Flutter for React Native developers

This document is for React Native (RN) developers looking to apply their existing RN knowledge to build mobile apps with Flutter. If you understand the fundamentals of the RN framework then you can use this document as a way to get started learning Flutter development.

This document can be used as a cookbook by jumping around and finding questions that are most relevant to your needs.

Like React Native, Flutter uses reactive-style views. However, while RN transpiles to native widgets, Flutter compiles all the way to native code. Flutter controls each pixel on the screen, which avoids performance problems caused by the need for a JavaScript bridge.

Dart is an easy language to learn and offers the following features:

• Provides an open-source, scalable programming language for building web, server, and mobile apps.
• Provides an object-oriented, single inheritance language that uses a C-style syntax that is AOT-compiled into native.
• Transcompiles optionally into JavaScript.
• Supports interfaces and abstract classes.

A few examples of the differences between JavaScript and Dart are described below.

JavaScript doesn't have a pre-defined entry function—you define the entry point.

// JavaScript
function startHere() {
  // Can be used as entry point
}

In Dart, every app must have a top-level main() function that serves as the entry point to the app.

/// Dart
void main() {}

Try it out in DartPad.

To print to the console in Dart, use print().

// JavaScript
console.log('Hello world!');

/// Dart
print('Hello world!');

Try it out in DartPad.

Dart is type safe—it uses a combination of static type checking and runtime checks to ensure that a variable's value always matches the variable's static type. Although types are mandatory, some type annotations are optional because Dart performs type inference.

In JavaScript, variables cannot be typed.

In Dart, variables must either be explicitly typed or the type system must infer the proper type automatically.

// JavaScript
let name = 'JavaScript';

/// Dart
/// Both variables are acceptable.
String name = 'dart'; // Explicitly typed as a [String].
var otherName = 'Dart'; // Inferred [String] type.

Try it out in DartPad.

For more information, see Dart's Type System.

In JavaScript, uninitialized variables are undefined.

In Dart, uninitialized variables have an initial value of null. Because numbers are objects in Dart, even uninitialized variables with numeric types have the value null.

// JavaScript
let name; // == undefined

// Dart
var name; // == null; raises a linter warning
int? x; // == null

Try it out in DartPad.

For more information, see the documentation on variables.

In JavaScript, values of 1 or any non-null objects are treated as true when using the == comparison operator.

// JavaScript
let myNull = null;
if (!myNull) {
  console.log('null is treated as false');
}
let zero = 0;
if (!zero) {
  console.log('0 is treated as false');
}

In Dart, only the boolean value true is treated as true.

/// Dart
var myNull;
var zero = 0;
if (zero == 0) {
  print('use "== 0" to check zero');
}

Try it out in DartPad.

Dart and JavaScript functions are generally similar. The primary difference is the declaration.

// JavaScript
function fn() {
  return true;
}

/// Dart
/// You can explicitly define the return type.
bool fn() {
  return true;
}

Try it out in DartPad.

For more information, see the documentation on functions.

Like JavaScript, Dart supports single-threaded execution. In JavaScript, the Promise object represents the eventual completion (or failure) of an asynchronous operation and its resulting value.

Dart uses Future objects to handle this.

// JavaScript
class Example {
  _getIPAddress() {
    const url = 'https://httpbin.org/ip';
    return fetch(url)
      .then(response => response.json())
      .then(responseJson => {
        const ip = responseJson.origin;
        return ip;
      });
  }
}

function main() {
  const example = new Example();
  example
    ._getIPAddress()
    .then(ip => console.log(ip))
    .catch(error => console.error(error));
}

main();

// Dart
import 'dart:convert';

import 'package:http/http.dart' as http;

class Example {
  Future<String> _getIPAddress() {
    final url = Uri.https('httpbin.org', '/ip');
    return http.get(url).then((response) {
      final ip = jsonDecode(response.body)['origin'] as String;
      return ip;
    });
  }
}

void main() {
  final example = Example();
  example
      ._getIPAddress()
      .then((ip) => print(ip))
      .catchError((error) => print(error));
}

For more information, see the documentation on Future objects.

The async function declaration defines an asynchronous function.

In JavaScript, the async function returns a Promise. The await operator is used to wait for a Promise.

// JavaScript
class Example {
  async function _getIPAddress() {
    const url = 'https://httpbin.org/ip';
    const response = await fetch(url);
    const json = await response.json();
    const data = json.origin;
    return data;
  }
}

async function main() {
  const example = new Example();
  try {
    const ip = await example._getIPAddress();
    console.log(ip);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(error);
  }
}

main();

In Dart, an async function returns a Future, and the body of the function is scheduled for execution later. The await operator is used to wait for a Future.

// Dart
import 'dart:convert';

import 'package:http/http.dart' as http;

class Example {
  Future<String> _getIPAddress() async {
    final url = Uri.https('httpbin.org', '/ip');
    final response = await http.get(url);
    final ip = jsonDecode(response.body)['origin'] as String;
    return ip;
  }
}

/// An async function returns a `Future`.
/// It can also return `void`, unless you use
/// the `avoid_void_async` lint. In that case,
/// return `Future<void>`.
void main() async {
  final example = Example();
  try {
    final ip = await example._getIPAddress();
    print(ip);
  } catch (error) {
    print(error);
  }
}

For more information, see the documentation for async and await.

To create an app using React Native, you would run create-react-native-app from the command line.

$ create-react-native-app <projectname>

To create an app in Flutter, do one of the following:

• Use an IDE with the Flutter and Dart plugins installed.
• Use the flutter create command from the command line. Make sure that the Flutter SDK is in your PATH.

$ flutter create <projectname>

For more information, see Getting started, which walks you through creating a button-click counter app. Creating a Flutter project builds all the files that you need to run a sample app on both Android and iOS devices.

In React Native, you would run npm run or yarn run from the project directory.

You can run Flutter apps in a couple of ways:

• Use the "run" option in an IDE with the Flutter and Dart plugins.
• Use flutter run from the project's root directory.

Your app runs on a connected device, the iOS simulator, or the Android emulator.

For more information, see the Flutter Getting started documentation.

In React Native, you need to import each required component.

