\main\res\drawable-v21\launch_background.xml (created)
hello\android\app\src\main\res\mipmap-hdpi\ic_launcher.png (created)
hello\android\app\src\main\res\mipmap-mdpi\ic_launcher.png (created)
hello\android\app\src\main\res\mipmap-xhdpi\ic_launcher.png (created)
hello\android\app\src\main\res\mipmap-xxhdpi\ic_launcher.png (created)
hello\android\app\src\main\res\mipmap-xxxhdpi\ic_launcher.png (created)
hello\android\app\src\main\res\values\styles.xml (created)
hello\android\app\src\main\res\values-night\styles.xml (created)
hello\android\app\src\profile\AndroidManifest.xml (created)
hello\android\gradle\wrapper\gradle-wrapper.properties (created)
hello\android\gradle.properties (created)
hello\android\settings.gradle (created)
hello\lib\main.dart (created)
hello\hello.iml (created)
hello\pubspec.yaml (created)
hello\README.md (created)
hello\test\widget_test.dart (created)
Running "flutter pub get" in hello... 1,323ms
Wrote 35 files.
All done!
In order to run your application, type:
$ cd hello
$ flutter run
Your application code is in hello\lib\main.dart.
And run it…
$ flutter run
Launching lib\main.dart on Moto G in debug mode...
Running Gradle task 'assembleDebug'... 14.3s
√ Built build\app\outputs\flutter-apk\app-debug.apk.
Syncing files to device Moto G... 127ms
Flutter run key commands.
r Hot reload.
R Hot restart.
h Repeat this help message.
d Detach (terminate "flutter run" but leave application running).
c Clear the screen
q Quit (terminate the application on the device).
Running with sound null safety
An Observatory debugger and profiler on Moto G is available at:
http://127.0.0.1:54755/SJvWpFhJNaY=/
The Flutter DevTools debugger and profiler on Moto G is available at:
http://127.0.0.1:9101?uri=http%3A%2F%2F127.0.0.1%3A54755%2FSJvWpFhJNaY%3D%2F
q
Application finished.
Screenshot of resulting app.
Flutter created a minimal kotlin file, MainActivity.kt.
package org.billthefarmer.hello
import io.flutter.embedding.android.FlutterActivity
class MainActivity: FlutterActivity() {
}
And a dart file, main.dart.
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
void main() {
runApp(MyApp());
}
class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
// This widget is the root of your application.
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return MaterialApp(
title: 'Flutter Demo',
theme: ThemeData(
// This is the theme of your application.
//
// Try running your application with "flutter run". You'll see the
// application has a blue toolbar. Then, without quitting the app, try
// changing the primarySwatch below to Colors.green and then invoke
// "hot reload" (press "r" in the console where you ran "flutter run",
// or simply save your changes to "hot reload" in a Flutter IDE).
// Notice that the counter didn't reset back to zero; the application
// is not restarted.
primarySwatch: Colors.blue,
),
home: MyHomePage(title: 'Flutter Demo Home Page'),
);
}
}
class MyHomePage extends StatefulWidget {
MyHomePage({Key? key, required this.title}) : super(key: key);
// This widget is the home page of your application. It is stateful, meaning
// that it has a State object (defined below) that contains fields that affect
// how it looks.
// This class is the configuration for the state. It holds the values (in this
// case the title) provided by the parent (in this case the App widget) and
// used by the build method of the State. Fields in a Widget subclass are
// always marked "final".
final String title;
@override
_MyHomePageState createState() => _MyHomePageState();
}
class _MyHomePageState extends State<MyHomePage> {
int _counter = 0;
void _incrementCounter() {
setState(() {
// This call to setState tells the Flutter framework that something has
// changed in this State, which causes it to rerun the build method below
// so that the display can reflect the updated values. If we changed
// _counter without calling setState(), then the build method would not be
// called again, and so nothing would appear to happen.
_counter++;
});
}
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
// This method is rerun every time setState is called, for instance as done
// by the _incrementCounter method above.
//
// The Flutter framework has been optimized to make rerunning build methods
// fast, so that you can just rebuild anything that needs updating rather
// than having to individually change instances of widgets.
return Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(
// Here we take the value from the MyHomePage object that was created by
// the App.build method, and use it to set our appbar title.
title: Text(widget.title),
),
body: Center(
// Center is a layout widget. It takes a single child and positions it
// in the middle of the parent.
child: Column(
// Column is also a layout widget. It takes a list of children and
// arranges them vertically. By default, it sizes itself to fit its
// children horizontally, and tries to be as tall as its parent.
//
// Invoke "debug painting" (press "p" in the console, choose the
// "Toggle Debug Paint" action from the Flutter Inspector in Android
// Studio, or the "Toggle Debug Paint" command in Visual Studio Code)
// to see the wireframe for each widget.
//
// Column has various properties to control how it sizes itself and
// how it positions its children. Here we use mainAxisAlignment to
// center the children vertically; the main axis here is the vertical
// axis because Columns are vertical (the cross axis would be
// horizontal).
mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
children: <Widget>[
Text(
'You have pushed the button this many times:',
),
Text(
'$_counter',
style: Theme.of(context).textTheme.headline4,
),
],
),
),
floatingActionButton: FloatingActionButton(
onPressed: _incrementCounter,
tooltip: 'Increment',
child: Icon(Icons.add),
), // This trailing comma makes auto-formatting nicer for build methods.
);
}
}
The generated application file is approximately 50Mb in size, nearly all of which is flutter run time libraries, kotlin, androidx, etc. Rather a lot of bloat, considering that most of my apps are about 200Kb in size.
See Also
- Android Kotlin
- Create a Word Grid
- Android Word Count
- Hiding Edit Button
- Derive Edit Position from Markdown