How to Set Up Flutter in Windows: A Step-by-Step Guide

Flutter is a popular mobile application development framework that allows developers to create high-performance, cross-platform apps for Android, iOS, and web platforms. It is an open-source framework developed by Google and offers a variety of tools and libraries to create beautiful, responsive, and fast applications. In this article, we will provide a step-by-step guide to set up Flutter in Windows.

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Prerequisites

Before setting up Flutter in Windows, you must meet the following prerequisites:

1.        A Windows PC with a 64-bit operating system

2.      A recent version of Windows, preferably Windows 10

3.      A minimum of 8GB of RAM

4.      An up-to-date version of Google Chrome

Installing Flutter in Windows

Follow the steps below to set up Flutter in Windows:

Step 1: Download Flutter

To download Flutter, follow the steps below:

1.        Go to the official Flutter website at https://flutter.dev/docs/get-started/install/windows.

2.      Click on the 'Windows' tab to download the latest stable release of Flutter for Windows.

3.      Once the download is complete, extract the compressed file to a directory of your choice. In this example, we will extract the file to the C:\src directory.

Step 2: Install Flutter

To install Flutter, follow the steps below:

1.        Open the Start menu and search for 'Environment Variables'.

2.      Click on the 'Edit the system environment variables' option.

3.      Click on the 'Environment Variables' button.

4.      Under 'System variables', select the 'Path' variable and click on the 'Edit' button.

5.      Click on the 'New' button and enter the path to the Flutter binary folder. In this example, the path is C:\src\flutter\bin.

6.      Click on the 'OK' button to save the changes.

Step 3: Check the Flutter installation

To check whether the Flutter installation was successful, follow the steps below:

1.        Open the Command Prompt by typing 'cmd' in the Start menu.

2.      Type flutter doctor and press Enter.

3.      Wait for a few minutes while Flutter checks your system for any necessary dependencies.

4.      If everything is installed correctly, you should see a message that says 'All Android licenses accepted' and 'All Flutter dependencies are satisfied'.

Step 4: Set up an editor

To develop Flutter applications, you will need an editor. You can use any editor of your choice, such as Visual Studio Code or Android Studio. In this example, we will use Visual Studio Code.

1.        Follow the steps below to set up Visual Studio Code:

2.      Download and install Visual Studio Code from the official website at https://code.visualstudio.com/.

3.      Open Visual Studio Code and click on the 'Extensions' icon on the left-hand side.

4.      Search for 'Flutter' in the search bar and click on the 'Install' button to install the Flutter extension.

Once the installation is complete, click on the 'Reload' button to activate the extension.

Step 5: Create a new Flutter project

To create a new Flutter project, follow the steps below:

1.        Open Visual Studio Code.

2.      Click on the 'Explorer' icon on the left-hand side.

3.      Click on the 'New Folder' button to create a new folder.

4.      Give the folder a name, such as 'my_flutter_project'.

5.      Open the folder by clicking on it.

6.      Open the Command Palette by pressing Ctrl+Shift+P.

7.      Type 'Flutter' in the search bar and select 'Flutter: New Project'.

8.      Follow the prompts to create a new Flutter project.

Step 6: Run the Flutter app

To run the Flutter app, follow the steps below:

1.        Open the terminal or Command Prompt.

2.      Navigate to the project directory by typing cd my_flutter_project and press Enter.

3.      Type flutter run and press Enter.

4.      Wait for a few minutes while Flutter builds the app and launches it in the emulator or on your connected device.

5.      If everything is set up correctly, you should see a 'Welcome to Flutter' message on the screen.

Congratulations! You have successfully set up Flutter in Windows and created and run your first Flutter project.

Conclusion

Setting up Flutter in Windows can seem like a daunting task, but by following these simple steps, you can have Flutter up and running on your Windows PC in no time. With Flutter, you can create beautiful and responsive cross-platform apps for Android, iOS, and web platforms. Flutter is an excellent choice for developers who want to create high-performance apps quickly and easily.