// React Native
import React from 'react';
import { StyleSheet, Text, View } from 'react-native';

In Flutter, to use widgets from the Material Design library, import the material.dart package. To use iOS style widgets, import the Cupertino library. To use a more basic widget set, import the Widgets library. Or, you can write your own widget library and import that.

import 'package:flutter/cupertino.dart';
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:flutter/widgets.dart';
import 'package:my_widgets/my_widgets.dart';

Whichever widget package you import, Dart pulls in only the widgets that are used in your app.

For more information, see the Flutter Widget Catalog.

In React Native, the HelloWorldApp class extends React.Component and implements the render method by returning a view component.

// React Native
import React from 'react';
import { StyleSheet, Text, View } from 'react-native';

const App = () => {
  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <Text>Hello world!</Text>
    </View>
  );
};

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    backgroundColor: '#fff',
    alignItems: 'center',
    justifyContent: 'center'
  }
});

export default App;

In Flutter, you can create an identical "Hello world!" app using the Center and Text widgets from the core widget library. The Center widget becomes the root of the widget tree and has one child, the Text widget.

// Flutter
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() {
  runApp(
    const Center(
      child: Text(
        'Hello, world!',
        textDirection: TextDirection.ltr,
      ),
    ),
  );
}

The following images show the Android and iOS UI for the basic Flutter "Hello world!" app.

Now that you've seen the most basic Flutter app, the next section shows how to take advantage of Flutter's rich widget libraries to create a modern, polished app.

In Flutter, almost everything is a widget.

Widgets are the basic building blocks of an app's user interface. You compose widgets into a hierarchy, called a widget tree. Each widget nests inside a parent widget and inherits properties from its parent. Even the application object itself is a widget. There is no separate "application" object. Instead, the root widget serves this role.

A widget can define:

• A structural element—like a button or menu
• A stylistic element—like a font or color scheme
• An aspect of layout—like padding or alignment

The following example shows the "Hello world!" app using widgets from the Material library. In this example, the widget tree is nested inside the MaterialApp root widget.

// Flutter
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() => runApp(const MyApp());

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  const MyApp({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      title: 'Welcome to Flutter',
      home: Scaffold(
        appBar: AppBar(
          title: const Text('Welcome to Flutter'),
        ),
        body: const Center(
          child: Text('Hello world'),
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

The following images show "Hello world!" built from Material Design widgets. You get more functionality for free than in the basic "Hello world!" app.

When writing an app, you'll use two types of widgets: StatelessWidget or StatefulWidget. A StatelessWidget is just what it sounds like—a widget with no state. A StatelessWidget is created once, and never changes its appearance. A StatefulWidget dynamically changes state based on data received, or user input.

The important difference between stateless and stateful widgets is that StatefulWidgets have a State object that stores state data and carries it over across tree rebuilds, so it's not lost.

In simple or basic apps it's easy to nest widgets, but as the code base gets larger and the app becomes complex, you should break deeply nested widgets into functions that return the widget or smaller classes. Creating separate functions and widgets allows you to reuse the components within the app.

In React Native, you would define a class to create a reusable component and then use props methods to set or return properties and values of the selected elements. In the example below, the CustomCard class is defined and then used inside a parent class.

// React Native
const CustomCard = ({ index, onPress }) => {
  return (
    <View>
      <Text> Card {index} </Text>
      <Button
        title="Press"
        onPress={() => onPress(index)}
      />
    </View>
  );
};

// Usage
<CustomCard onPress={this.onPress} index={item.key} />

In Flutter, define a class to create a custom widget and then reuse the widget. You can also define and call a function that returns a reusable widget as shown in the build function in the following example.

/// Flutter
class CustomCard extends StatelessWidget {
  const CustomCard({
    super.key,
    required this.index,
    required this.onPress,
  });

  final int index;
  final void Function() onPress;

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Card(
      child: Column(
        children: <Widget>[
          Text('Card $index'),
          TextButton(
            onPressed: onPress,
            child: const Text('Press'),
          ),
        ],
      ),
    );
  }
}

class UseCard extends StatelessWidget {
  const UseCard({super.key, required this.index});

  final int index;

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    /// Usage
    return CustomCard(
      index: index,
      onPress: () {
        print('Card $index');
      },
    );
  }
}

In the previous example, the constructor for the CustomCard class uses Dart's curly brace syntax { } to indicate named parameters.

To require these fields, either remove the curly braces from the constructor, or add required to the constructor.

The following screenshots show an example of the reusable CustomCard class.

Start with the lib/main.dart file. It's autogenerated when you create a Flutter app.

// Dart
void main() {
  print('Hello, this is the main function.');
}

In Flutter, the entry point file is {project_name}/lib/main.dart and execution starts from the main function.

When you create a new Flutter project, it builds the following directory structure. You can customize it later, but this is where you start.

┬
└ project_name
  ┬
  ├ android      - Contains Android-specific files.
  ├ build        - Stores iOS and Android build files.
  ├ ios          - Contains iOS-specific files.
  ├ lib          - Contains externally accessible Dart source files.
    ┬
    └ src        - Contains additional source files.
    └ main.dart  - The Flutter entry point and the start of a new app.
                   This is generated automatically when you create a Flutter
                    project.
                   It's where you start writing your Dart code.
  ├ test         - Contains automated test files.
  └ pubspec.yaml - Contains the metadata for the Flutter app.
                   This is equivalent to the package.json file in React Native.

A Flutter resource or asset is a file that is bundled and deployed with your app and is accessible at runtime. Flutter apps can include the following asset types:

• Static data such as JSON files
• Configuration files
• Icons and images (JPEG, PNG, GIF, Animated GIF, WebP, Animated WebP, BMP, and WBMP)

Flutter uses the pubspec.yaml file, located at the root of your project, to identify assets required by an app.

flutter:
  assets:
    - assets/my_icon.png
    - assets/background.png

The assets subsection specifies files that should be included with the app. Each asset is identified by an explicit path relative to the pubspec.yaml file, where the asset file is located. The order in which the assets are declared does not matter. The actual directory used (assets in this case) does not matter. However, while assets can be placed in any app directory, it's a best practice to place them in the assets directory.

