Flutter for Beginners: An introductory guide to building cross-platform mobile applications with Flutter and Dart 2

Cover
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Dedication
About Packt
Contributors
Table of Contents
Preface
Section 1: Introduction to Dart
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Dart
	Getting started with Dart
		The evolution of Dart
		How Dart works
			Dart VM and JavaScript compilation
		Hands-on Dart
			DartPad
			Dart development tools
			Hello world
	Understanding why Flutter uses Dart
		Adding productivity
			Compiling Flutter apps and hot reload
		Easy learning
		Maturity
	Introducing the structure of the Dart language
		Dart operators
			Arithmetic operators
			Increment and decrement operators
			Equality and relational operators
			Type checking and casting
			Logical operators
			Bits manipulation
			Null-safe and null-aware operators
		Dart types and variables
			final and const
			Built-in types
				Numbers
				BigInt
				Booleans
				Collections
				Strings
				String interpolation
				Literals
			Type inference – bringing dynamism to the show 
		Control flows and looping
		Functions
			Function parameters
		Data structures, collections, and generics
			Generics
				When and why to use generics
				Generics and Dart literals
	Introduction to OOP in Dart
		Dart OOP features
			Objects and classes
			Encapsulation
			Inheritance and composition
			Abstraction
			Polymorphism
	Summary
	Further reading
Chapter 2: Intermediate Dart Programming
	Dart classes and constructors
		The enum type
		The cascade notation
		Constructors
			Named constructors
			Factory constructors
		Field accessors – getters and setters
		Static fields and methods
		Class inheritance
			The toString() method
	Interfaces, abstract classes, and mixins
		Abstract classes
		Interfaces
		Mixins – adding behavior to a class
		Callable classes, top-level functions, and variables
			Callable classes
			Top-level functions and variables
	Understanding Dart libraries and packages
		Importing and using a library
			Importing show and hide
			Importing prefixes to libraries
			Importing path variants
		Creating Dart libraries
			Library member privacy
			The library definition
				A single-file library
				Splitting libraries into multiple files
				A multiple-file library – the export statement
		Dart packages
			Application packages versus library packages
		Package structures
		Stagehand – the Dart project generator
		The pubspec file
		Package dependencies – pub
			Specifying dependencies
				The version constraint
				The source constraint
	Introducing async programming with Futures and Isolates
		Dart Futures
		Dart Isolates
	Introducing unit testing with Dart
		The Dart test package
		Writing unit tests
	Summary
Chapter 3: An Introduction to Flutter
	Comparisons with other mobile app development frameworks
		The problems Flutter wants to solve
		Differences between existing frameworks
			High performance
			Full control of the UI
			Dart
			Being backed by Google
				Fuchsia OS and Flutter
			Open source framework
			Developer resources and tooling
	Flutter compilation (Dart)
		Development compilation
		Release compilation
		Supported platforms
	Flutter rendering
		Web-based technologies
		Framework and OEM widgets
		Flutter – rendering by itself
	Widgets introduction
		Composability
		Immutability
		Everything is a widget
			The widget tree
	Hello Flutter
		pubspec file 
		Running the generated project
			lib/main.dart file
			Flutter run
	Summary
Section 2: The Flutter User Interface - Everything is a Widget
Chapter 4: Widgets: Building Layouts in Flutter
	Stateful versus stateless widgets
		Stateless widgets
		Stateful widgets
		Stateful and stateless widgets in code
			Stateless widget in code
			Stateful widgets in code
		Inherited widgets
		Widget key property
	Built-in widgets
		Basic widgets
			The Text widget
			The Image widget
			Material Design and iOS Cupertino widgets
				Buttons
				Scaffold
				Dialogs
				Text fields
				Selection widgets
				Date and time pickers
				Other components
	Understanding built-in layout widgets
		Containers
		Styling and positioning
		Other widgets (gestures, animations, and transformations)
	Creating a UI with widgets (favor manager app)
		The app screens
			The app code
			Favors app home screen
				The layout code
			The request favor screen
