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Flutter Stepper Widget: Build Multi-Step Forms Easily

As a Flutter developer, you’re likely familiar with the wide variety of widgets available to create seamless and interactive user interfaces. Among these widgets, the stepper plays a crucial role in breaking down complex forms or processes into smaller, more manageable steps.  In this blog post, we will dive into the stepper widget in Flutter, discussing its uses, customization options, and even the creation of a custom stepper. By the end of this guide, you’ll have a solid understanding of how to implement and customize the Stepper widget in your Flutter projects. What is a Stepper in Flutter? A stepper is a UI component that visually guides users through a sequence of steps in a linear or non-linear process. In Flutter, the stepper widget provides a simple and intuitive way to manage multi-step processes, such as forms, onboarding flows, or setup wizards. With its built-in navigation and validation features, the stepper widget makes creating organized and user-friendly experiences easy. Setting Up the Development Environment Before diving into the stepper widget, ensure Flutter and Dart is installed on your machine. Follow the official Flutter installation guide for your operating system to set up your development environment. Once Flutter and Dart are installed, create a new Flutter project by running the following command in your terminal or command prompt: flutter create my_stepper_app Replace “my_stepper_app” with your desired project name. After creating the project, please navigate to the folder and open it in your favorite code editor. How to use the Stepper widget in Flutter? To begin implementing the stepper widget, open the ‘lib/main.dart‘ file in your project and replace the existing code with the following: Output: In this example, we created a simple stepper with three steps. The _currentStep variable keeps track of the active step. The onStepTapped, onStepContinue, and onStepCancel callbacks handle user interactions, allowing users to navigate the steps. You may also want to read: A Guide to Flutter Chip Widget. Customizing and Decorating the Stepper Widget The Stepper widget provides several properties to customize its appearance. You can modify the color, shape, and style of the step icons, labels, and content using the Step class properties, such as active color, title, subtitle, state, and content. Additionally, you can decorate this widget by wrapping it in a Container widget and applying a BoxDecoration. Here’s an example of how to customize the stepper: Stepper( currentStep: _currentStep, onStepTapped: (step) => setState(() => _currentStep = step), onStepContinue: _currentStep < 2 ? () => setState(() => _currentStep += 1) : null, onStepCancel: _currentStep > 0 ? () => setState(() => _currentStep -= 1) : null, controlsBuilder: (BuildContext context, {VoidCallback onStepContinue, VoidCallback onStepCancel}) { return Padding( padding: const EdgeInsets.symmetric(horizontal: 8.0), child: Row( children: <Widget>[ ElevatedButton( onPressed: onStepContinue, child: const Text(‘Continue’), ), SizedBox(width: 8.0), TextButton( onPressed: onStepCancel, child: const Text(‘Cancel’), ), ], ), ); }, steps: [ Step( title: Text(‘Step 1’), content: Text(‘This is the first step.’), state: _currentStep == 0 ? StepState.editing : StepState.complete, isActive: _currentStep == 0, ), Step( title: Text(‘Step 2’), content: Text(‘This is the second step.’), state: _currentStep == 1 ? StepState.editing : StepState.complete, isActive: _currentStep == 1, ), Step( title: Text(‘Step 3’), content: Text(‘This is the final step.’), state: _currentStep == 2 ? StepState.editing : StepState.complete, isActive: _currentStep == 2, ), ], ) In this example, we’ve used the controlsBuilder property to create custom ‘Continue’ and ‘Cancel’ buttons. We’ve also set the state and isActive properties of each step to update their appearance based on the current step. Vertical Stepper in Flutter By default, the stepper widget displays steps horizontally. However, you can create a vertical stepper by setting the type property of the Stepper widget to StepperType.vertical.  Let’s see how it is done with the help of an example. Here is the code: Output: In this example, we’ve only added the type: StepperType.vertical property to the previous horizontal stepper example. The rest of the implementation remains the same. Stepper Widget Methods and Functions When working with the Stepper widget, you may need various widget methods and functions for interactivity and customization. Some common methods include: setState(): Updates the state of a StatefulWidget, triggering a rebuild of the widget tree. Navigator.pop(): Closes the current screen and returns to the previous screen in the navigation stack. Navigator.push(): Opens a new screen on top of the current screen in the navigation stack. 👉 Flutter inherited widget Manipulating Widget Positions in Flutter To change a widget’s position in Flutter, you can use layout widgets such as Align, Positioned, and Container. Combining these widgets with the stepper allows you to create a custom layout to position the stepper and its elements within the screen. For instance, you can wrap the Stepper widget in a Center or Align widget to position it in the center or other parts of the screen. Here is an example: Center( child: Stepper( // Stepper implementation ), ) For fixed-position widgets, you can use the Positioned widget within a Stack Widget. This allows you to place the widget at specific x and y coordinates within the stack. Let us see the change in position with the help of an example.   Stack( children: [ // Other widgets Positioned( top: 50, left: 50, child: Stepper( // Stepper implementation ), ), ], ) Creating a Custom Stepper in Flutter Sometimes, you may want to create a custom stepper beyond the built-in styling and behavior options. To create a custom stepper widget, follow these steps: Create a new StatefulWidget that extends the base StatefulWidget class. Define a custom State class with the necessary state variables for your stepper. Implement the desired stepper appearance, behavior, and functionality using a combination of basic widgets and custom logic. Here’s a simple example of a custom stepper:   class CustomStepper extends StatefulWidget { @override _CustomStepperState createState() => _CustomStepperState(); } class _CustomStepperState extends State<CustomStepper> { int _currentStep = 0; List<Widget> _stepIndicators() { List<Widget> indicators = []; for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) { indicators.add( Container( decoration: BoxDecoration( shape: BoxShape.circle, color: _currentStep == i ? Colors.blue