During a build, Flutter places assets into a special archive called the asset bundle, which apps read from at runtime. When an asset's path is specified in the assets' section of pubspec.yaml, the build process looks for any files with the same name in adjacent subdirectories. These files are also included in the asset bundle along with the specified asset. Flutter uses asset variants when choosing resolution-appropriate images for your app.

In React Native, you would add a static image by placing the image file in a source code directory and referencing it.

<Image source={require('./my-icon.png')} />
// OR
<Image
  source={{
    url: 'https://reactnative.dev/img/tiny_logo.png'
  }}
/>

In Flutter, add a static image to your app using the Image.asset constructor in a widget's build method.

Image.asset('assets/background.png');

For more information, see Adding Assets and Images in Flutter.

In React Native, you would specify the uri in the source prop of the Image component and also provide the size if needed.

In Flutter, use the Image.network constructor to include an image from a URL.

Image.network('https://docs.flutter.dev/assets/images/docs/owl.jpg');

Flutter supports using shared packages contributed by other developers to the Flutter and Dart ecosystems. This allows you to quickly build your app without having to develop everything from scratch. Packages that contain platform-specific code are known as package plugins.

In React Native, you would use yarn add {package-name} or npm install --save {package-name} to install packages from the command line.

In Flutter, install a package using the following instructions:

1. To add the google_sign_in package as a dependency, run flutter pub add:

$ flutter pub add google_sign_in

2. Install the package from the command line by using flutter pub get. If using an IDE, it often runs flutter pub get for you, or it might prompt you to do so.
3. Import the package into your app code as shown below:

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

For more information, see Using Packages and Developing Packages & Plugins.

You can find many packages shared by Flutter developers in the Flutter packages section of pub.dev.

In Flutter, you build your UI out of widgets that describe what their view should look like given their current configuration and state.

Widgets are often composed of many small, single-purpose widgets that are nested to produce powerful effects. For example, the Container widget consists of several widgets responsible for layout, painting, positioning, and sizing. Specifically, the Container widget includes the LimitedBox, ConstrainedBox, Align, Padding, DecoratedBox, and Transform widgets. Rather than subclassing Container to produce a customized effect, you can compose these and other simple widgets in new and unique ways.

The Center widget is another example of how you can control the layout. To center a widget, wrap it in a Center widget and then use layout widgets for alignment, row, columns, and grids. These layout widgets do not have a visual representation of their own. Instead, their sole purpose is to control some aspect of another widget's layout. To understand why a widget renders in a certain way, it's often helpful to inspect the neighboring widgets.

For more information, see the Flutter Technical Overview.

For more information about the core widgets from the Widgets package, see Flutter Basic Widgets, the Flutter Widget Catalog, or the Flutter Widget Index.

In React Native, View is a container that supports layout with Flexbox, style, touch handling, and accessibility controls.

In Flutter, you can use the core layout widgets in the Widgets library, such as Container, Column, Row, and Center. For more information, see the Layout Widgets catalog.

A List is a scrollable list of components arranged vertically.

In React Native, FlatList or SectionList are used to render simple or sectioned lists.

// React Native
<FlatList
  data={[ ... ]}
  renderItem={({ item }) => <Text>{item.key}</Text>}
/>

ListView is Flutter's most commonly used scrolling widget. The default constructor takes an explicit list of children. ListView is most appropriate for a small number of widgets. For a large or infinite list, use ListView.builder, which builds its children on demand and only builds those children that are visible.

var data = [
  'Hello',
  'World',
];
return ListView.builder(
  itemCount: data.length,
  itemBuilder: (context, index) {
    return Text(data[index]);
  },
);

To learn how to implement an infinite scrolling list, see the official infinite_list sample.

In React Native, canvas components aren't present so third party libraries like react-native-canvas are used.

// React Native
const CanvasComp = () => {
  const handleCanvas = (canvas) => {
    const ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
    ctx.fillStyle = 'skyblue';
    ctx.beginPath();
    ctx.arc(75, 75, 50, 0, 2 * Math.PI);
    ctx.fillRect(150, 100, 300, 300);
    ctx.stroke();
  };

  return (
    <View>
      <Canvas ref={this.handleCanvas} />
    </View>
  );
}

In Flutter, you can use the CustomPaint and CustomPainter classes to draw to the canvas.

The following example shows how to draw during the paint phase using the CustomPaint widget. It implements the abstract class, CustomPainter, and passes it to CustomPaint's painter property. CustomPaint subclasses must implement the paint() and shouldRepaint() methods.

class MyCanvasPainter extends CustomPainter {
  const MyCanvasPainter();

  @override
  void paint(Canvas canvas, Size size) {
    final Paint paint = Paint()..color = Colors.amber;
    canvas.drawCircle(const Offset(100, 200), 40, paint);
    final Paint paintRect = Paint()..color = Colors.lightBlue;
    final Rect rect = Rect.fromPoints(
      const Offset(150, 300),
      const Offset(300, 400),
    );
    canvas.drawRect(rect, paintRect);
  }

  @override
  bool shouldRepaint(MyCanvasPainter oldDelegate) => false;
}

class MyCanvasWidget extends StatelessWidget {
  const MyCanvasWidget({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return const Scaffold(
      body: CustomPaint(painter: MyCanvasPainter()),
    );
  }
}

In React Native, most of the layout can be done with the props that are passed to a specific component. For example, you could use the style prop on the View component in order to specify the flexbox properties. To arrange your components in a column, you would specify a prop such as: flexDirection: 'column'.

// React Native
<View
  style={{
    flex: 1,
    flexDirection: 'column',
    justifyContent: 'space-between',
    alignItems: 'center'
  }}
>

In Flutter, the layout is primarily defined by widgets specifically designed to provide layout, combined with control widgets and their style properties.

For example, the Column and Row widgets take an array of children and align them vertically and horizontally respectively. A Container widget takes a combination of layout and styling properties, and a Center widget centers its child widgets.

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  return Center(
    child: Column(
      children: <Widget>[
        Container(
          color: Colors.red,
          width: 100,
          height: 100,
        ),
        Container(
          color: Colors.blue,
          width: 100,
          height: 100,
        ),
        Container(
          color: Colors.green,
          width: 100,
          height: 100,
        ),
      ],
    ),
  );

Flutter provides a variety of layout widgets in its core widget library. For example, Padding, Align, and Stack.

