How to install and setup flutter
Installation of flutter framework in windows as well on other famous operating systems such as Linux and Mac is very simple. Flutter framework can be configured in few steps, and will ready to build our first application. Before successful configuration we will ensure that our computer system meets the minimum requirements.
Minimum System Requirement
Flutter framework can be run with minimal hardware as well system requirements. It is recommended that there will be latest generation CPU and sufficient memory (RAM) for time efficient mobile application development. Here is the list of minimum requirements.
- Windows 10 OS or we can also use Windows 7 with SP1 (Service Pack 1).
- There will be at least 5.0 GB of free space of storage device. ( This storage space does not include installation of any third party software such as code editors).
- Video Display Unit with WXGA (1366 x 768) resolution.
- Primary memory (RAM) of capacity 8GB.
- Quad Core processor for processing libraries.
- Windows Powershell at least 5.0.
- At least Git 2.0 ( Newer version is recomended). Git requirement is optional.
- Android Studio installed (Latest version is recommended).
- Visual Studio Code (Used as code editor).
Steps of Installation
Here is the series of steps that are followed for the installation of flutter framework in windows OS.
- Download the latest and stable flutter SDK from the official website link https://storage.googleapis.com/flutter_infra_release/releases/stable/windows/flutter_windows_3.16.9-stable.zip
- After successfull download unzip it in any location of your storage device but it is recommended to use C: drive for unzip the flutter framework. (Choose path for flutter framework that does not include any special character or blank spaces).
- This step is most important for proper execution of flutter commands. We have to setup environment variables. For this purpose we have to update path variable in system variables.
- In path variable we will include a new value of flutter bin folder.
- After the completion of all above steps we will run flutter doctor command that will analyze the other development requirements.
flutter doctor
Software's required for Flutter developemnt
There are some software's that are mandatory to install for creating a proper flutter development environment. These softwares include.
1. Android Studio
We can download the latest version of android studio according to our operating system from its offical website. Download Android Studio
2. Visual Studio Code Editor
VS code is the most famous source code editor that provide a number of free extensions. We will use VS code for the development of Flutter applications. The latest version of Visual Studio Code can be downloaded from it official website Download VS Code.
3. Node JS
Node package manager is required to download different packages that will be used in our projects. We can download Npp from it's official website. Download Node Package Manager.
4. Git Bash
Git is used to manage the remote repositories. We can directly push or pull the source code from github using git bash. Download it from its official website. Download Git.
VS Code Extensions for Flutter
There are several extensions are available that are useful for flutter development while using Visual Studio Code editor. We highlight here two important and mandatory extensions of VS Code.
- Flutter extension
- Dart extension
- Flutter Tree
- Flutter Color
- Flutter Wrap