Open-source has changed the manner in which software is written and distributed. It has played a significant role in making software development simple, fun and more approachable. Flutter is an open-source cross-platform mobile app development platform having a wide developer’s community that puts efforts to make it successful. Mobile application developer community grasped Flutter so rapidly that there are a lot of open-source packages for it in an extremely short timespan.
Libraries and packages reduce the time required for development as developers don’t need to develop from scratch for trivial functionalities. Use of right packages eases the things like HTTP calls and image caching. Here we’ll see top 10 libraries and packages for flutter app development.
Top 10 Libraries For Flutter Development-
1. GetIt-
It is one of the most preferred and useful Flutter libraries that implements the service locator pattern and makes dependency injection breeze. Also it is necessary to follow a fixed pattern and also run through the same package frequently to make it unique, and the software does not get confused with file segregation.
Most Common Usage:
- To access service objects like REST API clients, databases
- Access View/AppModels/Managers/BLoCs from Flutter Views
2. rxdart-
It is a reactive functional programming library for Google Dart based on ReactiveX. Google Dart has come up with amazing Streams API to provide alternative API to add ExDart functionality on top of it.
How to use RxDart-
import 'package:rxdart/rxdart.dart';
void main() {
const konamiKeyCodes = const [
KeyCode.UP,
KeyCode.UP,
KeyCode.DOWN,
KeyCode.DOWN,
KeyCode.LEFT,
KeyCode.RIGHT,
KeyCode.LEFT,
KeyCode.RIGHT,
KeyCode.B,
KeyCode.A,
];
final result = querySelector('#result');
document.onKeyUp
.map((event) => event.keyCode)
.bufferCount(10, 1) // An extension method provided by rxdart
.where((lastTenKeyCodes) => const IterableEquality().equals(lastTenKeyCodes, konamiKeyCodes))
.listen((_) => result.innerHtml = 'KONAMI!');3. URL Launcher-
It helps to add plugin to every page. While building up a website or program there are some predefined schemas that perform various functions through it in a mobile software that is activated by ios and android too. These codes help to operate the page through a programming language. It is more useful when you want the OS to handle the URL for you. It supports multiple URL schemas like HTTP, mailto, SMS and so on.
4. package_info-
Package info plugin is used to fetch the data about the application’s version and other related things. This package is useful to check the app’s version at runtime and perform some tasks accordingly.
Usage-
import 'package:package_info/package_info.dart';
PackageInfo packageInfo = await PackageInfo.fromPlatform();
String appName = packageInfo.appName;
String packageName = packageInfo.packageName;
String version = packageInfo.version;
String buildNumber = packageInfo.buildNumber;5. Cached network image-
This flutter library helps to save the image information in the cache when it is viewed on the Internet from your device. It is created to use with placeholder and error widgets. It comes with sane-defaults along with many customization options so that you can start to use it right away. It is highly recommended for building eCommerce and similar apps.
How to use-
The CachedNetworkImage can be used directly or through the ImageProvider. With a placeholder.
CachedNetworkImage(
imageUrl: "http://via.placeholder.com/350x150"'
placeholder: (context, url) => CircularProgressIndicator(),
errorWidget: (context, url, error) => Icon(Icons.error),
),6. LocalAuth-
It provides ways to perform local and on-device authentication. These authentication methods refer to biometric authentication i.e. Touch ID APIs for iOS and fingerprint APIs for Android. It is beneficial to secure the app and its data. It has support for two types of biometric authentication.
- Face biometric authentication
- Fingerprint biometric authentication
7. Path Provider-
This plugin is useful to find commonly used locations on the filesystem. When using SQFlite library, this plugin can be used to get the database path. It supports both internal and external storage and provides seamless methods to get the desired directories like private and documents. It must be used with the permissions handler package to check for authorizations prior to getting to the filesystem.
8. Intro slider-
You can use this plugin to build an interactive and impactful introduction Flutter app. With this plugin, Flutter developers can build an appealing introductory section using various animations and patterns. With various parameters, you can easily customize the look and feel of the slider. It is useful flutter library that helps to design and develop the introductory section easy and fast.