For a complete list, see Layout Widgets.

In React Native, components can be layered using absolute positioning.

Flutter uses the Stack widget to arrange children widgets in layers. The widgets can entirely or partially overlap the base widget.

The Stack widget positions its children relative to the edges of its box. This class is useful if you simply want to overlap several children widgets.

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  return Stack(
    alignment: const Alignment(0.6, 0.6),
    children: <Widget>[
      const CircleAvatar(
        backgroundImage: NetworkImage(
          'https://avatars3.githubusercontent.com/u/14101776?v=4',
        ),
      ),
      Container(
        color: Colors.black45,
        child: const Text('Flutter'),
      ),
    ],
  );

The previous example uses Stack to overlay a Container (that displays its Text on a translucent black background) on top of a CircleAvatar. The Stack offsets the text using the alignment property and Alignment coordinates.

For more information, see the Stack class documentation.

In React Native, inline styling and stylesheets.create are used to style components.

// React Native
<View style={styles.container}>
  <Text style={{ fontSize: 32, color: 'cyan', fontWeight: '600' }}>
    This is a sample text
  </Text>
</View>

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    backgroundColor: '#fff',
    alignItems: 'center',
    justifyContent: 'center'
  }
});

In Flutter, a Text widget can take a TextStyle class for its style property. If you want to use the same text style in multiple places, you can create a TextStyle class and use it for multiple Text widgets.

const TextStyle textStyle = TextStyle(
  color: Colors.cyan,
  fontSize: 32,
  fontWeight: FontWeight.w600,
);

return const Center(
  child: Column(
    children: <Widget>[
      Text('Sample text', style: textStyle),
      Padding(
        padding: EdgeInsets.all(20),
        child: Icon(
          Icons.lightbulb_outline,
          size: 48,
          color: Colors.redAccent,
        ),
      ),
    ],
  ),
);

React Native doesn't include support for icons so third party libraries are used.

In Flutter, importing the Material library also pulls in the rich set of Material icons and colors.

return const Icon(Icons.lightbulb_outline, color: Colors.redAccent);

When using the Icons class, make sure to set uses-material-design: true in the project's pubspec.yaml file. This ensures that the MaterialIcons font, which displays the icons, is included in your app. In general, if you intend to use the Material library, you should include this line.

name: my_awesome_application
flutter:
  uses-material-design: true

Flutter's Cupertino (iOS-style) package provides high fidelity widgets for the current iOS design language. To use the CupertinoIcons font, add a dependency for cupertino_icons in your project's pubspec.yaml file.

name: my_awesome_application
dependencies:
  cupertino_icons: ^1.0.6

To globally customize the colors and styles of components, use ThemeData to specify default colors for various aspects of the theme. Set the theme property in MaterialApp to the ThemeData object. The Colors class provides colors from the Material Design color palette.

The following example sets the color scheme from seed to deepPurple and the text selection to red.

class SampleApp extends StatelessWidget {
  const SampleApp({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      title: 'Sample App',
      theme: ThemeData(
          colorScheme: ColorScheme.fromSeed(seedColor: Colors.deepPurple),
          textSelectionTheme:
              const TextSelectionThemeData(selectionColor: Colors.red)),
      home: const SampleAppPage(),
    );
  }
}

In React Native, common themes are defined for components in stylesheets and then used in components.

In Flutter, create uniform styling for almost everything by defining the styling in the ThemeData class and passing it to the theme property in the MaterialApp widget.

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  return MaterialApp(
    theme: ThemeData(
      primaryColor: Colors.cyan,
      brightness: Brightness.dark,
    ),
    home: const StylingPage(),
  );
}

A Theme can be applied even without using the MaterialApp widget. The Theme widget takes a ThemeData in its data parameter and applies the ThemeData to all of its children widgets.

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  return Theme(
    data: ThemeData(
      primaryColor: Colors.cyan,
      brightness: brightness,
    ),
    child: Scaffold(
      backgroundColor: Theme.of(context).primaryColor,
      //...
    ),
  );
}

State is information that can be read synchronously when a widget is built or information that might change during the lifetime of a widget. To manage app state in Flutter, use a StatefulWidget paired with a State object.

For more information on ways to approach managing state in Flutter, see State management.

A StatelessWidget in Flutter is a widget that doesn't require a state change— it has no internal state to manage.

Stateless widgets are useful when the part of the user interface you are describing does not depend on anything other than the configuration information in the object itself and the BuildContext in which the widget is inflated.

AboutDialog, CircleAvatar, and Text are examples of stateless widgets that subclass StatelessWidget.

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() => runApp(
      const MyStatelessWidget(
        text: 'StatelessWidget Example to show immutable data',
      ),
    );

class MyStatelessWidget extends StatelessWidget {
  const MyStatelessWidget({
    super.key,
    required this.text,
  });

  final String text;

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Center(
      child: Text(
        text,
        textDirection: TextDirection.ltr,
      ),
    );
  }
}

The previous example uses the constructor of the MyStatelessWidget class to pass the text, which is marked as final. This class extends StatelessWidget—it contains immutable data.

The build method of a stateless widget is typically called in only three situations:

• When the widget is inserted into a tree
• When the widget's parent changes its configuration
• When an InheritedWidget it depends on, changes

A StatefulWidget is a widget that changes state. Use the setState method to manage the state changes for a StatefulWidget. A call to setState() tells the Flutter framework that something has changed in a state, which causes an app to rerun the build() method so that the app can reflect the change.

State is information that can be read synchronously when a widget is built and might change during the lifetime of the widget. It's the responsibility of the widget implementer to ensure that the state object is promptly notified when the state changes. Use StatefulWidget when a widget can change dynamically. For example, the state of the widget changes by typing into a form, or moving a slider. Or, it can change over time—perhaps a data feed updates the UI.

Checkbox, Radio, Slider, InkWell, Form, and TextField are examples of stateful widgets that subclass StatefulWidget.