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Flutter Image Picker: A Guide to Simplifying Image Selection

In the previous blog, we learned about Flutter Choice Chip in detail, and today we will learn about Flutter Image Picker. Image Picker in Flutter is a powerful plugin that enables Flutter developers to integrate image selection and capture functionality into their mobile applications. With file picker flutter, developers can quickly and easily create an intuitive user interface that allows users to select images, videos, or any other file from their device’s camera roll or capture new images. This plugin offers a range of customization options and can be implemented with minimal coding effort, making it an ideal solution for developers looking to streamline the development process. Throughout this post, we will cover the essential aspects of using Image Picker, including installation and configuration, creating an effective UI, handling selected images, best practices for optimizing performance, and troubleshooting common issues. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced Flutter developer, this guide provides a comprehensive resource for learning how to implement image-picking functionality in your Flutter app.  What is Flutter Image Picker? Flutter Image Picker is a popular and useful plugin that enables Flutter developers to easily incorporate image selection and capture capabilities into their mobile applications. With this plugin, you can create a user-friendly interface that allows users to choose photos and videos from their device’s gallery or take new photos with their cameras. This plugin is designed to be simple, with a straightforward API that can be easily integrated into your existing Flutter codebase. In addition, it offers a range of customization options, enabling you to tailor the UI to suit your app’s specific needs. Let’s dive in and explore this amazing Flutter package’s many features and capabilities. Features and Functionalities of Image Picker Flutter Flutter Image Picker offers a variety of features and functionalities that make it an excellent choice for mobile app development. Some of its key features include: How Does Image Picker in Flutter Work? To use Image Picker in your app, you must add the plugin to your project’s dependencies, configure the plugin with your desired options, and then create the UI for the image picker. Once the user has selected an image, you can use the plugin’s built-in functions to handle it and perform any necessary actions, such as uploading the image to a server or displaying it on the screen. Let’s walk you through the steps to use this plugin in your app. So, keep reading to learn more! How do we use Flutter Image Picker? Using Image Picker is a straightforward process that involves three main steps: adding the plugin to your project, configuring the plugin, and creating the UI for the image picker plugin. Step 1: Add the plugin to your project To use Flutter Image Picker, add it as a dependency in your project’s pubspec.yaml file. You can do this by adding the following line to the file: dependencies: image_picker: ^0.8.4+2 Once you’ve added the dependency, run Flutter packages get to install the plugin. Step 2: Configure the plugin Next, you need to configure the plugin by setting any desired options. For example, you can set the maximum number of images the user can select, the image quality, and the source of the images (e.g., camera or gallery). Here’s an example of how to configure the plugin: In this example, we’re setting the source to the gallery and setting the maximum width and height of the image to 1920 and 1200 pixels, respectively. We’re also setting the image quality to 80%. Step 3: Create the UI for the image picker Finally, you need to create the UI for the image picker. When pressed, you can add a button or other user interface element to your app that triggers the image picker. Here’s an example: In this example, we’re using an ElevatedButton widget to create a button that opens the image picker when pressed. When the user selects an image, we set the _imageFile variable to the selected file and then update the UI to display the selected image. And that’s it! With these three simple steps, you can easily integrate Flutter Image Picker into your app and provide users with a seamless and intuitive photo selection experience. Advanced Features of Flutter Image Picker While this plugin provides a simple and user-friendly way to select and capture images, it also offers a range of advanced features that can help you customize the user experience and streamline your app’s workflow. Multi-image Selection Flutter Image Picker allows you to select multiple images at once, making it easy for users to select and upload multiple photos to your app quickly. To enable multi-image selection, set the maxImages property to the desired number of images: In this example, we allow the user to select up to five images simultaneously. Video Selection In addition to photos, Flutter Image Picker allows you to select videos from the user’s camera roll or directly from the camera. To select a video, use the getVideo method: In this example, we’re selecting a video from the gallery. You can also set the source property to ImageSource.camera to capture video directly from the camera. Custom Image Providers If you need more control over how images are loaded and displayed in your app, Flutter Image Picker allows you to use custom image providers. This means you can use your own logic to load images from local or remote sources and display them in your app’s UI. Here’s an example: In this example, we use a custom image provider called MyCustomImageProvider to load and display the selected image. By leveraging these advanced features, you can create a more customized and powerful image selection experience for your users and streamline your app’s workflow. Handling Image Compression and Optimization Flutter Image Picker provides options for compressing and optimizing images to reduce their size without sacrificing quality. You can use the ‘compress’ and ‘maxWidth’ properties to specify the resulting image file’s compression quality and maximum width. You can also use the ‘imageQuality’ property to control

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Flutter Choice Chip: A Beginner’s Guide to Adding Filtering and Sorting to Your App

