A package that helps you start a flutter application from a specific template
Simply activate the package:
flutter pub global activate app_starter
Place yourself where you want to create your app and then simply run:
app_starter --name <package_identifier> --org <organisation> --template <template_git_repository>
For example:
app_starter --name toto --org io.example --template https://github.com/ThomasEcalle/flappy_template
Or, more concise, using abbreviations:
app_starter -n toto -o io.example -t https://github.com/ThomasEcalle/flappy_template
Showing configuration file store values:
app_starter --config
Showing help:
app_starter --help
Here are the list of arguments you could use :
key | abbreviation | description | example |
---|---|---|---|
name | n | the dart package identifier | example |
org | o | the organisation identifier | com.example |
template | t | the git repository of your template | https://github.com/ThomasEcalle/flappy_template |
config | c | shows values stored in configuration file | --config |
save | s | save values in configuration file | --save |
help | h | shows help | --help |
-
This tool creates a fresh new flutter application using the basic
flutter create
command from the flutter version installed on your computer. -
It will get your model repository and clone it.
-
Then, it will copy and paste the
lib
andtest
folders, as well as thepubspec.yaml
file from your model repository to your new app. -
Fourth step: it will change all imports in these directories (and in pubspec.yaml) in order to put the right new dart package identifier.
-
Finally, the tool will delete temporary cloned repository and...
you are good to go !
As a Flutter developper, you may have to create new apps very often.
Each time you create an application, you usually have to do the same things:
- create the app with the right name and organization
- put on the architecture you are used to work with
- put all the dependencies you are used to work with
- (depending on your needs): create several flavors
- etc.
Being a freelance developer and having multiple customers or being a tech lead in a company always creating new apps, this kind of scenario may happen a lot in your life.
This package is here to make you save some time on these processes.
Now that you want to automate these processes, you have to choose how to do it.
You could use an already existing starter as the famous one from very good ventures : very_good_cli
Let's be honest : this is a good starter !
But you can't really customize it depending on your needs.. and developers often have different needs !
Different philosophies on architecture, on dependencies, etc.
An other option that I previously used was to create a model repository.
This repository would implement all I need for a "basic" app.
Then, I just had to clone it and change the app's name.
But... that was never so simple.
Creating a flutter app with the command line automate a bunch of things for you.
From putting the right packages on Android & iOS to the right names in configurations files, and a lot of other things.
So, to "just change the name of your app" is never simple.
Without mentioning the fact that the number of configuration files which need to be update may evolve as Flutter evolves itself !
I wanted to create a way to reunite the best of the 2 worlds:
-
creating the app using flutter's command-line
flutter create
prevents developer from putting his hands in all configuration files -
cloning architecture from a model repository enables developer to build his own architecture and template
Flutter evolves ?
No problem, you will still be able to create a new app cloning your base architecture without any effort ๐
Flavors are really important in app develoment.
Most of the time, apps have at least a dev
and a prod
flavor, some times more.
But creating flavors is not really simple (see the official doc)
On Android, it is quite simple.
On iOS ... well... it is not "hard", but it takes you a little bit of time to be sure everything is ok.
I didn't want to force app_starter users to use flavors.
At first because app_starter should be really generic to fit with every developer needs.
Also because automating flavors creation is not really easy.
BUT, app_starter can still help you handling flavors easily in your templates ๐ฅ
For example, in the default template, I use the great package flutter_flavorizr.
Thanks to this package, I just have to say which flavors I would like to create in the pubspec.yaml.
Then, after app_starter run, I can generate these flavors using the flutter_flavorizr command-line ๐
As you can see, the way app_starter works enable each developer to make its own starter easily, without the constraint to base itself on someone else "template".
Feel free to create your own templates and to play with it !