How to Accomplish Speed of Application Development with Flutter

Flutter is a powerful and efficient framework to accomplish high Speed of Development of mobile web and desktop applications. Here are some tips to help you achieve speed in your Flutter application development:

0. Follow a guideline, single approach on doing things and enforce it endlessly

When things are done in specific way in every project, module, screen, widget, library, whatever – it will ease things in several ways. One of the items is the onboarding of new developers, as every task will be similar to the previous.

1. Use a Code Editor with Auto-Completion & Code Generation

A code editor like Visual Studio Code (VS Code), IntelliJ IDEA, or Android Studio with Flutter plugin can save you a lot of time by providing auto-completion suggestions. I myself have contributed some work to a plugin (rx_bloc) that generates stuff based on the enforced rx_bloc ecosystem.

2. Use Flutter’s Built-in Widgets

Many times it is better to use as minimal plugins as possible. Flutter comes with a wide range of built-in widgets that can be used to create the UI components needed by customer. This way you will have licence and development control over them.

3. Use Flutter’s Hot Reload & Hot Restart Features

Flutter’s hot reload feature allows you to see the changes in your code without restarting the app. This can save a lot of time and make development faster. Hot restart allows you to reset the state and reboot the app, but only the Flutter part, and not the whole underlying platform. This saves time and you will be able to retest app reboot.

5. Use Flutter’s Built-in Navigation

Flutter comes with a built-in navigation stack system that can be used to navigate between screens. Use it instead of creating custom navigation logic or external library – especially for the simple apps.

Example Code

Here is an example of how you can use Flutter’s built-in widgets to create a simple UI component:

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() {
  runApp(MyApp());
}

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      home: Scaffold(
        appBar: AppBar(
          title: Text('Hello, World!'),
        ),
        body: Center(
          child: Text('This is a simple UI component.'),
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

Example Use Case for Navigation

Here is an example of how you can use Flutter’s built-in navigation to navigate between screens:

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() {
  runApp(MyApp());
}

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      home: HomeScreen(),
    );
  }
}

class HomeScreen extends StatelessWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(
        title: Text('Home Screen'),
      ),
      body: Center(
        child: ElevatedButton(
          onPressed: () {
            Navigator.push(
              context,
              MaterialPageRoute(builder: (context) => DetailsScreen()),
            );
          },
          child: Text('Go to details screen'),
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

class DetailsScreen extends StatelessWidget {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(
        title: Text('Details Screen'),
      ),
      body: Center(
        child: Text('This is the details screen.'),
      ),
    );
  }
}

6. Use Flutter’s Built-in State Management

Flutter comes with a built-in state management system that can be used to manage screen states and app wide state. I’ve written in the past about it https://programtom.com/dev/2024/10/17/minimal-flutter-code-to-extract-state-from-statefulwidget/

7. Use Flutter’s Built-in Networking

Flutter Platform developers have a base package – http, that gives you full control over the HTTP requests. Depending on your needs, it may be easier to use it instead of dio or chopper

Conclusion

Flutter’s built-in features and tools can help you achieve speed in your application development. By using these features, you can save time and focus on creating a high-quality app.