How to install and setup Flutter using Android Studio on Windows

#flutter #dart #android

Flutter is a UI (User interface) development kit created by Google. It allows you to make apps for Android, iOS, Web, Windows, macOS and Linux. All this is achieved from a single code base!

More about Flutter

System Requirements-

1.Operating system -Windows 7 or later
2.Disk space -400 MB (But I recommend having at least 10 GB of free space)

#1-Install the Flutter SDK

Download the Flutter SDK

Press the big blue button that says something like — ‘flutter_windows_1.1x-stable.zip’. A zip file will start downloading. Now, flutter recommends that we extract this somewhere in the C-Drive where it is easily accessible.

Update your PATH variable

Now that you have installed flutter, you have to introduce it to your pc .
To do this, type ‘env’ in your search bar. Select — ‘Edit the system environment variables for your account’. Something like this will show up —

Select Path and click on Edit. If a Path variable does not exist in your pc, just click new and create one with the name “Path”.

Now click on New and paste your Flutter bin files location—
eg.-c:\flutter\flutter\bin

Congratulations! You have installed Flutter on your desktop. Just to make sure that everything you did is running, search for ‘command prompt’. Type in — 'flutter' and press enter.
You will see something similar to this.

(If you don't try retracing the above steps and be carefull with the path)

#2-Install Android Studio

Download Android Studio

Start Android Studio, and go through the ‘Android Studio Setup Wizard’. This installs the latest Android SDK, Android SDK Command-line Tools, and Android SDK Build-Tools, which are required by Flutter when developing for Android. It’s a little weird that you download a software and then have to download some more stuff but it’s just this once.

Now, open Android Studio and you’ll see a screen similar to that below. Click on — Configure >> Settings

Now in Settings, go to Plugins and search for “Flutter”. Install the first option — Flutter (by flutter.dev). This will initiate a pop-up that essentially asks you if you want to install Dart as well. Select ‘yes’ and proceed. You might need to restart Android Studio when the plugin installation is complete.