Developing Flutter Plugins

Contents

• Architecture & Design Patterns
• Workflow: Creating a New Plugin
• Workflow: Implementing Android Platform Code
• Workflow: Implementing Windows Platform Code
• Workflow: Adding Platforms to an Existing Plugin
• Examples

Architecture & Design Patterns

Federated Plugins

Implement federated plugins to split a plugin's API across multiple packages, allowing independent teams to build platform-specific implementations. Structure federated plugins into three distinct components:

1. App-facing interface: The primary package users depend on. It exports the public API.
2. Platform interface: The package defining the common interface that all platform implementations must implement.
3. Platform implementations: Independent packages containing platform-specific code (e.g., my_plugin_android, my_plugin_windows).

FFI vs. Standard Plugins

Choose the correct plugin template based on your native interoperability requirements:

• Standard Plugins (`--template=plugin`): Use for accessing platform-specific APIs (e.g., Android SDK, iOS frameworks) via Method Channels.
• FFI Plugins (`--template=plugin_ffi`): Use for accessing C/C++ native libraries, configuring Google Play services on Android, or using static linking on iOS/macOS.
• Constraint: FFI plugin packages support bundling native code and method channel registration code, but not method channels themselves. If you require both method channels and FFI, use the standard non-FFI plugin template.

Workflow: Creating a New Plugin

Follow this workflow to initialize a new plugin package.

Task Progress:

• [ ] Determine if the plugin requires FFI or standard Method Channels.
• [ ] Execute the appropriate flutter create command.
• [ ] Verify the generated directory structure.

Conditional Initialization:

• If creating a STANDARD plugin:

Run the following command, specifying your supported platforms, organization, and preferred languages (defaults are Swift and Kotlin):

  flutter create --template=plugin \
    --platforms=android,ios,web,linux,macos,windows \
    --org com.example.organization \
    -i objc -a java \
    my_plugin

• If creating an FFI plugin:

Run the following command to generate a project with Dart code in lib (using dart:ffi) and native source code in src (with a CMakeLists.txt):

  flutter create --template=plugin_ffi my_ffi_plugin

Workflow: Implementing Android Platform Code

Always edit Android platform code using Android Studio to ensure proper code completion and Gradle synchronization.

Task Progress:

• [ ] Run initial build to generate necessary Gradle files.
• [ ] Open the Android module in Android Studio.
• [ ] Implement FlutterPlugin and lifecycle-aware interfaces.
• [ ] Refactor legacy registerWith logic.
• [ ] Run validator -> review errors -> fix.

1. Generate Build Files:

Build the code at least once before editing to resolve dependencies.

   cd example
   flutter build apk --config-only

1. Open in IDE:

Launch Android Studio and open the example/android/build.gradle or example/android/build.gradle.kts file.

1. Locate Source:

Navigate to your plugin's source code at java/<organization-path>/<PluginName>.

1. Implement V2 Embedding:

• Implement the FlutterPlugin interface.
• Ensure your plugin class has a public constructor.
• Extract shared initialization logic from the legacy registerWith() method and the new onAttachedToEngine() method into a single private method. Both entry points must call this private method to maintain backward compatibility without duplicating logic.

1. Implement Lifecycle Interfaces:

• If your plugin requires an `Activity` reference: Implement the ActivityAware interface and handle the onAttachedToActivity, onDetachedFromActivityForConfigChanges, onReattachedToActivityForConfigChanges, and onDetachedFromActivity callbacks.
• If your plugin runs in a background `Service`: Implement the ServiceAware interface.

1. Update Example App:

Ensure the example app's MainActivity.java extends the v2 embedding io.flutter.embedding.android.FlutterActivity.

1. Document API:

Document all non-overridden public members in your Android implementation.

Workflow: Implementing Windows Platform Code

Always edit Windows platform code using Visual Studio.

Task Progress:

• [ ] Run initial build to generate the Visual Studio solution.
• [ ] Open the solution in Visual Studio.
• [ ] Implement C++ logic.
• [ ] Rebuild the solution.

1. Generate Build Files:

   cd example
   flutter build windows

1. Open in IDE:

Launch Visual Studio and open the example/build/windows/hello_example.sln file.

1. Locate Source:

Navigate to hello_plugin/Source Files and hello_plugin/Header Files in the Solution Explorer.

1. Rebuild:

After making changes to the C++ plugin code, you must rebuild the solution in Visual Studio before running the app, or the outdated plugin binary will be used.

Workflow: Adding Platforms to an Existing Plugin

Use this workflow to retrofit an existing plugin with support for additional platforms.

Task Progress:

• [ ] Run the platform addition command.
• [ ] Update iOS/macOS podspecs (if applicable).
• [ ] Implement the platform-specific code.

1. Run Create Command:

Navigate to the root directory of your existing plugin and run:

   flutter create --template=plugin --platforms=web,macos .

1. Update Podspecs:

If adding iOS or macOS support, open the generated .podspec file and configure the required dependencies and deployment targets.

Examples

Android V2 Embedding Implementation

High-fidelity example of an Android plugin implementing FlutterPlugin and ActivityAware while maintaining legacy compatibility.

package com.example.myplugin;

import androidx.annotation.NonNull;
import io.flutter.embedding.engine.plugins.FlutterPlugin;
import io.flutter.embedding.engine.plugins.activity.ActivityAware;
import io.flutter.embedding.engine.plugins.activity.ActivityPluginBinding;
import io.flutter.plugin.common.MethodCall;
import io.flutter.plugin.common.MethodChannel;
import io.flutter.plugin.common.MethodChannel.MethodCallHandler;
import io.flutter.plugin.common.MethodChannel.Result;
import io.flutter.plugin.common.PluginRegistry.Registrar;

/** MyPlugin */
public class MyPlugin implements FlutterPlugin, MethodCallHandler, ActivityAware {
  private MethodChannel channel;

  // Public constructor required for v2 embedding
  public MyPlugin() {}

  @Override
  public void onAttachedToEngine(@NonNull FlutterPluginBinding flutterPluginBinding) {
    setupChannel(flutterPluginBinding.getBinaryMessenger());
  }

  // Legacy v1 embedding support
  public static void registerWith(Registrar registrar) {
    MyPlugin plugin = new MyPlugin();
    plugin.setupChannel(registrar.messenger());
  }

  // Shared initialization logic
  private void setupChannel(BinaryMessenger messenger) {
    channel = new MethodChannel(messenger, "my_plugin");
    channel.setMethodCallHandler(this);
  }

  @Override
  public void onMethodCall(@NonNull MethodCall call, @NonNull Result result) {
    if (call.method.equals("getPlatformVersion")) {
      result.success("Android " + android.os.Build.VERSION.RELEASE);
    } else {
      result.notImplemented();
    }
  }

  @Override
  public void onDetachedFromEngine(@NonNull FlutterPluginBinding binding) {
    channel.setMethodCallHandler(null);
  }

  @Override
  public void onAttachedToActivity(@NonNull ActivityPluginBinding binding) {
    // Handle Activity attachment
  }

  @Override
  public void onDetachedFromActivityForConfigChanges() {
    // Handle config changes
  }

  @Override
  public void onReattachedToActivityForConfigChanges(@NonNull ActivityPluginBinding binding) {
    // Handle reattachment
  }

  @Override
  public void onDetachedFromActivity() {
    // Clean up Activity references
  }
}