You might have seen little icon buttons in apps that we select and unselect by tapping them. A common example would be those interests (sports, games, education) that some social media apps like Twitter and Pinterest ask you to select when you create an account. The Flutter Choice Chip widget helps build beautiful and responsive user interfaces. The ChoiceChip is a material design widget representing a set of options a user can choose from.  In this article, we will explore the ChoiceChip widget in detail and learn how to use it in Flutter. We will cover the basics of ChoiceChip, how to customize it, and how to use it in a group. Overall, this will be a complete guide to the ChoiceChip widget in Flutter, making it easier for developers to build beautiful and interactive user interfaces. Getting Started With Flutter Choice Chip Widget The Flutter Choice Chip widget is a powerful tool for creating user interfaces that allow users to select from a set of options. It is a helpful widget that makes the selections easy and enhances the user experience.  To start using the ChoiceChip widget, we must first enable Material3 from the themeData. Here is how you do it: Now, you need to store the chip’s status, whether selected or unselected. For that, we use a variable and set the value of isChipSelected to true or false. The value of this variable can either be true or false. The variable will function according to the value of isChipSelected the property. If its value is true, the chip will be selected; if its value is false, it is unselected. Creating a ChoiceChip To create a ChoiceChip, you need to use the ChoiceChip constructor. The constructor requires a label parameter that specifies the text to display on the ChoiceChip. Here’s an example of how to create a simple ChoiceChip: Flutter Choice Chip Example Here is the choice chip example for the code provided above. You can see the default choice chip has been added to the app. You can also see the chip gets selected when we tap it. Output Multiple Choice Chip Flutter In some cases, we need to add multiple chips for users to choose from. Take an MCQ as an example. Let’s use the ChoiceChip widget to accept multiple choices in Flutter. 😉 Here, we will be answering a question having multiple choices to choose from. Let’s see how to deal with multiple-choice chip Flutter. Firstly, we stored the options of the question using ‘_availableChoices.’ After that, we must store the selected answer using a string as String _selected.  You might be wondering where the question is. 😛 So, we use a const variable and a text widget inside it to display the question we want. Like this: Here comes the actual step where we need to render the answer. For that, we create a new variable and save its value by calling the value from the answer list as: To make sure that the answer stored at selected is equal to the choice,  assign ‘choice’ to the selected property as _selected == choice,. Results We use the if else statement to manage the single chip selection. If you tap a choice chip that is already selected, the selected value will become null and you’ll have no option as selected.  Similarly, if no option is selected, the else statement will store the value of the selected chip you tap on. Here is what the code looks like: Next, we need to create children according to the number of answers in the list. We use ‘itemCount’ property to declare the number of children as: Single Select Choice Chip Flutter In Flutter, sometimes, we might need to select a single option from a set of options.  The Single Select Choice Chip provides a simple and intuitive user interface for selecting one value among many. Let us learn how to create a single select flutter choice chip with an example code. Now, we can create a Single Select Choice Chip widget by using the following code: In this example, we have created a list of options and an integer variable _selectedIndex to keep track of the selected option. We have used the List.generate method to generate a list of ChoiceChip widgets for each option in the _options list. Furthermore, we have set the selected property of the ChoiceChip to true for the selected option and false for the rest. We have also added an onSelected callback function to handle user interactions with the ChoiceChip. The onSelected function updates the value of _selectedIndex with the index of the selected option and triggers a rebuild of the widget to update the UI. Moreover, we can customize the ChoiceChip widget’s appearance by using properties such as labelStyle, backgroundColor, selectedColor, etc. Customizing Flutter ChoiceChip The ChoiceChip widget in Flutter provides several properties that you can use to customize its appearance. Customization helps improve the UI of your app tailored to the end-users’ needs.  This section explores some of the most commonly used properties for customizing the ChoiceChip widget. Changing the Text Style To change the text style of the ChoiceChip label, you can use the label style property. This property takes a TextStyle object, which allows you to customize the text’s font, size, color, and other aspects. Here’s an example of how to change the text style of a ChoiceChip: Changing the Background Color To change the background color of the ChoiceChip, you can use the backgroundColor property. This property takes a Color object and sets the background color of the ChoiceChip. Here’s an example of how to change the background color of a ChoiceChip: Flutter Choice Chip Selected Text Color You can use the property to change the selected text color of a Choice Chip widget in Flutter. This property takes an TextStyle object, which you can use to customize the selected chip’s text color, font size, font weight, and other text-related properties. Here’s an example code snippet that demonstrates how

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Flutter Provider: An In-Depth Look at Streamlining Data Management in Flutter

