Flutter: Avoiding the Top Mistakes

shauryainf

Shaurya Sharma

Posted on September 18, 2023

Flutter: Avoiding the Top Mistakes

Widgets and Layout

  • Avoid using SizedBox to artificially constrain size. Use MainAxisSize.min instead.
  • Avoid deeply nesting Flex widgets like Column and Row. Extract contents to separate widgets.
  • Extract repeating UI components into separate widgets early for better testability and reusability.
  • Constrain child widget size to avoid RenderFlex overflow, for example with Expanded or Flexible.
  • Provide layout information to widgets to avoid 'RenderBox was not laid out' errors.
  • Constraint scrollable widgets like ListView when placed inside Column to avoid unbounded height.
  • Use Expanded or SizedBox to constrain TextFormField inside Row to avoid unbounded width.
  • Ensure parent widget is compatible with ParentDataWidget children.
  • Don't call setState in build method, for example when showing Dialog, as it can lead to errors.
  • Use OrientationBuilder to handle UI issues when orientation changes.

Architecture and Organization

  • Decouple UI components from business logic by using dependency injection, for cleaner code.
  • Use state management solutions like Provider early on for more complex apps.
  • Learn basics of Android and iOS development to better understand Flutter.
  • Implement features yourself before using packages to better learn fundamentals.
  • Separate concerns following best practices for clean, maintainable code.
  • Use named routes for clearer navigation instead of Navigator.push().

Testing and Quality

  • Write tests like unit, widget, and integration tests to ensure app works as expected.
  • Carefully handle errors to avoid crashes. Validate input and use catchError.
  • Use Dart profiler to optimize performance and avoid lag and delays.
  • Learn about Flutter widget lifecycles to avoid issues like not disposing controllers properly.
  • Remember to fully restart app if bugs appear after adding a native plugin, as hot reload won't update native code.

Best Practices

  • Use linter package for consistent, clean code. Enforce good practices.
  • Extract reusable UI into widgets to optimize performance and reduce rebuilds.
  • Ask questions! The Flutter community is helpful and wants to see you succeed.
💖 💪 🙅 🚩
shauryainf
Shaurya Sharma

Posted on September 18, 2023

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