The following example declares a StatefulWidget that requires a createState() method. This method creates the state object that manages the widget's state, _MyStatefulWidgetState.

class MyStatefulWidget extends StatefulWidget {
  const MyStatefulWidget({
    super.key,
    required this.title,
  });

  final String title;

  @override
  State<MyStatefulWidget> createState() => _MyStatefulWidgetState();
}

The following state class, _MyStatefulWidgetState, implements the build() method for the widget. When the state changes, for example, when the user toggles the button, setState() is called with the new toggle value. This causes the framework to rebuild this widget in the UI.

class _MyStatefulWidgetState extends State<MyStatefulWidget> {
  bool showText = true;
  bool toggleState = true;
  Timer? t2;

  void toggleBlinkState() {
    setState(() {
      toggleState = !toggleState;
    });
    if (!toggleState) {
      t2 = Timer.periodic(const Duration(milliseconds: 1000), (t) {
        toggleShowText();
      });
    } else {
      t2?.cancel();
    }
  }

  void toggleShowText() {
    setState(() {
      showText = !showText;
    });
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      body: Center(
        child: Column(
          children: <Widget>[
            if (showText)
              const Text(
                'This execution will be done before you can blink.',
              ),
            Padding(
              padding: const EdgeInsets.only(top: 70),
              child: ElevatedButton(
                onPressed: toggleBlinkState,
                child: toggleState
                    ? const Text('Blink')
                    : const Text('Stop Blinking'),
              ),
            ),
          ],
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

Here are a few things to consider when designing your widget.

1. Determine whether a widget should be a StatefulWidget or a StatelessWidget.

In Flutter, widgets are either Stateful or Stateless—depending on whether they depend on a state change.

• If a widget changes—the user interacts with it or a data feed interrupts the UI, then it's Stateful.
• If a widget is final or immutable, then it's Stateless.

2. Determine which object manages the widget's state (for a StatefulWidget).

In Flutter, there are three primary ways to manage state:

• The widget manages its own state
• The parent widget manages the widget's state
• A mix-and-match approach

When deciding which approach to use, consider the following principles:

• If the state in question is user data, for example the checked or unchecked mode of a checkbox, or the position of a slider, then the state is best managed by the parent widget.
• If the state in question is aesthetic, for example an animation, then the widget itself best manages the state.
• When in doubt, let the parent widget manage the child widget's state.

3. Subclass StatefulWidget and State.

The MyStatefulWidget class manages its own state—it extends StatefulWidget, it overrides the createState() method to create the State object, and the framework calls createState() to build the widget. In this example, createState() creates an instance of _MyStatefulWidgetState, which is implemented in the next best practice.

class MyStatefulWidget extends StatefulWidget {
  const MyStatefulWidget({
    super.key,
    required this.title,
  });

  final String title;
  @override
  State<MyStatefulWidget> createState() => _MyStatefulWidgetState();
}

class _MyStatefulWidgetState extends State<MyStatefulWidget> {
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    //...
  }
}

4. Add the StatefulWidget into the widget tree.

Add your custom StatefulWidget to the widget tree in the app's build method.

class MyStatelessWidget extends StatelessWidget {
  // This widget is the root of your application.
  const MyStatelessWidget({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return const MaterialApp(
      title: 'Flutter Demo',
      home: MyStatefulWidget(title: 'State Change Demo'),
    );
  }
}

In React Native, most components can be customized when they are created with different parameters or properties, called props. These parameters can be used in a child component using this.props.

// React Native
const CustomCard = ({ index, onPress }) => {
  return (
    <View>
      <Text> Card {index} </Text>
      <Button
        title='Press'
        onPress={() => onPress(index)}
      />
    </View>
  );
};

const App = () => {
  const onPress = (index) => {
    console.log('Card ', index);
  };

  return (
    <View>
      <FlatList
        data={[ /* ... */ ]}
        renderItem={({ item }) => (
          <CustomCard onPress={onPress} index={item.key} />
        )}
      />
    </View>
  );
};

In Flutter, you assign a local variable or function marked final with the property received in the parameterized constructor.

/// Flutter
class CustomCard extends StatelessWidget {
  const CustomCard({
    super.key,
    required this.index,
    required this.onPress,
  });

  final int index;
  final void Function() onPress;

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Card(
      child: Column(
        children: <Widget>[
          Text('Card $index'),
          TextButton(
            onPressed: onPress,
            child: const Text('Press'),
          ),
        ],
      ),
    );
  }
}

class UseCard extends StatelessWidget {
  const UseCard({super.key, required this.index});

  final int index;

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    /// Usage
    return CustomCard(
      index: index,
      onPress: () {
        print('Card $index');
      },
    );
  }
}

If you don't need to store a lot of data, and it doesn't require structure, you can use shared_preferences which allows you to read and write persistent key-value pairs of primitive data types: booleans, floats, ints, longs, and strings.

In React Native, you use the setItem and getItem functions of the AsyncStorage component to store and retrieve data that is persistent and global to the app.

// React Native
const [counter, setCounter] = useState(0)
...
await AsyncStorage.setItem( 'counterkey', json.stringify(++this.state.counter));
AsyncStorage.getItem('counterkey').then(value => {
  if (value != null) {
    setCounter(value);
  }
});

In Flutter, use the shared_preferences plugin to store and retrieve key-value data that is persistent and global to the app. The shared_preferences plugin wraps NSUserDefaults on iOS and SharedPreferences on Android, providing a persistent store for simple data.

To add the shared_preferences package as a dependency, run flutter pub add:

$ flutter pub add shared_preferences

import 'package:shared_preferences/shared_preferences.dart';

To implement persistent data, use the setter methods provided by the SharedPreferences class. Setter methods are available for various primitive types, such as setInt, setBool, and setString. To read data, use the appropriate getter method provided by the SharedPreferences class. For each setter there is a corresponding getter method, for example, getInt, getBool, and getString.

Future<void> updateCounter() async {
  final prefs = await SharedPreferences.getInstance();
  int? counter = prefs.getInt('counter');
  if (counter is int) {
    await prefs.setInt('counter', ++counter);
  }
  setState(() {
    _counter = counter;
  });
}

Most apps contain several screens for displaying different types of information. For example, you might have a product screen that displays images where users could tap on a product image to get more information about the product on a new screen.