You might have heard of state management in Flutter. This allows the UI to be rebuilt based on the app’s current state. Flutter Provider helps you manage and share data in your Flutter app. It’s a state management solution offered by the Flutter framework, making keeping your app’s data in sync easy.  With Flutter Provider, you can store and retrieve data, update it in real time, and access it from anywhere in your app. Overall, Flutter Provider simplifies data management and streamlines the development process.  In this blog, we will introduce and explain the Flutter Provider package and its role in Flutter app development. The post will provide an overview of what Flutter Provider is, how it works, and why it’s important for managing state in Flutter applications. The post will also guide readers through implementing Flutter Provider in a Flutter app, including step-by-step instructions and Flutter provider examples.  So, hold the reins tight, and let’s jump right into the blog. 😉 What is Flutter Provider? Flutter Provider is a state management solution for Flutter applications. It provides a simple way to manage the application state and share it across multiple widgets, making it easy to access the data where it’s needed. You store the data in a central location called the provider and access it from anywhere in your app. Whenever the data changes, the provider updates it, keeping your app’s data consistent and up-to-date.  The Provider package is based on the concept of Inherited Widgets and provides a way to propagate data changes throughout the widget tree. It uses a reactive programming approach and allows developers to listen to changes in the state and automatically rebuild parts of the UI that depend on that state. This way, the state management in Flutter is done effectively. Let’s create a Flutter provider and see how to use it within your application. How to Use a Provider Package Flutter? To create a provider, we must register it and then get that provider’s instance. After that, we can also get that provider’s instance on any other page. Let’s do this practically. 😉  As we create a counter-provider, we must display the value of the count defined in the CounterProvider. For that, we use the text widget and define the parameters like TextStyle, font size, and fontWeight. As you can see, the code here: Text( ‘You have pushed the button ${provider.count.toString()} times’, style: const TextStyle( fontSize: 20, fontWeight: FontWeight.w500, ), ), The next step is to call the increment function defined in the Counter provider. See the code: At times, we might need to get the same state of a provider on more than one page. For that, we call the context of that provider on any page we want to. You can see this in the code below. As we displayed the value of the count on the first page, we will need to do that for the second page as well. Here is the code: Now, here comes the last step, which is defining the provider. We define the attributes and functions according to the requirements. In our case, we specify the count to start from 0 and call the increment counter using ‘count++’. Output As you can see in the above screenshots, the counter shows the exact number of times you tap. The same state appears on the second page as we get it fetched there. I hope that you’ve understood how the provider works. Now let’s get into more details Related post: Best State Management Packages for Flutter Importance of State Management in Flutter App Development State management is crucial in Flutter app development because it helps you organize and sync your app’s data. It ensures that the data you store in one part of your app is accessible and up-to-date in other parts of the app as well. Without proper state management, your app’s data could become difficult to manage, leading to bugs and other issues. State management techniques like Flutter Provider ensure your app’s data is consistent, organized, and easy to work with. How does Flutter Provider compare to other state management solutions in Flutter? Flutter Provider is one of many state management options for Flutter. Developers like it because it’s easy to use and an efficient way of state management in Flutter. Other options include BLoC, ScopedModel, and Redux, each with its own strengths. Flutter Provider stands out for being simple and flexible enough to handle complex data structures. What are the benefits of using Flutter Provider? Flutter Provider has several benefits to use within app development. First, it’s part of the Flutter framework, so it’s easy to add to any project. Second, it’s lightweight, fast, and simple, making it a good choice for small to medium projects. And third, it’s flexible enough to handle complex data, making it a great choice for more complex projects. Provider flutter can keep your app’s data organized, consistent, and manageable, leading to fewer bugs and a more efficient development process. A Step-by-step Process to Implement Flutter Provider in a Flutter App Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to implement Flutter Provider in a Flutter app: Step 1: Add the provider package to your pubspec.yaml file. Step 2: Create a new dart file to store your data (e.g. data.dart). Step 3: In the data file, create a class to store your data and extend it from ChangeNotifier. Step 4: In your main.dart file, wrap your entire app with a ChangeNotifierProvider. Step 5: Access the data from your provider using the Consumer widget. Step 6: Update the data by calling notifyListeners() on your provider. Finally, you are good to go. What is the difference between ChangeNotifierProvider and Consumer widgets?   The ChangeNotifierProvider is the main widget you use to store your data. It’s responsible for holding your data and updating it whenever it changes. The Consumer widget is used to access the data from your provider. You wrap your widgets with the Consumer widget to access the data and update the

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Introduction to Flutter Chip Widget: A Guide to Better User Experience