				The layout code
	Creating custom widgets
	Summary
Chapter 5: Handling User Input and Gestures
	Handling user gestures
		Pointers
		Gestures
			Tap
			Double tap
			Press and hold
			Drag, pan, and scale
				Horizontal drag
				Vertical drag
				Pan
				Scale
		Gestures in material widgets
	Input widgets
		FormField and TextField
			Using a controller
			Accessing FormField state
		Form
			Accessing Form state
				Using a key
				Using InheritedWidget
	Validating Input (Forms)
		Validating user input
	Custom input and FormField
		Creating custom inputs
		Custom input widget example
			Creating an Input widget
			Turn the widget into a FormField widget
	Putting it all together
		Favors screen
			Tap gestures on the favor tab
			Tap gestures on FavorCards
				Making FavorsPage a StatefulWidget
				Refuse action handling
				Do action handling
			Tap on Request a favor button
		The Requesting a favor screen
			The close button
			The SAVE button
				Validating input using the Form widget
	Summary
Chapter 6: Theming and Styling
	Theme widgets
		Theme widget 
			ThemeData
				Brightness
		Theming in practice
		Platform class
	Material Design
		MaterialApp widget
		Scaffold widget
		Custom theme
	iOS Cupertino
		CupertinoApp
		Cupertino in practice
	Using custom fonts
		Importing fonts to the Flutter project
		Overriding the default font in the app
	Dynamic styling with MediaQuery and LayoutBuilder
		LayoutBuilder
		MediaQuery
			MediaQuery example
		Additional responsive classes
	Summary
Chapter 7: Routing: Navigating between Screens
	Understanding the Navigator widget
		Navigator 
		Overlay
			Navigation stack/history
		Route 
			RouteSettings
		MaterialPageRoute and CupertinoPageRoute
		Putting it all together
		The WidgetsApp way
	Named routes
		Moving to named routes
			Arguments
		Retrieving results from Route
	Screen transitions
		PageRouteBuilder 
			Custom transitions in practice
	Hero animations
		The Hero widget
		Implementing Hero transitions
	Summary
Section 3: Developing Fully Featured Apps
Chapter 8: Firebase Plugins
	Firebase overview
		Setting up Firebase
		Connecting the Flutter app to Firebase
			Configuring an Android app
			Configuring iOS app
			FlutterFire
				Adding the FlutterFire dependency to the Flutter project
	Firebase authentication 
		Enabling Authentication services in Firebase
		Authentication screen
		Logging in with Firebase
			Sending verification code
			Verifying the SMS code
			Updating the profile and login status
	NoSQL database with Cloud Firestore
		Enabling Cloud Firestore on Firebase
		Cloud Firestore and Flutter
		Loading favors from Firestore
		Updating favors on Firebase
		Saving a favor on Firebase
	Cloud Storage with Firebase Storage
		Introduction to Firebase Storage
		Adding Flutter Storage dependencies
		Uploading files to Firebase
	Ads with Firebase AdMob
		AdMob account
		Creating an AdMob account
		AdMob in Flutter
			Side note on Android
			Side note on iOS
		Showing ads in Flutter
	ML with Firebase ML Kit
		Adding ML Kit to Flutter
		Using the label detector in Flutter
	Summary
Chapter 9: Developing Your Own Flutter Plugin
	Creating a package/plugin project
		Flutter packages versus Dart packages
		Starting a Dart package project
		Starting a Flutter plugin package
	A plugin project structure
		MethodChannel
		Implementing the Android plugin
		Implementing the iOS plugin
		The Dart API
		An example of plugin package
		Using the plugin  
	Adding documentation to the package
		Documentation files
		Library documentation
		Generating documentation
	Publishing a package
	Plugin project development recommendations
	Summary
Chapter 10: Accessing Device Features from the Flutter App
	Launching a URL from the app
		Displaying a link
			The flutter_linkify plugin
		Launching a URL
			The url_launcher plugin
	Managing app permissions
		Managing permissions on Flutter
			Using the permission_handler plugin
	Importing a contact from the phone
		Importing a contact with contact_picker 
		Contact permission with permission_handler
			Contact permission on Android
			Contact permission on iOS
			Checking and requesting permission in Flutter (permission_handler)
	Integrating the phone\'s camera
		Taking pictures with image_picker
		Camera permission with permission_handler
			Camera permission on Android
			Camera permission on iOS
			Requesting camera permission in Flutter (permission_handler)
