Flutter, originally designed for mobile app development, has expanded its capabilities to support desktop applications. This module will introduce you to Flutter Desktop, covering its setup, architecture, and basic usage. By the end of this section, you will have a foundational understanding of how to create and run desktop applications using Flutter.

1. What is Flutter Desktop?

   • Flutter Desktop extends Flutter's capabilities to create applications for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
   • It allows developers to use a single codebase to build applications across multiple platforms, including desktop environments.

2. Setting Up Flutter for Desktop Development

   • Ensure you have the latest version of Flutter installed.
   • Enable desktop support in your Flutter environment.
   • Install necessary dependencies for your target desktop platform (Windows, macOS, or Linux).

3. Flutter Desktop Architecture

   • Understand the architecture and how it differs from mobile Flutter applications.
   • Learn about the platform-specific code and how Flutter interacts with the underlying operating system.

4. Creating a Basic Flutter Desktop Application

   • Step-by-step guide to creating your first Flutter Desktop application.
   • Running and debugging your application on a desktop environment.

Before you start, ensure you have the following:

• Flutter SDK installed on your machine.
• A compatible operating system (Windows 10, macOS 10.14+, or a recent Linux distribution).

1. Check Flutter Channel: Ensure you are on the stable channel:

   flutter channel stable
   flutter upgrade
   

2. Enable Desktop Support:

   flutter config --enable-windows-desktop
   flutter config --enable-macos-desktop
   flutter config --enable-linux-desktop
   

3. Verify Installation: Check if desktop support is enabled:

   flutter doctor
   

   You should see entries for desktop platforms like:

   [✓] Flutter (Channel stable, 2.x.x, on macOS 11.x, locale en-US)
   [✓] macOS toolchain - develop for macOS desktop
   [✓] Linux toolchain - develop for Linux desktop
   [✓] Windows toolchain - develop for Windows desktop
   

1. Create a New Flutter Project:

   flutter create my_desktop_app
   cd my_desktop_app
   

2. Run the Application: Depending on your operating system, run the following command:

   • For Windows:

     flutter run -d windows
     

   • For macOS:

     flutter run -d macos
     

   • For Linux:

     flutter run -d linux
     

3. Modify the Main Dart File: Open lib/main.dart and modify the code to create a simple desktop application:

   import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
   
   void main() {
     runApp(MyApp());
   }
   
   class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
     @override
     Widget build(BuildContext context) {
       return MaterialApp(
         title: 'Flutter Desktop Demo',
         theme: ThemeData(
           primarySwatch: Colors.blue,
         ),
         home: MyHomePage(),
       );
     }
   }
   
   class MyHomePage extends StatelessWidget {
     @override
     Widget build(BuildContext context) {
       return Scaffold(
         appBar: AppBar(
           title: Text('Flutter Desktop Home Page'),
         ),
         body: Center(
           child: Text(
             'Hello, Flutter Desktop!',
             style: TextStyle(fontSize: 24),
           ),
         ),
       );
     }
   }
   

4. Run and Debug: Use the same flutter run command to see your changes in action. You can also use an IDE like Visual Studio Code or Android Studio for debugging.

In this section, you learned about Flutter Desktop, its setup, and how to create a basic desktop application. You enabled desktop support in your Flutter environment, created a new project, and ran a simple application on your desktop. This foundational knowledge prepares you for more advanced topics in Flutter Desktop development, such as handling platform-specific code and optimizing performance.

Next, we will dive into building more complex web applications with Flutter in the following section.