The filter chip in Flutter is a small, compact UI element that allows users to select one or multiple options from a set of choices. We use the Flutter chip widget in applications to enable the filtering of data and the selection of multiple items. In this blog post, we will explore the concept of filter chips in Flutter, their use cases, and the various customizations we can make to them with practical examples. Let’s first get to know what are chips in Flutter. What is Filter Chip Widget in Flutter? Filter chips are small, circular, or rectangular UI elements representing a category, attribute, or filter. You can select or deselect them and the selected options are displayed as active chips. The options represented by the chips are usually predefined, and the user can choose one or multiple options to filter data. The options can be anything from simple values like colors, sizes, or brands to more complex ones like dates, locations, or categories. Why Use Filter Chips? Filter chips provide a simple and intuitive way for users to filter data and select multiple options. These chips are helpful in applications that need to filter large amounts of data, such as e-commerce applications, where the user needs to filter products based on various criteria. Moreover, we can also use filter chips in navigation menus, where the user can select different categories or filters to view specific data types. The compact size of filter chips easily places them in a compact area, making them ideal for mobile applications. Additionally, they provide a visual indication of the selected options, making it easy for users to see the filters they have applied. Let’s create a simple chip using the FilterChip widget. How to Create Filter Chips in Flutter? To create a chip in Flutter, FillterChip widget. We have created a simple chip with default arguments. You can see the code below. Output Customizing Filter Chip Widget in Flutter In Flutter, we can customize filter chips in several ways including size, shape, color, and text style. The following are some of the customizations that we can make to filter chips in Flutter. 1. Shape The shape property can customize the filter chips to be either circular or rectangular. The default shape is circular, but you can create rectangular chips by setting the shape property of the Chip widget to be RoundedRectangleBorder. Let us customize filter chips using different shape properties of the chip widget. Here, we are adding border radius to the chip. Output Now, if you want to assign any color to the border of the chip, you can do that using side: const BorderSide(color command. See the code and the outputs below. Output As you can see, the filter has a border around it. It has a black color and you can change it to any color using any other color in BorderSide(Color. Colors.black). 2. Color We can customize the color of the filter chips to match the overall color scheme of the application. The chips’ backgroundColor property can set the chips’ background color. Similarly, we can change the color of the text using the textStyle property. Let’s make tweaks to the Flutter chip widget using the color property. As you can see in the code above, the backgroundColor will be applied when Chip is not selected and selectedColor will be applied when the chip is selected. Here are the results. Output 3. Elevation This property of the chip widget holds the double value as it elevates the height of the chip. This forms a shadow under the chip you place anywhere in the app. Let’s see this with the help of an example. 4. Visual Density The visual density property of the flutter chip widget defines the compactness of a component in the UI. It is a unitless property as it has different tweaks to do with the UI components. The value range for horizontal and vertical attributes for VisualDensity is between -4 to 4. This means that you can set any value from -4 to 4. Here, we are assigning both vertical and horizontal values as -4. Let’s see how it looks. Output As you can see, the filter chip has a more compact look than before. 5. Size We can also customize the size of filter chips by setting the height and width properties. These properties are useful when you need to fit the chips into a specific area or when you want to make the chips larger or smaller to match the design of your application. 6. Text Style You can customize the text style of the filter chips using the TextStyle property of the FilterChip widget. This property includes changing the font family, size, color, and text weight by using the Flutter template available within the library. 7. labelStyle and checkmarkColor In Flutter, the label property of a FilterChip widget specifies the text that appears on the chip. It also represents a filter in a UI. Similarly, the labeSyle and checkmarkColor properties of the FilterChip widget are used to customize the appearance of a chip. The labelStyle property determines the style of the text displayed on the chip. This property can be set to an TextStyle object, which allows you to specify the font size, color, font weight, etc. of the text. Let’s see an example. In the above code example, the text displayed on the chip is set to blue and the checkmark that appears when the chip is selected is also set to blue. These properties allow you to customize the appearance of the FilterChip widget to better match your app’s design. 8. On-Press Animation You can customize the on-press animation of the filter chips to provide feedback to the user when they select or deselect a chip. We can set the on-press animation using the splashColor and highlightColor properties. All the fuss aside, it’s very important to know the different types of chips in flutter. Here are the types of FilterChips. Different Types of Chips In Flutter,

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What’s New in Flutter 3.7: A Comprehensive Guide

Flutter has just rolled out a new update that brings amazing features and improvements to the framework. Flutter 3.7 update is available now, and you should be upgrading to it real quick. Today, we will be taking a closer look at the new update and exploring what it means for the future of Flutter and developers as well. On January 25th, at the Flutter Forward event, Google released the new version of Flutter, where guests from Google, community members, flutter contributors, and all the tech geeks gathered to witness this action-packed event. Flutter 3.7 is a stable release, meaning that it is suitable for production use and is supported by Google for an extended period of time. This release focuses on improving the framework’s performance, stability, and developer productivity.  Let’s first give you a sneak preview of what this update has for us, and later on, we will discuss the major additions in detail. A Complete Overview of Flutter 3.7 Update Flutter released its latest stable version, Flutter 3.7, on January 25, 2023. It developed amazing new features and enhancements to help developers build intuitive apps. Let’s talk about some major moves one by one. Take, for instance, Material 3. The comment, floating action, and icon buttons are way better than those in Material 2, the old one. The cards have rounded corners bigger than before. The same goes with the navigation drawer; it has rounded corners now it hadn’t in material 2.  The bottom navigation bar and chip selection widgets now have a more sleek and clean design. Similarly, the stepper widget has toggle buttons looking cleaner and more improved than material 2. The next cool thing in Flutter 3.7 is the custom context menus. We can add a custom context menu anywhere in our application, whether a text selection toolbar or a widget. Moreover, the text selection has been improved within the scrolling context. A magnifying glass when we select text on iOS and Android.  Furthermore, we can now add menu bars and cascading menus. You can also blur the platform view backgrounds. And one more good news is that the issue with the animation jank on iOS devices has also decreased.   Want to hear more? Well, Flutter added a new package named the “FlexColorScheme” package. It has over 50 pre-built themes that you can easily customize. Interestingly, there is an online playground that you can use to test everything out. In addition, you can customize the widgets, copy the theme code, and use it within your app directly. That’s time-saving. What’s New in Flutter 3.7 Update? This year, flutter came up with useful features and awesome announcements that have made Flutter look different. You probably expected this update to be a disaster, but Flutter proved us all wrong. There are some cool features in Flutter 3.7 update you don’t want to miss. The additions are Material 3, Dart 3, adaptive layout, impeller preview, and 3D support. Let’s take a closer look at each of them. Enhanced Material 3 Support Material 3 has been added to the Flutter framework, several new widgets have been added like inkwell widget, flutter google map and the old ones have been updated. There is a brand new Material 3 demo app that you can check out with every single supported widget. Now you have more things to use in Material 3. 😉  A FlexColorScheme Package is added to Material 3, which has multiple pre-built themes. You can customize these themes according to your needs and copy the code to use in your app. Material 3 has elements, icons, buttons, cards, etc., having improved designs that offer a new perspective to the ones available in Material 2.  If you want to include Material 3 in your application, you’ll need to set the useMaterial3 property to true in the theme data of your material app. The Inception of Dart 3 Now, let’s talk about Dart 3. Dart 3 is a major release slated to be out around mid-2023. This version of the dart will be the most productive, portable, and approachable version of Dart until now. Surprisingly, you can relish the alpha version of Dart 3 as it’s not officially released yet. It’s called Dart 3A, the alpha version of Dart. The Dart 3 will support pattern matching, a highly demanding feature for a long time. Sometimes, you might need the function to return multiple values and types. This wasn’t possible back then. You would normally return values on a list tuple for a class. Now with Dart 3, you can return multiple values of different types using a new built-in collection type called records.  Furthermore, we might need to destructure these values too. In that case, we can discard it by adding an underscore. In addition, we can also use these patterns to match the type and individual fields of each type.  Impeller Preview One of Flutter’s most exciting additions in this update is the new Impeller, a graphics rendering engine. It is now available for preview on iOS on the stable channel. The Impeller’s performance is likely to meet or exceed the Skia renderer’s for most apps. In terms of fidelity, Impeller implements all but a small number of rarely used corner cases. Hopefully, a future stable release of iOS will include Impeller as the default renderer.  There are still a few API gaps in Impeller, despite meeting the rendering needs of most existing Flutter apps on iOS. It’s possible that users may also notice minor visual differences in rendering between Skia and Impeller. If you notice such differences, please do not hesitate to file an issue on GitHub. While Flutter has made significant progress on a Vulkan backend for Impeller, with a fallback to OpenGL on older devices, Impeller on Android is not yet ready for preview. The team is actively working on Android support, and we hope to have more information on support for desktop and web in future releases. Custom Fragment Shaders Another interesting feature to look out

