Hello Flutter!

Flutter , today is one of the most trending technologies which was launched back in December,2018 . It is an open-source UI software development kit created by Google . Perhaps , Flutter is widely used to develop cross platform applications for Android ,Mac , iOS , Linux etc.. and web applications from a single codebase . Many industries have already switched over to Flutter as a part of their Mobile Application Development and may also avail to web application if it’s feasible and stable. Some of the popular organizations like Google ,BMW, eBay , Alibaba Group are building apps using flutter .

Everything in Flutter is a Widget . It does not provide any drag and drop features like Android Studio or XCode rather provides built-in Material Design and Cupertino Widgets for building expressive and beautiful UI .These Widgets can be customized as per our requirements so that one can use them and code their UI . Feature of “Hot Reload” makes flutter more handy to use . Flutter applications are written in Dart Language.

Quick Introduction To Dart :

Dart is an open-source programming language developed by Google . Before learning dart , exposure to Object Oriented programming concepts is a must . You can get started with Dart using an online Dartpad(https://dartpad.dartlang.org/ ) or you can set up on your local machine using Text Editors or Installing a dart SDK or an IDE Support .

Major concepts of Dart that you should be well acquainted with are Variables, Operators, Classes, Functions, Expressions , Programming Constructs , Decision Making , Looping Constructs , Inheritance ,Typedefs and Data structures represented as Collections / Generics before getting started with flutter.

Setting Up Flutter!

=> Go to https://flutter.dev/docs/get-started/install and select your OS.
=> Check your System Requirements and download the Flutter SDK
=> Extract the zip file and place the contained flutter in the desired installation location for the Flutter SDK .

(Do not place it in a directory like C:\Program Files\ that requires elevated privileges.)

=> Update your path :
From the Start search bar, enter ‘ env ’ and select Edit environment variables for your account.
Under User variables check if there is an entry called Path:
If the entry exists, append the full path to flutter\bin using ; as a separator from existing values.
If the entry doesn’t exist, create a new user variable named Path with the full path to flutter\bin as its value.

=> From the console window that has Flutter directory in the path, run command “flutter doctor” to see if there are any platform dependencies you need to complete in the setup:

You must also set up Editors like Android Studio or Visual Studio Code to work with Flutter. I prefer working in Android Studio since it supports Emulator .

To Install a Flutter Plugin in Android Studio,

• For Windows/Linux:
  
  i)Open Android Studio.
  ii)Open plugin preferences (File > Settings > Plugins).
  iii)Select Marketplace, select the Flutter plugin and click Install.
  iv)Restart the editor

Let’s Create a New Flutter Project!

o File > New > New Flutter Project

o Select Flutter Application > Next

o Give a suitable project name , location and description > Next

o If you’re a beginner, don’t change any package name as of now > Finish.

You’ll be able to see main.dart file appearing on your screen with some prewritten coding. If not then , Go to your Project Area > lib > main.dart.

i) Click on AVD Manager > Select your device. (This will open a virtual device that you selected on your screen.)

Click on Play button i.e. Run ‘main.dart’ file .
This may take time as you are running your application for the first time.

OR

To run on your Android Device

i) Enable Developer options and USB debugging on your Android device(Mobile phone) and open the application.

You’ll see a Counter like application on your Virtual device/Android device.
When you click on”+” button the count number increases by 1!!

Yay !! Your application is working. You are done with the setup. I’ll be explaining the working of this default application in my upcoming blog.

Till then , Stay Safe, Keep Exploring :)