	Summary
Chapter 11: Platform Views and Map Integration
	Displaying a map
		Platform views
			Enabling platform views on iOS
		Creating a platform view widget
			Creating an Android view
			Creating an iOS view
			Usage of a platform view widget
		Getting started with the google_maps_flutter plugin
		Displaying a map with the google_maps_flutter plugin
			Enabling the Maps API on Google Cloud Console
			Google Maps API integration on Android
			Google Maps API integration on iOS
			Displaying a map on Flutter
	Adding markers to the map
		The Marker class
		Adding markers in the GoogleMap widget
	Adding map interactions
		Adding markers dynamically
		GoogleMapController
		Getting GoogleMapController
		Animating a map camera to a location
	Using the Google Places API
		Enabling the Google Places API
		Getting started with the google_maps_webservice plugin
		Getting a place address using the google_maps_webservice plugin
	Summary
Section 4: Advanced Flutter - Resources to Complex Apps
Chapter 12: Testing, Debugging, and Deployment
	Flutter testing – unit and widget testing
		Widget tests
			The flutter_test package
				The testWidgets function
			Widget test example
	Debugging Flutter apps
		Observatory
		Additional debugging features
		DevTools
	Profiling Flutter apps
		The Observatory profiler
		Profile mode
			Performance overlay
	Inspecting the Flutter widget tree
		Widget inspector
			The Flutter inspector in DevTools
	Preparing apps for deployment
		Release mode
		Releasing apps for Android
			AndroidManifest and build.gradle
				AndroidManifest – permissions
				AndroidManifest – meta tags
				AndroidManifest – application name and icon 
				build.gradle – application ID and versions
				build.gradle – signing the app
		Releasing apps for iOS
			App Store Connect
			Xcode 
				Xcode – application details and Bundle ID
				Xcode – AdMob
				Xcode – signing the app
	Summary
Chapter 13: Improving User Experience
	Accessibility in Flutter and adding translations to apps
		Flutter\'s support for accessibility
		Flutter internationalization
			The intl package
			The intl_translation package
			The flutter_localizations package
		Adding localizations to a Flutter app
			Dependencies
			The AppLocalization class
			Generating .arb files with intl_translation
			Using translated resources
	Communication between native and Flutter with platform channels
		Platform channel
		Message codecs
	Creating background processes
		The Flutter compute() function
			SendPort and ReceivePort
				IsolateNameServer
		A compute() example
		Full background process
		Init the calculation
			The background isolate
	Adding Android-specific code to run Dart code in the background
		The HandsOnBackgroundProcessPlugin class
		The BackgroundProcessService class
			The PluginRegistrantCallback property
	Adding iOS-specific code to run Dart code in the background
		The SwiftHandsOnBackgroundProcessPlugin class
	Summary
Chapter 14: Widget Graphic Manipulations
	Transforming widgets with the Transform class
		The Transform widget
			Understanding the Matrix4 class
	Exploring the types of transformations
		Rotate transformation
		Scale transformation
		Translate transformation
		Composed transformations
	Applying transformations to your widgets
		Rotating widgets
		Scaling widgets
		Translating widgets
		Applying multiple transformations 
	Using custom painters and canvas
		The Canvas class
			Canvas transformations
			Canvas ClipRect
			Methods
			The Paint object
		The CustomPaint widget
			CustomPaint construction details
		The CustomPainter object
			The paint method
			The shouldRepaint method
		A practical example
			Defining a widget
			Defining CustomPainter
				Overriding the shouldRepaint method
				Overriding the paint method
		The radial chart variant
			Defining a widget
			Defining CustomPainter
	Summary
Chapter 15: Animations
	Introducing Animations
		The Animation class
			AnimationController
				TickerProvider and Ticker
			CurvedAnimation
			Tween
	Using animations
		Rotate animation
		Scale animation
		Translate animation
		Multiple transformations and custom Tween
			Custom Tween
	Using AnimatedBuilder
		The AnimatedBuilder class
		Revisiting our animation 
	Using AnimatedWidget
		The AnimatedWidget class
		Rewriting the animation with AnimatedWidget 
	Summary
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Index