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A Quick Guide to Cupertino Date Picker in Flutter

You might have seen a menu in the apps that allow you to select the date by scrolling through the day, month, and year. That’s the date picker, in technical terms. Being a Flutter developer, you might be concerned about learning how to create a date picker in Flutter. In this blog, we will cover everything you need to know about the Cupertino date picker in Flutter. Before moving forward, let’s get to know what Cupertino Flutter is. What is Cupertino in Flutter? Cupertino in Flutter refers to the collection of widgets and styles similar to the look and feel of Apple’s iOS design. It includes widgets such as CupertinoButton, CupertinoAlertDialog, and CupertinoNavigationBar, which we use to create an app that closely resembles an iOS app. The Cupertino library is part of the Flutter framework that helps create cross-platform apps that look and feel like native iOS apps.  So what’s this Cupertino date picker? Let’s get to know. 😉 Cupertino Date Picker in Flutter The Cupertino date picker in Flutter is a user interface (UI) element that allows users to select a date from a calendar-like layout. This picker is designed to be similar to the date picker found in iOS, making it a great option for developers looking to create apps with a similar aesthetic. You will first need to set up a new project to start with the Cupertino date picker in Flutter. Once your project is set up, you can incorporate the Cupertino date picker flutter into your app layout. Let’s see an example of date pickers so that you can better understand how they work.  Flutter Date Picker Example Here we will create a Cupertino date picker using CupertinoDatePickerMode.date property. It will give you the option to choose a date.  Here is the code. Output How to Customize date picker in Flutter? Customizing the appearance of the Cupertino date picker is relatively simple. You can change the flutter date picker color, adjust the font size and alignment of the text, and change the picker’s background color. Additionally, you can add and customize the “Done” and “Cancel” buttons at the picker’s bottom. Isn’t it interesting? 😍 You must agree. When implementing the Cupertino date picker in your app layout, it is important to consider your app’s overall design and flow. You should place the date picker in an appropriate location that is easily accessible to the user. Additionally, it should be designed so that it doesn’t take up too much space and doesn’t interfere with the other elements on the screen. How to Change Flutter Date Picker Color? By default, flutter shows a transparent color of the date picker modal popup menu. You may need to change that as well since your app screen might have a color that makes the modal popup less visible or for any other reason. So how do you change the flutter date picker color?  For that, you need to assign any other color from the backgroundColor property as you can see in the code below. backgroundColor: Colors.blueGrey, Output You should value that creating a seamless user experience with the Flutter custom date picker is about providing users with a clear and intuitive interface that is easy to navigate. This can be accomplished by highlighting the selected date, providing clear and concise instructions, and allowing users to navigate the different months and years easily. 👉 Flutter goolge map marker Advanced Features of the Cupertino Date Picker We can use the Flutter date range picker in conjunction with other widgets in your app to create a dynamic and responsive user interface. For example, you can use the date picker with a time picker to allow users to select both the date and time. You can also use the date picker in conjunction with other UI elements to create more advanced functionality, such as the ability to create recurring events. Tips and tricks for optimizing the performance of the Cupertino date picker include using the picker in conjunction with other widgets and elements in your app and being mindful of the overall design and layout. It’s also important to test the performance of the picker on different devices and in different scenarios to ensure that it is functioning as intended. Conclusion One of the key benefits of using the Cupertino date range picker in your app is that it provides a consistent and familiar interface for users. This can help to improve the overall user experience, as users are more likely to know how to interact with the date picker if it is similar to what they are used to. Additionally, the Cupertino date picker is highly customizable, allowing developers to easily adjust its appearance to match their app’s overall design. This was it for the guide to Cupertino Flutter, and we tried to cover it up as much as possible. If you still have any questions or suggestions, you can ask away. Or you can hire Flutter developers to help you solve the complex technical issues you might be facing with your app and turn it into a substantial product. Thank you for standing by! See you in the next blog. 😉

