Flutter is Google’s cross-platform user interface (UI)
framework that that promises to give developers a way to build
UIs for native Android and iOS apps, web apps, and desktop from
a single codebase.
Google last year said that 500,000 developers are using Flutter
toolkit, which is open-source and one of the fastest-growing
languages on Github. According to Google, there are
approximately 50,000 Flutter apps published in the Play Store.
In May 2019, Google confirmed that Flutter SDK was moving
beyond a single framework for mobile devices to the desktop and
web. Now, Google’s team has outlined how it’s steadily
improving support for making apps using Flutter on Windows.
While Flutter apps for Windows 10 remains in technical preview,
the project is now finally shaping up on the desktop,
particularly in support of Win32 and UWP apps.
Flutter for Windows 10 is making steady progress and the
company plans to make its new framework even more viable for
creating apps on the desktop.
For example, Flutter for desktop now includes better support
for mouse and keyboard, a navigation widget, and there’s also
display density support.
Google will allow developers to use Flutter to create apps that
will have access to the operating system’s native capabilities,
which means Flutter apps will be able to do almost anything
traditional apps can do on Windows.
In addition, these improvements should help Flutter better
support both Win32 and UWP apps.
Google seeks “close collaboration” with Microsoft
Tim Sneath, a Google product manager, also said that his team
seeks close collaboration with Microsoft to improve Win32 and
UWP support for Flutter.
“We’ve been working informally with various contributors to
explore different solutions here, and would gladly support a
close collaboration with Microsoft to build a high-quality
solution,” Google’s Tim Sneath said.
The Flutter user interface will support Win32 and UWP apps via
an ’embedder’, which refers to a small host container where
Flutter is embedded into. Embedder will work with Windows 10 to
render surfaces and accessibility and enable OS integration for
the apps using the Flutter.
Microsoft has yet to comment on open invitation from Google to
work together on making Flutter great for all Windows and
Surface products, such as Windows 10, Windows 10X, and Surface
Duo.
It’s also worth noting that Microsoft has already shown support
for Flutter on its dual-screen phone with Surface Duo software
development kit (SDK), which will allow developers to create
and support their Flutter apps on Surface Duo.
For now, Flutter for desktop — Mac, Windows, and Linux —
remains in technical preview for developers and the tool isn’t
yet stable.