In Android, new screens are new Activities. In iOS, new screens are new ViewControllers. In Flutter, screens are just Widgets! And to navigate to new screens in Flutter, use the Navigator widget.

In React Native, there are three main navigators: StackNavigator, TabNavigator, and DrawerNavigator. Each provides a way to configure and define the screens.

// React Native
const MyApp = TabNavigator(
  { Home: { screen: HomeScreen }, Notifications: { screen: tabNavScreen } },
  { tabBarOptions: { activeTintColor: '#e91e63' } }
);
const SimpleApp = StackNavigator({
  Home: { screen: MyApp },
  stackScreen: { screen: StackScreen }
});
export default (MyApp1 = DrawerNavigator({
  Home: {
    screen: SimpleApp
  },
  Screen2: {
    screen: drawerScreen
  }
}));

In Flutter, there are two main widgets used to navigate between screens:

• A Route is an abstraction for an app screen or page.
• A Navigator is a widget that manages routes.

A Navigator is defined as a widget that manages a set of child widgets with a stack discipline. The navigator manages a stack of Route objects and provides methods for managing the stack, like Navigator.push and Navigator.pop. A list of routes might be specified in the MaterialApp widget, or they might be built on the fly, for example, in hero animations. The following example specifies named routes in the MaterialApp widget.

class NavigationApp extends StatelessWidget {
  // This widget is the root of your application.
  const NavigationApp({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      //...
      routes: <String, WidgetBuilder>{
        '/a': (context) => const UsualNavScreen(),
        '/b': (context) => const DrawerNavScreen(),
      },
      //...
    );
  }
}

To navigate to a named route, the Navigator.of() method is used to specify the BuildContext (a handle to the location of a widget in the widget tree). The name of the route is passed to the pushNamed function to navigate to the specified route.

Navigator.of(context).pushNamed('/a');

You can also use the push method of Navigator which adds the given Route to the history of the navigator that most tightly encloses the given BuildContext, and transitions to it. In the following example, the MaterialPageRoute widget is a modal route that replaces the entire screen with a platform-adaptive transition. It takes a WidgetBuilder as a required parameter.

Navigator.push(
  context,
  MaterialPageRoute(
    builder: (context) => const UsualNavScreen(),
  ),
);

In Material Design apps, there are two primary options for Flutter navigation: tabs and drawers. When there is insufficient space to support tabs, drawers provide a good alternative.

In React Native, createBottomTabNavigator and TabNavigation are used to show tabs and for tab navigation.

// React Native
import { createBottomTabNavigator } from 'react-navigation';

const MyApp = TabNavigator(
  { Home: { screen: HomeScreen }, Notifications: { screen: tabNavScreen } },
  { tabBarOptions: { activeTintColor: '#e91e63' } }
);

Flutter provides several specialized widgets for drawer and tab navigation:

TabController

Coordinates the tab selection between a TabBar and a TabBarView.

TabBar

Displays a horizontal row of tabs.

Tab

Creates a material design TabBar tab.

TabBarView

Displays the widget that corresponds to the currently selected tab.

class _MyAppState extends State<MyApp> with SingleTickerProviderStateMixin {
  late TabController controller = TabController(length: 2, vsync: this);

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return TabBar(
      controller: controller,
      tabs: const <Tab>[
        Tab(icon: Icon(Icons.person)),
        Tab(icon: Icon(Icons.email)),
      ],
    );
  }
}

A TabController is required to coordinate the tab selection between a TabBar and a TabBarView. The TabController constructor length argument is the total number of tabs. A TickerProvider is required to trigger the notification whenever a frame triggers a state change. The TickerProvider is vsync. Pass the vsync: this argument to the TabController constructor whenever you create a new TabController.

The TickerProvider is an interface implemented by classes that can vend Ticker objects. Tickers can be used by any object that must be notified whenever a frame triggers, but they're most commonly used indirectly via an AnimationController. AnimationControllers need a TickerProvider to obtain their Ticker. If you are creating an AnimationController from a State, then you can use the TickerProviderStateMixin or SingleTickerProviderStateMixin classes to obtain a suitable TickerProvider.

The Scaffold widget wraps a new TabBar widget and creates two tabs. The TabBarView widget is passed as the body parameter of the Scaffold widget. All screens corresponding to the TabBar widget's tabs are children to the TabBarView widget along with the same TabController.

class _NavigationHomePageState extends State<NavigationHomePage>
    with SingleTickerProviderStateMixin {
  late TabController controller = TabController(length: 2, vsync: this);

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
        bottomNavigationBar: Material(
          color: Colors.blue,
          child: TabBar(
            tabs: const <Tab>[
              Tab(
                icon: Icon(Icons.person),
              ),
              Tab(
                icon: Icon(Icons.email),
              ),
            ],
            controller: controller,
          ),
        ),
        body: TabBarView(
          controller: controller,
          children: const <Widget>[HomeScreen(), TabScreen()],
        ));
  }
}

In React Native, import the needed react-navigation packages and then use createDrawerNavigator and DrawerNavigation.

// React Native
export default (MyApp1 = DrawerNavigator({
  Home: {
    screen: SimpleApp
  },
  Screen2: {
    screen: drawerScreen
  }
}));

In Flutter, we can use the Drawer widget in combination with a Scaffold to create a layout with a Material Design drawer. To add a Drawer to an app, wrap it in a Scaffold widget. The Scaffold widget provides a consistent visual structure to apps that follow the Material Design guidelines. It also supports special Material Design components, such as Drawers, AppBars, and SnackBars.

The Drawer widget is a Material Design panel that slides in horizontally from the edge of a Scaffold to show navigation links in an application. You can provide a ElevatedButton, a Text widget, or a list of items to display as the child to the Drawer widget. In the following example, the ListTile widget provides the navigation on tap.

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  return Drawer(
    elevation: 20,
    child: ListTile(
      leading: const Icon(Icons.change_history),
      title: const Text('Screen2'),
      onTap: () {
        Navigator.of(context).pushNamed('/b');
      },
    ),
  );
}

The Scaffold widget also includes an AppBar widget that automatically displays an appropriate IconButton to show the Drawer when a Drawer is available in the Scaffold. The Scaffold automatically handles the edge-swipe gesture to show the Drawer.