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Dart Constructors – A Complete Guide

If you’re new to flutter or want to know the basics of Dart programming languages to start off app development then you just landed in the right place. In this blog, we will be discussing in detail the dart constructors, what are their types, what are they used for, and everything you need to know about constructors in Dart. So, let’s begin. 😉 In the Dart programming language, constructors are special methods used to generate and initialize objects of a class. Where a class is a sketch or a map that holds the specific data or logic about a particular object that you create. What are Dart Constructors? Dart constructors have the sole purpose of initializing an object. Moreover, the constructors in Dart have the same technicality as that of a class in flutter. It has different parameters to be defined. They are used by developers to specify initial values for an object’s properties and are called when an object is created with the “new” keyword. Constructors are an important part of object-oriented programming used in most modern programming languages. We utilize constructors in a manner similar to that of other object-oriented programming languages. With the help of Dart constructors, it provides developers with a few other constructors named default constructors, factory constructors, and named constructors. Code Example 2. Dart Named Constructors With named constructors, we can give the Constructor a name as you cannot use multiple constructors with the same name. For this purpose, Dart introduced a new constructor known as “named constructor”. These are useful when you wish to offer various ways to create an object. For example, you can develop a constructor that initializes an object with a car_name and car_color and another constructor that initializes an object with only a name. For defining a named constructor in a class, you can use the “constructor” keyword, which will follow the name of the Constructor. Code Example The Example.first() will call the “named constructor” and the “e” variable will print the output. 3. Factory Constructors in Dart Factory constructors are constructors that follow the pattern of factory design. They use the `Factory` keyword as a constructor. It doesn’t provide a new instance of the class or create a new instance of a class. Instead, it returns the existing instance of a subclass or a new instance of a subclass based on the argument passed in. A factory constructor must use the `return` keyword in order to return an object. Code Example The above factory constructor with the “factory” keyword will return the instance of the subclass. 4. Constant Constructors in Dart In Dart programming language, you can also use constant constructors. It means that If you create a class with an object, you cannot alter it. We call the constant constructors with the `const` keyword. The constant constructors must initialize the properties of objects with constant values. Code Example 5. Parameterized Constructors The process of passing parameters to the Constructor is known as parameterized constructors. The parameterized constructors only take one or more parameters. They are used to pass value to an object’s properties when it’s created. The parameterized constructors can either be named constructors or default constructors. Code Example 6. Redirecting Constructors The redirect constructors are constructors that call another constructor within the same class. The redirect construct is defined using the `: this ()` notation; on the other hand, the Constructor is called with `this ()` notation. Code Example What is the use of this keyword constructor in Dart? In constructors, the `this` keyword is used to refer to the current instance of a class. It’s used to initialize the properties of an object when it’s created. The `this` keyword is used in the body of the Constructor to pass the Constructor’s parameter values to the respective properties of the class. Conclusion That’s all about constructors in Dart. Hopefully, you will find this article informative. We continuously share valuable information and guides related to Flutter app development. You will find plenty of helpful information on our blog. Flutter constructors are a vital part of OOP in Dart, and understanding the role of constructors in Dart can help you write better and more efficient code. By mastering the use of constructors, you can better your code’s performance, maintainability, and security. To read other interesting blogs about Flutter app development, stay in touch with us. Or you can hire flutter developers to turn any of your complex business ideas into real-world applications. Thank you for being there. See you in the next blog. 😉

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Flutter GridView: A Quick Overview 2024

