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Flutter Module Development

TODO(fxbug.dev/15912): Update documentation below.

This directory demonstrates how you create modules with Dart and Flutter. At the moment this document assumes that every module gets built as part of the core fuchsia build and included in the bootfs.

Example Modules

Hello

(More samples located in //topaz/examples/ui/)

This example demonstrates how to create a minimal flutter module and implement the Module interface. It shows a simple flutter text widget displaying "hello" on the screen.

Running the Examples on Fuchsia

You can run an example module without going through the full-blown session shell. The available URLs for flutter module examples are:

  • hello_mod

After a successful build of fuchsia, type the following command from the zx console to run the basemgr with the dev session shell:

killall scenic  # Kills all other mods.
basemgr --session_shell=dev_session_shell --session_shell_args=--root_module=hello_mod

Basics

A flutter module is a flutter app that uses ModuleDriver.

Below we reproduce the contents of main() from that example:

final ModuleDriver _driver = ModuleDriver();

void main() {
  setupLogger(name: 'Hello mod');

  _driver.start().then((ModuleDriver driver) {
      log.info('Hello mod started');
    });

  runApp(
    MaterialApp(
      title: 'Hello mod',
      home: ScopedModel<_MyModel>(
        model: _MyModel(),
        child: _MyScaffold(),
      ),
    ),
  );
}

Importing Packages

Adding Dependency to BUILD.gn

To import a dart package written within the fuchsia tree, the dependency should be added to the project's BUILD.gn. The BUILD.gn file for the hello_mod example looks like this:

import("//topaz/runtime/flutter_runner/flutter_app.gni")

flutter_app("hello_mod") {
  main_dart = "main.dart"
  package_name = "hello_mod"
  fuchsia_package_name = "hello_mod"
  deps = [
    "//topaz/public/dart/widgets:lib.widgets",
    "//topaz/public/lib/app_driver/dart",
  ]
}

There are two types of dart packages we can include as BUILD.gn dependencies.

1. Normal Dart Packages

Any third-party dart packages, or regular dart packages manually written in the fuchsia tree. Import them with their relative paths from the <fuchsia_root> directory followed by two slashes. Third-party dart packages are usually located at //third_party/dart-pkg/pub/<package_name>.

2. FIDL-Generated Dart Bindings

To use any FIDL generated dart bindings, you need to first look at the BUILD.gn defining the fidl target that contains the desired .fidl file. For example, let's say we want to import and use the echo.test.fidl file (located in //examples/fidl/fuchsia.examples) in our dart code. We should first look at the BUILD.gn file, in this case //examples/fidl/fuchsia.examples/BUILD.gn. In this file we can see that the echo.test.fidl file is included in the fidl("fidl") target.

fidl("fuchsia.examples") {
  sources = [
    "echo.test.fidl",   # This is the fidl we want to use for now.
    ...
  ]
  ...
}

This means that we need to depend on this group of fidl files. In our module's BUILD.gn, we can add the dependency with the following syntax:

"//<dir>:<fidl_target_name>_dart"

Once this is done, we can use all the protocols defined in .fidl files contained in this story fidl target from our code.

Importing in Dart Code

Once the desired package is added as a BUILD.gn dependency, the dart files in those packages can be imported in our dart code. Importing dart packages in fuchsia looks a bit different than normal dart packages. Let's look at the import statements in main.dart of the hello_world example.

import 'package:lib.app.dart/app.dart';
import 'package:lib.app.fidl/service_provider.fidl.dart';
import 'package:apps.modular.services.story/link.fidl.dart';
import 'package:apps.modular.services.module/module.fidl.dart';
import 'package:apps.modular.services.module/module_context.fidl.dart';
import 'package:lib.fidl.dart/bindings.dart';

import 'package:flutter/widgets.dart';

To import things in the fuchsia tree, we use dots (.) instead of slashes (/) as path delimiter. For FIDL-generated dart files, we add .dart at the end of the corresponding fidl file path. (e.g. module.fidl.dart)

Using FIDL Dart Bindings

See the FIDL tutorial and bindings reference

Things to Watch Out For

Handles Can Only Be Used Once

Once an InterfaceHandle<Foo> is bound to a proxy, the handle cannot be used in other places. Often, in case you have to share the same service with multiple parties (e.g. sharing the same fuchsia::modular::Link service across multiple modules), the service will provide a way to obtain a duplicate handle (e.g. fuchsia::modular::Link::Dup()).

You can also call unbind() method on ProxyController to get the usable InterfaceHandle<Foo> back, which then can be used by someone else.

Proxies and Bindings Should Be Closed Properly

You need to explicitly close FooProxy and FooBinding objects that are bound to channels, when they are no longer in use. You do not need to explicitly close InterfaceRequest<Foo> or InterfaceHandle<Foo> objects, as those objects represent unbound channels.

If you don't close or unbind these objects and they get picked up by the garbage collector, then FIDL will terminate the process and (in debug builds) log the Dart stack for when the object was bound. The only exception to this rule is for static objects that live as long as the isolate itself. The system is able to close these objects automatically for you as part of an orderly shutdown of the isolate.

If you are writing a Flutter widget, you can override the dispose() function on State to get notified when you're no longer part of the tree. That's a common time to close the proxies used by that object as they are often no longer needed.

Other Useful Tips

Getting the Atom dartlang plugin to work correctly

You need to have the correct .packages file generated for the dart packages in fuchsia tree. After building fuchsia, run this script form the terminal of your development machine:

<fuchsia_root>$ scripts/symlink-dot-packages.py

Also, for flutter projects, the following line should be manually added to the .packages file manually (fill in the fuchsia root dir of yours):

sky_engine:file:///<abs_fuchsia_root>/prebuilt/third_party/sky_engine/lib/

You might have to relaunch Atom to get everything working correctly. With this .packages files, you get all dartanalyzer errors/warnings, jump to definition, auto completion features.