@nativescript/flutter

Use Flutter with NativeScript projects by creating a Flutter module in the root of your project.

Usage

Prerequisites:

1. Add Flutter to a NativeScript app

You can use Flutter in any existing NativeScript app or by creating a new one with ns create.

We can then create a Flutter module at the root of the project directory:

flutter create --template module flutter_views

Note: You can run flutter run --debug or flutter build ios from inside this flutter_views folder as any normal Flutter project to develop it.

Learn more from the Flutter documentation here.

2. Configure your Dart code to have named entry points

Named entry points allow us to use different Flutter views in our NativeScript app by matching the entry point with the view id, for example: <Flutter id="myFlutterView" />

  • main.dart
@pragma('vm:entry-point')
void myFlutterView() => runApp(const MyFlutterView());

3. Configure platforms for usage

iOS

App_Resources/iOS/Podfile should contain the following to reference our Flutter module.

platform :ios, '14.0'

flutter_application_path = '../../flutter_views'
load File.join(flutter_application_path, '.ios', 'Flutter', 'podhelper.rb')
install_all_flutter_pods(flutter_application_path)

post_install do |installer|
    flutter_post_install(installer) if defined?(flutter_post_install)
end

Add Flutter debug permissions to App_Resources/iOS/Info.plist:

<key>NSLocalNetworkUsageDescription</key>
<string>Allow Flutter tools to debug your views.</string>
<key>NSBonjourServices</key>
<array>
  <string>_dartobservatory._tcp</string>
</array>

Android

App_Resources/Android/app.gradle should contain the following:

android {
  // ...

  defaultConfig {
    // ...

    // Add this section:
    ndk {
      // Filter for architectures supported by Flutter.
      abiFilters 'armeabi-v7a', 'arm64-v8a', 'x86_64'
    }
  }

App_Resources/Android/settings.gradle (create file if needed) should contain the following:

def flutterProjectRoot = rootProject.projectDir.parentFile.toPath()

def plugins = new Properties()
def pluginsFile = new File(flutterProjectRoot.toFile(), '.flutter-plugins')
if (pluginsFile.exists()) {
    pluginsFile.withReader('UTF-8') { reader -> plugins.load(reader) }
}

plugins.each { name, path ->
  def pluginDirectory = flutterProjectRoot.resolve(path).resolve('android').toFile()
  include ":$name"
  project(":$name").projectDir = pluginDirectory
}

setBinding(new Binding([gradle: this]))
evaluate(new File(
  settingsDir.parentFile,
  // use the flutter module folder name you created here.
  // for example, a flutter module called 'flutter_views' exist at root of project
  '../flutter_views/.android/include_flutter.groovy'
))

Build the module anytime you want to see your Dart changes reflected in NativeScript:

cd flutter_views/.android

# This will build debug mode
./gradlew Flutter:assemble

# This will build release mode
./gradlew Flutter:assembleRelease

4. Install @nativescript/flutter 

npm install @nativescript/flutter

5. Use Flutter wherever desired

Be sure to initialize the Flutter engine before bootstrapping your app, typically in app.ts or main.ts:

import { init } from '@nativescript/flutter'
init()

// bootstrap app...

When using flavors, you can just register the element for usage in your markup:

import { Flutter } from '@nativescript/flutter'

// Angular
import { registerElement } from '@nativescript/angular'
registerElement('Flutter', () => Flutter)

// Solid
import { registerElement } from 'dominative'
registerElement('flutter', Flutter)

// Svelte
import { registerNativeViewElement } from 'svelte-native/dom'
registerNativeViewElement('flutter', () => Flutter)

// React
import { registerElement } from 'react-nativescript'
registerElement('flutter', () => Flutter)

// Vue
import Vue from 'nativescript-vue'
Vue.registerElement('Flutter', () => Flutter)

Use Flutter anywhere.

<Flutter id="myFlutterView" />

Troubleshooting

Common troubleshooting tips:

Android

Before running Android, you will want to build the flutter module first. Otherwise you may see this error:

Transform's input file does not exist: flutter_views/.android/Flutter/build/intermediates/flutter/debug/libs.jar

You can fix by running the following:

cd flutter_views/.android

# This will build debug mode
./gradlew Flutter:assemble

# This will build release mode
./gradlew Flutter:assembleRelease

License

Apache License Version 2.0