Apps and websites often display data in the grid view. You may have seen the menu on some mobiles or an image gallery on websites where elements are arranged across rows and columns. To implement such an arrangement of items in mobile apps, there is a Flutter GridView widget.   GridView widget lists components in a grid layout. It lets developers create scrolling interface grids that can be easily customized to meet their needs. Read on to learn how to add grids to your next Flutter application. What is Flutter GridView and Why Use it in Your Apps? As stated before, GridView is a Flutter widget that arranges items as a 2D array within rows and columns. Unlike lists that add items in a single direction, grids, like tables, render data vertically and horizontally.  Here is the code snippet to run GridView in your app: You can define the number of columns in the gridDelegate property that will determine how items are arranged in the grid.  Here I want to clarify one concept regarding main and cross axes. As you scroll up and down, the main axis is in the vertical direction, whereas the cross axis is horizontal. The grid layout arranges items on the main and cross axes. You can change the scrolling direction with the scrollDirection property.  Now coming back to the example I was discussing above, if you change the value of crossAxixCount to 4, it will place items in four columns instead of two.  You might wonder, what advantages would you gain by placing elements in the grid using the widget? The grid format is a time-honored UX design that offers a user-friendly experience. With GridView, you can comfortably display images, videos, and other components to satisfy the specific need of the app.  Another notable benefit, and perhaps the most significant, is the level of flexibility that it imparts to the design. You can define the number of columns, and the items will automatically take up the available space on the screen. Each time you alter the number of columns, the layout will change accordingly.  GridView is also capable of handling large amounts of data. By using lazy loading, the widget only loads the currently visible items on the screen. This will improve performance and reduce memory usage. Additionally, you may be interested in reading: How to Add Space Between Rows? Easy Way to Do It. GridView Widget Properties Before we start implementing the Flutter GridView widget, let us first look at its common properties: crossAxisSpacing This property allows you to add space between elements on the cross-axis. In a vertical scroll direction, the space appears on the horizontal axis. mainAxisSpacing The mainAxixSpacing property adds the space in the scroll direction, whether it is in the vertical or horizontal direction.  scrollDirection As stated before, the direction of scrolling can be set with this property. You can change the scroll direction from up down to left-right.  How to Implement Flutter GridView in Your App GridView class helps to arrange the components nicely in the grid. Here is how you can use the FlutterGridView: Implementation of flutter GridView in your app: You can also use GridView.builder to add grids in your app. Here is how you can incorporate it: What is GridTile and How to Use it With Flutter GridView? By using GridTile, we can create tiles that contain rich content (text, images, and icons). Tiles usually contain both visual content (such as an image) and a GridTileBar in the header or footer. Implementation: GridView.builder for Displaying an Infinite Number of Items In some instances, you may have to show a large number of items in the grid layout. For this purpose, you need GridView.builder() constructor.  Implementation:  How to Display Grids on Larger Screens  Due to recent developments in Flutter, you can now create apps for desktop and web. To maintain your app’s user-friendliness, you should ensure that it is fully responsive on larger screens.  You can make the grid layout responsive by implementing this code.  You can also add GridView with maxcrossAxisExtent in the responsiveness section like this:

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What is No-code App Development? Its Benefits and Limitations

As another year begins, digital establishments will likely and surely take on a more advanced shift. Newer technologies are going to be in action (which already are) and the race to ace the market will be held too. Owing to this, no-code app development is going to have a definite push.  As AI is rolling out, people are being more attracted to effortless gains and completing their tasks within minutes or even seconds rather than putting their hours or days into a single task.  In this blog, we will discover this amazing terminology (that frightens developers) called no code app development. What is no-code App Development? No-code app development is a method of building software applications without writing any code. It has gained popularity in recent years as a way for non-technical individuals and businesses to create their own custom applications and automate various tasks.  With the rise of low-code and no code platforms, it is now possible for anyone to develop and deploy their own apps without the need for programming skills. Are you excited about the automated world coming ahead? You would be. Or maybe not 😛 who knows. Wondering what platforms would be responsible for this automation? Let’s get to know about them. No-code app development platforms No code app development platforms are online tools that provide a user-friendly interface for building and deploying custom apps. These platforms typically come with a set of pre-built templates and modules that users can drag and drop to build their app. Some popular no-code app development platforms include Webflow, Bubble, and Appy Pie. Benefits of no code app development: There are several benefits of using code-free app development platforms for building apps hassle-free. Here are some of them to be discussed: Okay, so, what’s more? Let’s be lenient, transparent, and more honest and figure out what could be the setbacks of no-code app development. Limitations of no code app development: While no-code app development platforms offer many benefits, there are also some limitations to consider: Tips for successful No-code app development: 1) Plan ahead Before building your app, it’s important to carefully plan out your desired features and functionality. This will help you to make the most of the tools and resources available on the no-code app development platform you are using. 2) Test and iterate As with any software development project, it’s important to test your app thoroughly and make any necessary changes and improvements. No code app development platforms often come with built-in testing tools, which can be used to identify any issues and make necessary changes before deploying the app. 3) Use templates and modules No-code app development platforms come with a range of templates and modules that can be used to build your app. These templates and modules are pre-built with common features and functionality and can save you time and effort in building your app. 4) Leverage Documentation and Support Resources: Most no-code app development platforms provide documentation and support resources to help users build and deploy their apps. These resources can be invaluable for answering questions and troubleshooting issues. 5) Consider integration options: If you need to integrate your app with other systems or platforms, it’s important to consider the integration options available on the no code app development platform you are using. Some platforms may offer a range of integration options, while others may be more limited. Wrap Up No-code app development is a powerful tool for non-technical individuals and businesses to build and deploy custom apps without the need for coding skills. While there are limitations to consider, no code app development platforms offer many benefits, including time-saving, cost-effectiveness, user-friendliness, and scalability.  You can follow best practices, such as planning ahead, testing and iterating, and leveraging the templates and modules to successfully build and deploy your own app using a no code app development platform. Moreover, if you’re looking to hire flutter developers from a reputed Flutter app development company to build an app for your business then you can count on us. We have a proven track record of providing result-oriented app development services to businesses worldwide. You can have a glimpse of our app development portfolio to have a better demonstration of our work. 

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