The year 2022 has been an unpredictable one for sure. Who knew that the Covid-19 pandemic would stick to our lives for such a long time? Even Google canceled the Google I/O event, which was supposed to be the biggest newsbreak. However, We Can Help You Run your Business-as-Usual and Ensure Productive IT Operations as Earlier.
Nevertheless, the year’s most stable and favorable release from Google is the recently released Flutter 1.17 and Dart 2.8 versions.
All About Flutter 1.17 Update
1. Google fonts
So, this is the primary essential change that Google has brought up with the latest Flutter 1.17 version. The google_fonts package provides you 977 fonts that you may readily use.
It would help if you imported it in your pubspec dependencies, like this:
import ‘package:google_fonts/google_fonts.dart’;
To use Google fonts, you can write the below code:
To use them with various styles,
And to incorporate fonts in your project theme,
2. Better performance and Size Enhancements
Having your apps perform better is always a bait, and sure, it must be! After all, it’s getting your app advantage from your users and the market.
[Source: Flutter Medium Blog]
The above graphical representation shows how memory is suitably utilized in the new version and improves your app performance.
The latest Flutter 1.17 update has got the following performance enhancements:
➥ Quick and clear animations
➥ Compact apps
➥ Low memory consumption
➥ Better navigation (20-40% improved)
➥ Reduced CPU/GPU (40%)
➥ Better scrolling consuming low memory units
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3. Metal Support for iOS
Most of the improved performance of Flutter 1.17 comes from the support of Metal API. Let me share a shred of evidence to express the difference between OpenGL and Metal on iOS.
[Source: Medium Post]
The above graph shows your iOS app frame, rendering time using OpenGL API Vs. Metal API. Shorter bars are meaning better speed and performance. And from the chart, Metal is way far better than OpenGL that Flutter used earlier.
To understand better, see below image depicting how an iOS game would take up the memory using OpenGL and Metal. Results are Clear.
[Source: Iphonelife blog]
The Metal API provides direct access to the GPU, and it reduces the app frame rendering time.
4. New widgets / Updated Widgets
The Flutter update comes with some new and updated Material Design widgets such as NavigationRail(), DatePicker(), the new Text Input Mode, along with other Flutter widgets like NavigationBar() and SegmentedButton().
Here is a quick view of the new navigation widget, which is a boon for apps that want to switch from mobile to desktop.
[Source: Flutter Medium Blog]
You may try it on the DartPad using the web_dashboard GitHub package to see this widget in real-time.
Apart from the navigation widget, there’s a new date picker widget and the new text input widget. Check them out here below:
[Source: Flutter Medium Blog]
[Source: Flutter Medium Blog]
These newer widgets will surely improve the user experience of your Flutter apps on both Android and iOS platforms.
5. Material Text Scale
In the new Flutter update, the team has implemented Material Design 2018 specifications, while maintaining the integrity of the existing Flutter apps.
According to the Material TextStyles of 2018, we have mentioned some of the names and configurations in the table below:
[Source: 2018 Material Design Specifications]
However, if you are using older versions of Flutter, your application won’t break down. But just the platforms will suggest you upgrade to the newer naming conventions. For eg., Body 1 & Body 2 in the above image will be known as bodyText1 & bodyText2 respectively in the TextTheme API, and H1-H6 are called headline-1 to headline-6.
6. You may now actively track your Network traffic using,
7. The Google Team has overcome the issue of Hot reload and fixed it right.
8. From this version onwards, using Android X will be mandatory and default choice.
9. The Samsung keyboard issue is now solved, which now makes accessibility and internationalization inevitable.
10.Google has updated the scrolling and text input widget.
Well, the rest remains unchanged, and you can surely continue with your older versions yet. Now let us look at what Google has upgraded with Dart.
The New Dart 2.8
Along with Flutter’s new release, Google also announced the official Dart 2.8 update.
📣Announcing Dart 2.8: Including pub outdated!
Modern apps often depend on many packages, and keeping these dependencies up-to-date can be time consuming.
✨Pub outdated scans which dependencies are stale and enables you to update them quickly.
Learn → https://t.co/NBAvO71ihw pic.twitter.com/XnETjsTZjn
— Dart Language (@dart_lang) May 6, 2020
It has below-prescribed features:
- Your existing apps will execute with the same code, but the new release has edge cases and changed the library.
- As there are already above 10k packages in the pub, Dart 2.8 has improved the visibility and also enhanced visual recommendations.
- The Dart developers get the most benefit from this version because they will require much less time to get all the packages from the pubget.
- The Google team has come forward to work over the null reference issue for safety. However, they are yet to test it.
- Another useful function for the developers is the puboutdated command, through which they can figure out the older extinct version and get the new versions available in the market. Hence, they have resolved the “out-of-date” dependency issue.
- With the Dart 2.8 update, you can inspect traffic, check your network requests manually, or use the new network tab introduced by Google.
Get in Touch If Want to Build your New App With Flutter 1.17 and Dart 2.8
Conclusion
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