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  return Scaffold(
    drawer: Drawer(
      elevation: 20,
      child: ListTile(
        leading: const Icon(Icons.change_history),
        title: const Text('Screen2'),
        onTap: () {
          Navigator.of(context).pushNamed('/b');
        },
      ),
    ),
    appBar: AppBar(title: const Text('Home')),
    body: Container(),
  );
}

To listen for and respond to gestures, Flutter supports taps, drags, and scaling. The gesture system in Flutter has two separate layers. The first layer includes raw pointer events, which describe the location and movement of pointers, (such as touches, mice, and styli movements), across the screen. The second layer includes gestures, which describe semantic actions that consist of one or more pointer movements.

In React Native, listeners are added to components using PanResponder or the Touchable components.

// React Native
<TouchableOpacity
  onPress={() => {
    console.log('Press');
  }}
  onLongPress={() => {
    console.log('Long Press');
  }}
>
  <Text>Tap or Long Press</Text>
</TouchableOpacity>

For more complex gestures and combining several touches into a single gesture, PanResponder is used.

// React Native
const App = () => {
  const panResponderRef = useRef(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    panResponderRef.current = PanResponder.create({
      onMoveShouldSetPanResponder: (event, gestureState) =>
        !!getDirection(gestureState),
      onPanResponderMove: (event, gestureState) => true,
      onPanResponderRelease: (event, gestureState) => {
        const drag = getDirection(gestureState);
      },
      onPanResponderTerminationRequest: (event, gestureState) => true
    });
  }, []);

  return (
    <View style={styles.container} {...panResponderRef.current.panHandlers}>
      <View style={styles.center}>
        <Text>Swipe Horizontally or Vertically</Text>
      </View>
    </View>
  );
};

In Flutter, to add a click (or press) listener to a widget, use a button or a touchable widget that has an onPress: field. Or, add gesture detection to any widget by wrapping it in a GestureDetector.

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  return GestureDetector(
    child: Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(title: const Text('Gestures')),
      body: const Center(
          child: Column(
        mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.center,
        children: <Widget>[
          Text('Tap, Long Press, Swipe Horizontally or Vertically'),
        ],
      )),
    ),
    onTap: () {
      print('Tapped');
    },
    onLongPress: () {
      print('Long Pressed');
    },
    onVerticalDragEnd: (value) {
      print('Swiped Vertically');
    },
    onHorizontalDragEnd: (value) {
      print('Swiped Horizontally');
    },
  );
}

For more information, including a list of Flutter GestureDetector callbacks, see the GestureDetector class.

Fetching data from the internet is common for most apps. And in Flutter, the http package provides the simplest way to fetch data from the internet.

React Native provides the Fetch API for networking—you make a fetch request and then receive the response to get the data.

// React Native
const [ipAddress, setIpAddress] = useState('')

const _getIPAddress = () => {
  fetch('https://httpbin.org/ip')
    .then(response => response.json())
    .then(responseJson => {
      setIpAddress(responseJson.origin);
    })
    .catch(error => {
      console.error(error);
    });
};

Flutter uses the http package.

To add the http package as a dependency, run flutter pub add:

$ flutter pub add http

Flutter uses the dart:io core HTTP support client. To create an HTTP Client, import dart:io.

import 'dart:io';

The client supports the following HTTP operations: GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE.

final url = Uri.parse('https://httpbin.org/ip');
final httpClient = HttpClient();

Future<void> getIPAddress() async {
  final request = await httpClient.getUrl(url);
  final response = await request.close();
  final responseBody = await response.transform(utf8.decoder).join();
  final ip = jsonDecode(responseBody)['origin'] as String;
  setState(() {
    _ipAddress = ip;
  });
}

Text fields allow users to type text into your app so they can be used to build forms, messaging apps, search experiences, and more. Flutter provides two core text field widgets: TextField and TextFormField.

In React Native, to enter text you use a TextInput component to show a text input box and then use the callback to store the value in a variable.

// React Native
const [password, setPassword] = useState('')
...
<TextInput
  placeholder="Enter your Password"
  onChangeText={password => setPassword(password)}
/>
<Button title="Submit" onPress={this.validate} />

In Flutter, use the TextEditingController class to manage a TextField widget. Whenever the text field is modified, the controller notifies its listeners.

Listeners read the text and selection properties to learn what the user typed into the field. You can access the text in TextField by the text property of the controller.

final TextEditingController _controller = TextEditingController();

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  return Column(children: [
    TextField(
      controller: _controller,
      decoration: const InputDecoration(
        hintText: 'Type something',
        labelText: 'Text Field',
      ),
    ),
    ElevatedButton(
      child: const Text('Submit'),
      onPressed: () {
        showDialog(
            context: context,
            builder: (context) {
              return AlertDialog(
                title: const Text('Alert'),
                content: Text('You typed ${_controller.text}'),
              );
            });
      },
    ),
  ]);
}

In this example, when a user clicks on the submit button an alert dialog displays the current text entered in the text field. This is achieved using an AlertDialog widget that displays the alert message, and the text from the TextField is accessed by the text property of the TextEditingController.

In Flutter, use the Form widget where TextFormField widgets along with the submit button are passed as children. The TextFormField widget has a parameter called onSaved that takes a callback and executes when the form is saved. A FormState object is used to save, reset, or validate each FormField that is a descendant of this Form. To obtain the FormState, you can use Form.of() with a context whose ancestor is the Form, or pass a GlobalKey to the Form constructor and call GlobalKey.currentState().

@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
  return Form(
    key: formKey,
    child: Column(
      children: <Widget>[
        TextFormField(
          validator: (value) {
            if (value != null && value.contains('@')) {
              return null;
            }
            return 'Not a valid email.';
          },
          onSaved: (val) {
            _email = val;
          },
          decoration: const InputDecoration(
            hintText: 'Enter your email',
            labelText: 'Email',
          ),
        ),
        ElevatedButton(
          onPressed: _submit,
          child: const Text('Login'),
        ),
      ],
    ),
  );
}

The following example shows how Form.save() and formKey (which is a GlobalKey), are used to save the form on submit.

void _submit() {
  final form = formKey.currentState;
  if (form != null && form.validate()) {
    form.save();
    showDialog(
      context: context,
      builder: (context) {
        return AlertDialog(
            title: const Text('Alert'),
            content: Text('Email: $_email, password: $_password'));
      },
    );
  }
}

When building a cross-platform app, you want to re-use as much code as possible across platforms. However, scenarios might arise where it makes sense for the code to be different depending on the OS. This requires a separate implementation by declaring a specific platform.

In React Native, the following implementation would be used:

// React Native
if (Platform.OS === 'ios') {
  return 'iOS';
} else if (Platform.OS === 'android') {
  return 'android';
} else {
  return 'not recognised';
}

In Flutter, use the following implementation:

final platform = Theme.of(context).platform;
if (platform == TargetPlatform.iOS) {
  return 'iOS';
}
if (platform == TargetPlatform.android) {
  return 'android';
}
if (platform == TargetPlatform.fuchsia) {
  return 'fuchsia';
}
return 'not recognized ';

Use the DevTools suite for debugging Flutter or Dart apps.

DevTools includes support for profiling, examining the heap, inspecting the widget tree, logging diagnostics, debugging, observing executed lines of code, debugging memory leaks and memory fragmentation. For more information, check out the DevTools documentation.

If you're using an IDE, you can debug your application using the IDE's debugger.

Flutter's Stateful Hot Reload feature helps you quickly and easily experiment, build UIs, add features, and fix bugs. Instead of recompiling your app every time you make a change, you can hot reload your app instantly. The app is updated to reflect your change, and the current state of the app is preserved.

In React Native, the shortcut is ⌘R for the iOS Simulator and tapping R twice on Android emulators.

In Flutter, If you are using IntelliJ IDE or Android Studio, you can select Save All (⌘s/ctrl-s), or you can click the Hot Reload button on the toolbar. If you are running the app at the command line using flutter run, type r in the Terminal window. You can also perform a full restart by typing R in the Terminal window.

In React Native, the developer menu can be accessed by shaking your device: ⌘D for the iOS Simulator or ⌘M for Android emulator.

In Flutter, if you are using an IDE, you can use the IDE tools. If you start your application using flutter run you can also access the menu by typing h in the terminal window, or type the following shortcuts:

Well-designed animation makes a UI feel intuitive, contributes to the look and feel of a polished app, and improves the user experience. Flutter's animation support makes it easy to implement simple and complex animations. The Flutter SDK includes many Material Design widgets that include standard motion effects, and you can easily customize these effects to personalize your app.

In React Native, Animated APIs are used to create animations.

In Flutter, use the Animation class and the AnimationController class. Animation is an abstract class that understands its current value and its state (completed or dismissed). The AnimationController class lets you play an animation forward or in reverse, or stop animation and set the animation to a specific value to customize the motion.

In the React Native example below, an animated component, FadeInView is created using the Animated API. The initial opacity state, final state, and the duration over which the transition occurs are defined. The animation component is added inside the Animated component, the opacity state fadeAnim is mapped to the opacity of the Text component that we want to animate, and then, start() is called to start the animation.

// React Native
const FadeInView = ({ style, children }) => {
  const fadeAnim = useRef(new Animated.Value(0)).current;

  useEffect(() => {
    Animated.timing(fadeAnim, {
      toValue: 1,
      duration: 10000
    }).start();
  }, []);

  return (
    <Animated.View style={{ ...style, opacity: fadeAnim }}>
      {children}
    </Animated.View>
  );
};
    ...
<FadeInView>
  <Text> Fading in </Text>
</FadeInView>
    ...

To create the same animation in Flutter, create an AnimationController object named controller and specify the duration. By default, an AnimationController linearly produces values that range from 0.0 to 1.0, during a given duration. The animation controller generates a new value whenever the device running your app is ready to display a new frame. Typically, this rate is around 60 values per second.

When defining an AnimationController, you must pass in a vsync object. The presence of vsync prevents offscreen animations from consuming unnecessary resources. You can use your stateful object as the vsync by adding TickerProviderStateMixin to the class definition. An AnimationController needs a TickerProvider, which is configured using the vsync argument on the constructor.

A Tween describes the interpolation between a beginning and ending value or the mapping from an input range to an output range. To use a Tween object with an animation, call the Tween object's animate() method and pass it the Animation object that you want to modify.

For this example, a FadeTransition widget is used and the opacity property is mapped to the animation object.

To start the animation, use controller.forward(). Other operations can also be performed using the controller such as fling() or repeat(). For this example, the FlutterLogo widget is used inside the FadeTransition widget.

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() {
  runApp(const Center(child: LogoFade()));
}

class LogoFade extends StatefulWidget {
  const LogoFade({super.key});

  @override
  State<LogoFade> createState() => _LogoFadeState();
}

class _LogoFadeState extends State<LogoFade>
    with SingleTickerProviderStateMixin {
  late Animation<double> animation;
  late AnimationController controller;

  @override
  void initState() {
    super.initState();
    controller = AnimationController(
      duration: const Duration(milliseconds: 3000),
      vsync: this,
    );
    final CurvedAnimation curve = CurvedAnimation(
      parent: controller,
      curve: Curves.easeIn,
    );
    animation = Tween(begin: 0.0, end: 1.0).animate(curve);
    controller.forward();
  }

  @override
  void dispose() {
    controller.dispose();
    super.dispose();
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return FadeTransition(
      opacity: animation,
      child: const SizedBox(
        height: 300,
        width: 300,
        child: FlutterLogo(),
      ),
    );
  }
}

In React Native, either the PanResponder or third-party libraries are used for swipe animation.

In Flutter, to add a swipe animation, use the Dismissible widget and nest the child widgets.

return Dismissible(
  key: Key(widget.key.toString()),
  onDismissed: (dismissDirection) {
    cards.removeLast();
  },
  child: Container(
      //...
      ),
);

The following table lists commonly-used React Native components mapped to the corresponding Flutter widget and common widget properties.